This was the fastest party in history. Please allow me to explain. First, we were blessed to serve an army of precious and energetic children, who all reside at The Bridges Apartments, a low-income complex near Kuykendahl and F.M. 1960. The party started in the Community Center with Easter bag coloring, cookie decorating, and Easter basket giveaways. The noise, I am sure, reached concert-level decibels. Even so, the kids were still relatively organized and corralled, considering. They even stood still long enough for me to take a few pictures, which are the ones you see on this page.

All changed when we took them to a field in the rear of the complex to gather the “hidden” eggs. You see, the eggs were simply spread safely over the field; not exactly hidden. At this point containing the children was naïve at best. I liken the scene to kicking a fire-ant bed and watching the chaos. Hilarious. If I had blinked I might have missed completely the egg gathering. Needless to say I did not have a ghost of a chance of taking pictures, as this was more of a running-of-the-bulls-kind-of-moment. Certainly the emotion felt was joy to witness so many children running and screaming in all directions. I felt so thankful that NCS was able to love on these kids, if only for an afternoon.

I hope NCS will continue to serve the children of The Bridges Apartments. These kids love to be loved. Serving children in need is not a theological moment, but it is more of a relational moment. Honestly, I feel I understand Jesus the most, and what he commands and expects of me, when I am keeping it simple by simply loving those around me who are in need, especially his precious little ones.

Thanks to all the students who were privileged enough to witness the collective exuberance of these kids.

Rich R. Reaves
NCS Campus Pastor