Con-GRAD-ulations

Ben and I had the privilege of working with the T.A.P. students this year. Just a reminder T.A.P is The Transition and Access Program is a four-year college education for students with mild to moderate intellectual or developmental disabilities. We had so much fun leading this Life Group this year but unfortunately, like everything else, our time was cut short with them due to Covid-19. To help get a little idea of what our Life Group was like and to celebrate our seniors I asked each senior to write a couple sentences about what parts of Life Group they loved this year.

I joined H2O because I wanted to get to know God. My boyfriend Ryan got me into it and why I like life group this year was because we got to play uno flip!

I like H2O because it helps me think about God and what we need to believe in. What I like about life group is how we get together and read the Bible and play games too.

There are a lot of reasons why I joined H2O. What I liked the most about our Life Group this year is when we got together as a group to study the Bible every Thursday.

To the right is Brian Edwards, he was one of our leaders helping us with Life Group this year. We loved getting to lead with him and will definitely miss him next year. He did such a great job teaching the T.A.P students this year, and is going to do great things as a music teacher now that he has graduated from UC. Here is what he had to say about the year! "This year I had the opportunity to be a leader in the T.A.P. life group. It was a great experience that helped me better understand concepts about God from the bible. Psalm 33:16-19 says: “16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.” Being given the opportunity to be a leader in the T.A.P. life group showed me that God does not only pick the most talented or most intelligent, but receives glory in using the meek and the humble. Planning lessons to be simple made me realize that I can get hung up on questions I don’t have the answer to instead of what the bible was trying to convey. I think that because of this year I have more of an understanding of the importance of childlike faith."

To help celebrate all of the seniors in our church, and to make up for some of the glamour lost due to the pandemic, I did a free photo shoot of whoever wanted cap and gown pictures. Below are a few of the pictures I captured.

Congratulations to all our seniors we love you guys and are excited to see the great things you will do!

I want to close out this letter with a brief update on H2O's pandemic plans and include a little piece of encouragement. Right now we are not meeting in person here in Cincinnati, and are still recording our worship services for our students to watch at home. We hope to start a small outdoor service by the 14th of June (weather permitting) but will not have access to the buildings we generally use for the foreseeable future. There is a possibility that UC will not let us meet on campus during the fall semester and that the rec center we have our City services in will not let groups meet until a Covid vaccine has been released. Despite all this we remain positive and hopeful for what this time of uncertainty will bring. Our God is bigger than any of this, and we will not stop worshiping Him and spreading the Gospel, no matter what we may face.

I hope that all of you are doing well and that despite all that is happening in the world today, you are able to take time to worship our great and loving God.

With love and hope,

Sarah Howard