Here Comes the Son

1. Hayden 5-29-19

“Here Comes the Sun”, one of the most iconic songs written by the late George Harrison, was a reflection of the composers need for a respite period in the midst of all of the chaos permeating the Beatle’s during their final days before their official breakup in 1970. The song was written at the home of Eric Clapton while George was skipping a meeting with the band. He just needed a break from the Apple Records business meetings that were becoming more and more contentious as the group came ever closer to the inevitable dissolution of their musical relationship.

On the same “note”, no pun intended, there are times when we need a respite as well. Every year, couples and families take off for a week or two or three to recapture their energy, taking a break from the daily grind that is life! Oh how we love to vacation, or as they say in Australia, “going on holiday, mate!” The Lord new very well how important getting away from the struggles of existence is, if only for a short time. It is He who instituted the one day of rest each week. It is He who instituted multiple festivals each year for celebration with Him and our families. And it is God who commands us to enter into rest.

Hebrews 4:10-11 NLT says, “¹⁰ For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. ¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.” This scripture isn’t necessarily speaking to going on a physical vacation. It includes resting in the finished work of Christ, not trying to work to earn God’s love, but resting in the fact that He already loves us and has provided a way whereby we enter into His rest through our relationship with Him. It is as if God has offered us a permanent luxury cruise from all of the guilt, shame and failures of our past, present, and future.

As we prepare for our next vacation, seeing as how summer is at our front door, let our good times in Florida or wherever, be a reminder that God is pleased with our rest. Rest from work, rest from school, and rest from our normal responsibilities. But more importantly, rest from those things that would separate us from a fulfilling and vibrant relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ!

Be blessed even more!!

Pastor Chris         

Fellowship of the Believers

1. Hayden 4-27-19

                On Sunday, May 19^th directly after the 10am worship service, the church will be meeting for a wonderful time of food, games, music, recognition of volunteers, and fellowship. Nick’s Kitchen will be providing the barbecue pulled pork and chicken for lunch, we will be playing Nine Square along with the erection of the volleyball net, and Rick Fusselman will be calling the Bingo and Trivia game under the tent. It will be worth coming just to see that. And at the end of our day we will have a brief time of song and worship as we close out the afternoon together (Around 2:30pm-ish). We invite everyone and their families and friends to come be a part of that Sunday’s activity as we take time to honor those who volunteer for the church throughout the year. If you have friends and/or neighbors, bring them along, they are invited too!

                As well as honoring our volunteers, we are excited about our time together, just fellowshipping with one another as Scripture calls us to. In 1 John 1:3,7 we read, “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” and “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” This is our opportunity to gather as a family and fellowship around the table, remembering the hard work of so many who have given so much, as well as celebrating our life in Christ…Fellowshipping with one another and with God…Experiencing God Together!

Be blessed even more and thank you for all you do for God’s Kingdom!!

Pastor Chris         

1. Hayden 4-9-19

Well it is good to be back from the land down under! We spent time in the beautiful metropolitan areas of both Sydney and Melbourne, soaking in a different culture as well as having some relaxing moments on the sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean and Tasman Sea. We explored new experiences including drinking real coconut milk from newly harvested coconuts on the beach in Seminyak, bumming around with mostly docile primates (except the one who tried to steal my son’s water bottle from him) in Bali’s Monkey Forest, visited the absolutely awesome rice terraces in Bali’s interior, relaxed in the cultural backstreets of downtown Melbourne, and took a launch around Sydney Harbor capturing many angles of the Sydney Opera House.

We took our life in our own hands (surely God was watching over us) as Heidi and I rode a scooter for 3 days in the crazy, scooter-filled streets of Ubud, and swam with the fishes, snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon located on Bali’s east coast.

These holiday encounters were but of few of the many wonderful experiences we were blessed with over the last 3 weeks. However, and I know this may be cliché but, our most exciting and enjoyment filled times were being with our children and their significant others, loving them and being loved by them. Yes, our trip to Australia was a huge success, but mostly because we were able to share it with our family and their friends.

God wants to share these experiences with us as well for we have been adopted into His family. All of His creative order was for us to share together and with Him, our family! Scripture tells us, “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5, NLT). The whole time we were with our children, they kept asking us what we wanted to do. I think we frustrated them a bit because all we could tell them is that we didn’t care what we did, just as long as they were with us to do it! God has given us these wonderful experiences to share with our family, and He wants us to invite Him in to share them together.

By the way, it is so good to be back with our family in Huntington that we can share our adventure with you as well!

May God bless you even more!!

Pastor Chris