"God determines who walks into your life....it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."

"Our children are the only earthly possessions we can take with us to Glory."

God is Faithful

Genesis 9:12-17

Questions

Lord I ask more questions
Than You ask.
The ratio, I would suppose,
Is ten to one.

I ask:
Why do You permit this anguish?
How long can I endure it?
What possible purpose does it serve?
Have You forgotten to be gracious?
Have I wearied You?
Have I offended You?
Have You cast me off?
Where did I miss Your guidance?
When did I lose the way?
Do You see my utter despair?

You ask:
Are you Trusting me?

By Ruth Harms Calkin

 

It is far better to forgive and forget than resent and remember.

We come before God humbled, grateful, fearful, wounded and in need of healing, a tangled ball of emotions knowing that God’s “power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine ” (Ephesians 3:20b,21, CEV).

Church Bulletins

Thank God for church ladies with typewriters.  These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced at church services:

• The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
• The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."  The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."
• Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King. 
• Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
• The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
• Don't let worry kill you off -- let the Church help.
• Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. 
• For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
• Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir.  They need all the help they can get.
• The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: "Break Forth Into Joy."
• Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
• A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.  Music will follow.
• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?"  Come early and listen to our choir practice.
• Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
• Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
• Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
• The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
• Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
• The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
• This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
• Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
• The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
• Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
• The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
• Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
• The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours".

The Dash

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end.

 

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

 

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

 

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

 

So think about this long and hard;

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

 

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

 

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

 

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

 

So when your eulogy is being read

With your life's actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

 

© 1996 Linda Ellis