Dear friends of CLDI,
Summer has arrived! I love summer – the warm weather, clear days, the big Montana sky, green grass, bright flowers, cookouts, and trips; what’s not to love! Like many of you, the summer provides a “seasonal shift” for us with our various works. For Youth Works, the shift means a lot of relational time with your youth as we take them on various outings (horseback riding, camping, hiking, and backpacking), as well as work opportunities to help students pay their way for summer camp. In the words of Kaylee (our YW Director), the summer schedule is zany, but a lot of fun! For KMC, summer provides a small window of opportunity to tackle those deferred maintenance needs, such as painting and residing our aging housing stock, redoing our landscaping, and painting decks. For Rail//Line Coffee, this means new hours (we are now open until 6 pm) and serving more customers as we make the most of our amazing patio during these warmer months. And for the Internship Program, it means the addition of summer interns! We are blessed to host two college interns and one high school intern this summer. They work in collaboration with our now seasoned 11-month interns. With all of the interns wrapping up their time at the end of July, we will have one month to prepare for a new school year and a new class of interns as we kick things off in September. Lastly, Lord willing, we will break ground on Mosaic Senior Living this August. We are excited to get this project underway.
I thank you for your continued interest and investment in our work. As a core value of CLDI, it is imperative to us that we operate with integrity, both as individuals and as a Christ-centered organization. A few passages come to mind when giving thought to this Biblical principle, but perhaps the poignant to me is 1 Corinthians 4:3-4. Paul, speaking about being trustworthy, says,
“But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.” (NASB)
What does it look like for us to operate with integrity? The reality is that it is all-encompassing as we strive to live with a deep conviction that our time, talents, and possessions are not our own but the Lord’s. As such, our call is to live our lives (at work, home, among our friends, and by ourselves) as living sacrifices in such a way that most honors and pleases the King. As I share with my staff all the time, it is in this path of living for the name of another, Jesus, that we find true joy and satisfaction. Will you join us in prayer that we lead, serve, engage, and love others well with integrity so that the mission of CLDI, transformation through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is fulfilled?
In Him,
Eric Basye, Executive Director
