It isn't that Sunday morning worship was not uplifting. In fact, the singing was good and the spirits were high. We had so many visitors and most of them were from the community and not just holiday travelers. Hopefully each of you are making a concerted effort to meet our guests each week. Introduce them to others around you and especially make sure I have an opportunity to meet them. I love visitors. We really need your help inviting them to our Coffee Connection before worship in the Fireside Room (LC #103).
Sunday night was especially good, in my opinion. We had one of our Circle Up Singing events. To be honest, I didn't know if we would have enough people to show up to fill all four parts. It rained, and rained, and rained all day. According to Gay Stanley some people shouldn't be out driving in this type of weather, right June? (You would have to be there to understand that last statement). We had a decent crowd, but the singing was GREAT! Bill Raikes, Joel, and myself led the singing. We began with some of the golden oldies and moved into the popular 80's songs and ended with the teen songs of today. Everyone seemed to enjoy the fast past, two verses only, singing. Several mentioned to me how much they enjoyed last night and how good the singing was. We will definitely do this again.
As far as Sunday nights, let me encourage everyone to keep up with their bulletins, the website, and announcements of what is going on. THIS WEEK you will have two choices: 1) Come to the Coffee Shop for a Trinidad update and devotional or 2) go to the Fireside Room for the viewing of "The Star of Bethlehem", which we have played a couple of times over the last few years.
Let me begin with the Trinidad trip. Most of you know I had the privilege of speaking on this Caribbean island last month. If it was nothing more than I went in, spoke, and come back, I wouldn't take up a Sunday night to report. But for me it ended up being much more. It was one of the most encouraging speaking trips I have ever been a part of. Wait until you learn why I was there, what I did, and what happened on that Sunday night. I'm also going to tell you about another opportunity this Summer that some of you may be interested in. Yes, there will be pictures and some of those are of food (of course).
"The Star of Bethlehem" is for anyone who hasn't seen, or would like to see, the video again. It is one of the most fascinating documentaries on the star mentioned in Scripture. They have found the star and you might be surprised what they discovered. PLEASE use this as an outreach opportunity for someone you know to attend.
As far as outreach opportunities goes, this Sunday morning we are beginning a new series of sermons entitled "Carols". Three lessons - three Christmas songs. We begin with "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Why would the King of kings be destined to be born in a town of about 150 at the time? A very unimportant city for the anticipated Messiah. I'm looking forward to this lesson. Invite others to join us for this series over the next three weeks.
I know this blog is long today, but I wanted to update some of you on my grandmother, who may not already know. Immediately after services Tuesday night I received a call from my dad telling me my grandmother, Marine "Mamaw" Lundy, had several mini strokes and a massive heart attack. The doctors had called in the family believing she only had a couple of hours to live. They put her on a respirator with the hopes some of the family would get there in time to say goodbye. A couple of hours later she was still alive, as well as the next day, and then the next... well, she never died. The doctors and nurses are calling her a "miracle" patient. I don't know if it is a full blown miracle where someone gets out of bed and carries it out the front door, but I do believe God had a big hand in what happened. She is now standing up on her walker, eating solid foods, with no tubes, heart medicines, and certainly no respirator. Who knows, she may never walk out of the hospital before another big heart attack happens, but the Lord has blessed our family with some amazing things, especially the extra time with Mamaw. My family does ask that each of you keep praying. She was really thrilled when I told her the churches in India were praying for her (thanks Louis). International prayers are always the best, right? Seriously, we want to thank everyone who has kept her in their prayers.
So much more I could tell you about what is happening and the upcoming month, but I feel I may have exceeded the average attention span already. Keep an eye out for our sick and others who may be struggling.
No comments:
Post a Comment