In Chicagoland, where I got to host Flourish president Rusty Pritchard, and where we filled our week with rich conversations, inspirational meetings, lessons in natural history (and enthusiasm) with first graders, some deep dish pizza, and some beautiful walks through restored prairie land.
A few autumnal rainstorms and some gnarly Chicago traffic couldn’t dampen our spirits this week. Instead, we were encouraged by a landscape architect from Park Community Church, who had always felt she had to segregate her environmental work from her Christian faith, until she realized that her faith gave the strongest foundation to her work. We were energized by the squeals from first graders at Christian Heritage Academy, as Rusty led them in some hands-on discovery of the wacky seeds, burrs, and nuts God has created to help plants grow. We were reminded of why we do this work when Cindy Crosby, a local author and naturalist, led us down forest paths at Lisle’s Morton Arboretum and patiently pointed out some of Illinois’ most striking native plants. And yesterday we got to do church at Christ Church of Oak Brook, where a roomful of thoughtful adults looked critically at what is similar and and what is different between secular environmentalism and Bible-based stewardship, concluding that the latter must be undergirded by the fact that God is Love.
For an even better picture of what we got to do in the city of broad shoulders, check out Rusty’s interview with Greg Wheatley on Moody Radio’s Primetime America last Thursday.
It was a great week. Thank you Chicagoland!
By Kendra Langdon Juskus
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