Soon and Very Soon...

What a service we had today!!!

This is a link to a pre-recorded service/message for today.  It starts out with our choir singing 

"Soon and Very Soon, We Are Going to See the King, Hallelujah!"...but actually that song was sung by the whole congregation at the close of the service.

Also, the Pastor preached/taught from Matthew 18:15-35, entitled

"How to Get Along When You ain't getting along"...talking about forgiveness...a message there for each and every one of us for sure.

But what you can't see in this video is the real service that was going on. As I said above, this was pre-recorded ahead of time. Our choir recorded the song last week at choir practice. The Pastor pre-recorded his message on another day during the week before an audience of video recorder and perhaps his wife handling any technicalities (or maybe not...he may be alone with just the camera, I'm not sure). We started recording the messages like this back during the pandemic of 2020 for the benefit of everyone who had to stay at home and not attend church in person.  Then as we started coming back to church, using masks and social distancing, we continued the recorded services for those who were not well or who still did not feel comfortable coming back to church in person.  As time went by, the masks came off and we once again crowded into the pews together, rubbing shoulders and giving hugs, singing out loud and coming forward for the Lord's Supper (Communion) each week.  But still, we continue to record the choir singing a song that people at home can sing along with, and the pastor records his message so those who cannot come for whatever reason can still be a part of the worship service from a distance. It's not live-streamed, so there are still no other people in the audience, and no interaction with one another. It may be okay for those who have health issues and are not able to participate in person for one reason or another, and I am not being critical of that because it definitely serves a purpose, but it was never intended to become the norm for church attendance and worship.

I saw this quote on Facebook today and shared it, and it seemed to resonate with a lot of people:

And today in our service there was a good example of the real church in action, in person.  In the middle of the Pastor's sermon, there was a bit of a commotion in a pew toward the back of the sanctuary. An elderly woman had suddenly fainted. Immediately someone across from her noticed and jumped up to her aid. We have several nurses in our congregation, and they each one also jumped and ran to offer assistance. A gentleman in the back called 911. The Pastor stopped his sermon and led the congregation in prayer for this dear woman.  The EMT's arrived in short order and came in and began to assess her situation. By then she had regained consciousness, Praise God, and she sat up and asked for us to sing a song while the the EMT's continued to check her out. We sang Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace.  Meanwhile someone who knew that she lives alone and that her daughter lives out of state, and that she had just been here but had left to go back home, was able to get her phone number so that she could be contacted right away. It turns out that this woman is diabetic, and she admitted that she had not eaten any breakfast this morning. Soon the EMT's took her out to the waiting ambulance and she was transferred to the hospital. The Pastor then, amazingly, was able to pick up where he'd left off in his message and completed the sermon. Then is when the congregation sang the song from the video seen above, "Soon and Very Soon, We are Going to See the King, Hallelujah!", and it was sung with such joy and exuberance, because we know that each one of us will have that day when we will meet Jesus face to face...where there is no more crying there...and no more dying there...Hallelujah, Hallelujah! We are going to see the King!"  And again there was a prayer for our dear friend who appeared to be doing much better and who wanted to hear us singing instead of showing fear or alarm...a very sweet and calm spirit pervaded the room...and we all left feeling a sense of knowing that the Spirit of the Lord had been in that Sanctuary with us today for sure...

My friends...this was the church in action today. It was a great example of how much we each need the fellowship of the church, the Body of Christ in service to one another...praying, singing, ministering, and healing...

If you are at all physically able to attend church, please do. 

"The church needs you, and you need the church."

Amen.

 

Monday Monday

Good Morning! Not much new to share today, but thought you'd want to know that the Sand Hill Crane Family came back by for a visit.  "Colt" (on the right below) is getting almost as big as his mother. I don't know where they've been the past week...maybe they took a "Spring Break" vacation to show "Colt" the sights around town. But anyway they came back and stepped right back into their routine where they left off.

Mrs. Bluebird stuck her head out of her house to see what was going on in her yard this time. 

Between the turtles laying eggs and the Sand Hill Cranes trampling through the garden, I think she's beginning to think that "Still Waters Pond" isn't so still after all!

The cranes were happy to take a bath and find some good juicy snacks in the water.

And then they wandered on around to other places to eat and eventually back out to the island to sleep for the night.  I'm glad they are back. I was missing their daily activities.

Oh, and speaking of the butterfly garden...here's a picture of the first "butterfly" to visit the garden that I've seen.  This is a Common Checkered Skipper.  He may not be the most beautiful butterfly in God's kingdom, but he's cute, and he seems to like the flowers, so that makes me happy.

Speaking of things that make me happy, our church has a breakfast every 3rd Saturday and every 5th Saturday.  It is open to the public and is a way to reach out to the community and welcome them to our church.

So we went on Saturday morning and enjoyed a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage...or you could have biscuits and sausage gravy, grits, eggs any way you want them, french toast or regular toast. You can pick and choose what you want, or you can have some of each. It's a great deal/meal for $6.00! Includes coffee, tea, and/or juice.

Y'all come!

Speaking of church, here's our service from yesterday.

The choir was singing an old hymn favorite,

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

and the Pastor preached from I Corinthians 12:12-30, entitled "Ouch, That Hurts!", a message about the Body of Christ, and when one part of the body hurts, so does the rest of the body...and how much we need each other.  Great message.

"Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with thee.

Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not.

As thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"

We love our little church family. It's a wonderful place to worship God and grow in His Word. We have a wonderful pastor, and his wife is our music/worship leader.  For such a small church, we have a lot of outreach ministries that we support in our community and beyond. And now my hubby is serving as the teacher of the Adult Sunday School class as well as a Men's Bible Fellowship on Monday mornings. I am so happy that he is able to continue using his gifts of teaching God's Word even though he is retired. It's been really good for him.

Another thing we enjoy is going out to lunch after church with a group of church friends. We never know exactly who all will join us as it might change from week to week.  Lately we've been meeting at this little country cafe' in town called Nanna's Country Cafe'.  It's good country cooking...nothing fancy, but most weeks we have a reserved big table where we can squeeze in as many as possible.  I think I counted 13 people from our church there yesterday, but we couldn't all fit at the same table. Even so, it was just great having that added time of fellowship after church with sweet people. To me it's like the icing on the cake after a good church service!

One of the joys of living in a small town. We don't have a lot of places to choose from to go eat, but this place has been the most accommodating for our groups each week, so they win the prize!

Then we went home and took a nap. LOL.  But later our "kids" came over for supper and brought homemade egg rolls. I wish I had taken some pictures of them. Rose really knows how to cook them. They were SO good!  They were a meal in themselves, but I also cooked up an egg omelette with spinach and cheese and sausage in them and that made for a great supper! It was fun to have our kids over. We don't get to see them as much it seems these days because their business keeps them so busy. Happy for them that they are going to take a little vacation this coming weekend up to the mountains of Georgia.  They said we could go too if we wanted to, but even though we would love to do so, we really feel like they need a vacation without the parents along this time.  It was sweet of them to ask, but I think they were probably just as relieved that we said no.  LOL.

Well, I guess that's all for today. Here's a good thought/verse for the day:

Ephesians 4:1-3

1. "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, 

beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 

2. with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3. endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Amen.

Closed Doors, Open Windows to our New Life

First of all, let me say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have taken a moment to read and respond to my previous post HERE.  It has been such a busy time, and there just hasn't been time for me to reply to each comment, but I have read them and cherish your thoughts and each and every one of YOU.  Likewise, I haven't been able to get around and visit everyone else as I should, so I pray you will forgive me. Once this move is completely over there should be more time to visit.  It seems my brain, like this wind spinner,  is going in too many different directions right now, and I can't seem to focus on any one thing long enough to compose my thoughts.  So bear with me. It's going to get better soon. 

This is my reminder to "Rejoice in each new day"...even when I'm bone weary tired! Just sit down in the back yard of the Parsonage and relax with a cup of tea (when it's not too hot to be outside...) and let God restore and revive my weary bones and spirit...

So here is an update on what's been happening since we last visited. We finally got all of our stuff out of the old house and got it cleaned and ready for the new owners. I wish I could say it looked as good as new...but in reality, it looked pretty sad and in need of some new carpet (or no carpet at all...which would have been my choice!) and probably some fresh paint.  I didn't take any pictures of the house after we completely emptied it...it just looked too "sad".  But I must tell you that I was not sad...just very glad...and thankful that God had finally "Closed" that door...and has now "Opened" a very lovely large window into our future, and we are extremely thankful and rejoicing in what He has done.

We did bring with us some very special things and "critters"....This beautiful bench that my sons made for me for the Secret Garden...which will soon have a new home in a new Secret Garden at our new home...

These few plants from the Memorial Garden, especially the Rose of Sharon bush that my daughter in law selected because of its purple flowers, and one of the climbing Don Juan rose bushes that my siblings gave me for the Memorial Garden. I have since cut them back and am keeping them well watered, and praying they will survive thee move.

These little bunnies look like they are kind of unsure about where they are and what's going on, but they will also soon find a new home in the new Secret Garden...

Along with Mr. Froggy_Splatt...who seems to be quite pleased right where he is. I think he will love the new pond setting at the new house...

 And of course we couldn't leave behind Bobby the Squirrel...He is making friends here in the back yard...well, maybe not...I can hear the resident squirrels in the treetops scolding him for just sitting there and not coming up the tree to play...

Yesterday was the final closing for our "old" house, and the new buyers signed their papers and paid their money, and we are now totally free from that house. I can only say to you that we feel a profound sense of relief and thanksgiving. I do pray they will love it and enjoy it and make it their own very special home.

Meanwhile, we are getting prepared for our next move into our new home. Our closing there will not be until August 12, but we have many things to take care of in the meantime. Lining up quotes for some of the repair work that we need to do to make it our own home, as well as making sure all of the paper work is done prior to closing.  This keeps my brain swimming with details, and many lists are being made.  I am so glad we have this interim time to accomplish these tasks. God certainly had it all timed perfectly.

And speaking of God...the whole purpose in making this move was because we fell in love with this community and this church and these people.  I know I haven't shared any Sermon Notes in a while. Let me say that our new pastor is doing an excellent job in preaching to us exactly what we need to hear...this past Sunday was about us being the "Temple of God"..taken from I Corinthians 3:16-17 and I Corinthians 6:19-20.  Interestingly, our Sunday School lesson was on us being the "Body of Christ"...so between these two lessons we are understanding even better just who we are in the grand plan of God...we are His Temple, where He dwells, and we are Christ's Body, and we each have a very important purpose in being here...to love one another and to encourage the other members of the Body of Christ...to share the love of Christ with the world, and to worship and honor God with all that we do....

And one more beautiful part of this is that now we are able to also attend the Sunday evening service at church. We couldn't go before because it was just too far for us to travel two times in one day, but now we are about a mile from the church and have no good excuse! So we were blessed by the evening service, filled with music and praise and prayer...I told our friends there that I felt like I had been to "Camp Meeting"...it was so refreshing and filled with joy.  We are looking forward to adding this to our Sunday worship each week. 

Now to end on a funny note...this past weekend my hubby made the mistake of throwing something up in the air and it landed in this big tree beside the house (the parsonage).  Well, it got stuck in the tree, and so he tried to find something to knock it back down. Before he was done he had brooms, pipes, rakes and even a small shovel stuck up in that tree! I kid you not!  That tree has branches that grasp anything you throw and refuses to let go! SO, last evening our kids came over to visit and brought pizza for supper! (Another reason for our being so happy here...our kids live just a couple of miles away)...and they all took their turns trying to knock all these things out of the tree...it finally took a few hits with a large plastic bottle filled with water to knock most of the items down...there is still a broom that refuses to let go, however...and so we will save that for another day...

 Here below our daughter in law is throwing a Bocce Ball into the tree to see if that would knock the items down...she had a good arm and I think she was more successful than the guys at getting things knocked down.   We had to quit because a big storm was brewing and we didn't want to get hit by lightning....which soon became quite close and frequent...

After the storm and after the kids went back home, hubby and I took a walk and enjoyed this sunset...

And thus we come to the end of another day...but a day filled with joy and promise and hope for our new life here in this new "Open Window".  It won't be long before we will be moving into our new house and will have many more new adventures to share with you.  But for now, if you don't hear from me regularly, just pray that God is giving me the strength to keep up with everything each day. I know He will...but it's nice to know you are praying.

Have a blessed and glorious day wherever you are and in whatever adventures God is calling you to do.  Remember, God is with you wherever you go...He will never leave you nor forsake you...just trust in Him and He will guide you and keep you safe in the palm of His loving hands. 

"Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." 

Isaiah 41:10

One Body, Many Members

"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ."  I Corinthians 12:12

It is a great mystery, The Church, the Body of Christ...and yet, is it really such a mystery?  I like to think of the Body of Christ as a huge network of people from all over the world...of all races, colors, languages, and abilities.  Since the advent of the internet and especially "social networking", we are becoming more aware every day of our fellow body-members, brothers and sisters in Christ, from everywhere.  Distance is no longer a barrier to becoming "friends".  We existed long before we knew each other, and perhaps this medium of the internet is just another way that God is preparing us for our heavenly home.  We used to think that we would only know our family, close friends, and all the saints of old when we got to heaven.  But now, because our world is ever enlarging through these daily contacts we are making through social media, we are beginning to catch a glimpse of the magnitude and vastness of this Body of Christ, of which we, as believers, are all members.  It does not matter if you call yourself a Baptist, a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or even a Catholic, or any of the other many many denominations (and Non-Denominations) of churches. But what DOES matter is if you are a member of the body of Christ...a believer in Jesus Christ, Who has redeemed you by His blood for the salvation of your soul and has delivered you from death into everlasting life.

Yes, we are one body...and we are a network of friends and brothers and sisters in Christ...and because we belong to this huge network we are to love and care for one another...

"That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."  I Corinthians 12:25-26

So, my dear friends,  I thank God for each and every one of you. You have upheld me and my family this past year when we went through various trials and tribulations.  Your prayers have sustained us and covered us and kept us from going under when the seas of life became tempestuous.  There are many of you who are also suffering and hurting and grasping for that life-line...that safety net.  Let us continue to hold each other up in prayer and be that safety net for each other.  That's what the Body of Christ does...

Now that's what I call "networking!"