e are blessed with at large group of energetic children at Hillside. Last Saturday afternoon we hosted a Funfest with the help of an army of volunteers from the church. There was the "Amazing Maze", "Miniature Golf", "The Dark Room", "Hairstyling", "Nail Styling", "The Duck Pond", "The Goliath Shoot", "The Ahab & Jezebell Pie Throwing Wall", "The Saddle Ride", "The Cookie Factory", "The Scripture Hunt", and several others. The goal of all this activity was to give children from the community and the church a big dose of Christian fun in a safe environment. It worked. There were lots of visitors and smiling, funny faces. These were captured in pictures that we viewed during the messages Sunday morning. We want to thank all who made the event possible, and praise the Lord for blessing our efforts with a great response.

Our weekend theme in study focused on being God's Children. 1 John 2 and 3 were the text for the messages. John describes life as a child of God. While viewing the images of the children from Saturday's event it is pretty easy to smile back at the pictures and see how they are God's children. It may be more difficult to see that same truth when we look in the mirror or when we observe a life that portrays the results of what we deem as poor choices. The truth John teaches is that those in Christ are indeed the Children of God. Fortunately, it is not a matter of emotion. We don't create the reality of belonging by how we feel about it. God establishes us as His children and gives us His heritage through our choice to obey His Son, Jesus.

God's faithfulness to, and care of His children make being His child a blessed thing. It is the source of our joy and hope. You can see that joy and hope in the faces of those who have decided to be His. We want to share that joy and hope with you and yours.