Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are upon us. Our Nuggets have their hands full with the Lakers and Andrew Bynum. My team through the days of Bill Russell and Larry Bird remains the Boston Celtics, but I fear they are showing their age a bit against the Hawks and will struggle to go very far into the playoffs.

Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey was a small forward back in the 1970’s for the New York Knicks before he became a politician. In a wonderful book about his basketball career, “Life on the Run,” he talked about what he called the magic nights . These were the times when the plays were run , the picks set, and the shots made as if each player were an extension of the others. The five players acted and reacted as one. Each instinctively moved to exactly the right place and did exactly the right thing. The team was one body in five parts. As one body, it played and triumphed.

"I am the branch," Jesus said, "You are the branches."

John 15 blessings this week. May you live deep into your relationship with Jesus and with one another.

Still in One Peace,

Pastor David Jensen