Something to Ponder

Somthing to ponder.  If we live in such a great area of the country why don't more people live here?  What drives our children and others to leave Iowa?  What can we do to stop this trend?  

(1)  Being a realist I see that this is little we can do to stop this particular trend of young people leaving our small communities.  They have to leave to a larger community often to attend college or vocational training.  If they come home it is to be married, have children baptized, or at another juncture in their lives.  Home may always be on their mind but to ask them to give up on what the city offers them may be too much.  

(2)  More people are starting to relocate here.  Recent statisitcs show that we have a growing trend of older adults moving back to their home places to reside after living out of state.  This challenges demographics and our school districts are taking a direct hit on this one.  If we have an elder population in our community and not as many children we may have to rethink ministry and community life.  

(3)  There are a LOT of babies around here.  Ambjor is now 5 months.  Two sets of neighbors just had babies born in the last couple of months.  To say that there is no hope would be turning a blind eye to good news.