Bethany movie-goers experienced the fun of seeing the film Paddington in Peru last Tuesday. In it, Paddington the Bear—with his adoptive British family—travels to the treacherous jungle of South America to reconnect with his aunt. As things start to end happily ever ... as they tend to do in family movies ... Paddington finds himself torn between remaining with relatives in his homeland or returning to England. His aunt tells him it doesn't really matter where he ends up living, reminding him that he is loved no matter where he goes. She also says that in searching for her, he discovered new things about himself. "In finding me, you have found yourself."

At the close of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy learns that her ruby slippers have special powers; by clicking them she could have gone home to Kansas at any time. Ignorant of this, she has instead undergone a huge ordeal. Instead of getting angry at Glinda the Good Witch, who had not disclosed this important information, Dorothy realizes that it wasn't enough to simply want something ("there's no place like home") ... she needed to work hard to make it happen. The journey ended up being equally as important as the destination.

Last Sunday's congregational vote showed diverse opinions and varying ideas regarding how we should operate as a church. As we are not all of "one in vision" as to ministry and logistics, it's tempting to give up ... to begin disconnecting and distancing ourselves from those with whom we go not agree. Yet it is this very journey, this trek through the unknown, that might be the making of us. No one knows except God. Our faith is needed more than ever as we do the hard things.

At Bethany our journey continues.

—Cathy Betts Sapunor