Our deep hope is that we grasp God's great love for us and choose to reflect his love as we serve Him and others through our work and play.

The story “Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!” guided Ripon Christian second-grade students and teacher Julie Vander Molen to explore the “helping hands” in their community as they live into the classroom’s Storyline: Shine. The second graders asked, “Who does the thankless jobs of mowing parks, picking up trash, and cleaning public restrooms?” They discovered that these “helping hands” extended from city workers’ arms.  After experiencing picking up trash on the school’s campus themselves, the students reflected Christ’s love by writing and delivering letters to Ripon’s city workers, thanking them for all the work they do in the Ripon community with this message: “Thanks! You SHINE and make our city SHINE!”