Growth often means the gift of new opportunity. A growing family means more smiles and laughs. A growing income perhaps allows for a bigger home with more bedrooms and a bigger dinner table for that family. A growing church shares the word of God and creates a vibrant community of faith.

Part of the privilege of my job is watching students grow in front of me. Physically they grow taller in the six years they spend in Veritas, but they also grow in their faith as they develop their own understanding of God’s love. Growth also means at some point they finish the program and move on to new opportunities. In the last few years, we have turned over big groups of core Veritas attendees. And while it makes me sad to see kids I have really connected with move on, we always get new faces ready to begin.

Our current group has only experienced Veritas post-pandemic, so the retreats and events we have regularly hosted are new to them. A few weeks ago, Becky Boyer, some volunteers, and I took 13 kids to Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park in Erie. While the trip had been part of the Veritas schedule pre-pandemic, this time only two of the 13 students had gone before with Veritas. While water slides and lazy rivers make for a fun day, the real joy of the trip is watching them get to know each other at a deeper level than a few hours a week at church allows. We spent time teaching devotional practices and lifting each other up. We laughed and played board games and braided hair. We all shared why we are important to each other and why God is important to us.

Growing pains are tough, and saying goodbye to those kids headed for their next chapter is sad, but the opportunity to drift through a lazy river with a new group of friends is a beautiful thing.