I remember a night when I was out late with friends in Nashville. We had about a forty mile trip back to Scottsville and, when we reached Gallatin, Tennessee, we hit the thickest fog I ever remember seeing. I couldn’t make out objects more than a few feet past the front of the car.

  Here I was creeping along at 5-10 miles an hour, keeping my eyes focused on the white line on the right side of the road when a car came up from behind at a regular rate of speed, passed me and just kept on going. I noticed that driver was making use of fog lights. I promised myself that I would get some of those.

  It’s been more than thirty years since that frightening experience but I still don’t have fog lights. I never seem to think about getting them installed until I’m again out on the highway late at night and begin seeing those low flying clouds. When the sun comes out and everything clears, I go on with my life and never think about preparing for the next time I’m out in the fog.

  Sometimes that’s the way we treat God. We call upon Him for help in times of need but when the sun is shining and everything goes well we say, “OK God, I can handle things from here. I can make it on my own.” Or, at least we think so, until the next time we’re in trouble.

  How good it is to be close enough to God all the time to know He will be with us whatever comes our way. Then we won’t have to worry if we’ve made preparation for the problems that will surely eventually come.

  When we lose our way and can’t see ahead, God will be our spiritual fog lights.  He will light our path.

                                                                                         God bless, David

Training (Value 5)

  Training produces competence, competence produces confidence, and confidence produces success.

Ken Houts, from YOU ARE A MIRACLE WAITING TO HAPPEN

  Professional baseball players show up early on game day for batting practice. Now, wouldn’t you think that after years of training in little league, high school, college, minor league teams, and for however long they have been in the Major League, that this would be enough?

  They know how to hit a ball with a bat. But what makes them successful as a professional is realizing they have to do more. They go over the basics of the game every day and practice, practice, practice.

  As Christians we need to realize that, if we are to do our best for the Lord, then our witness and our work is important enough to learn how to do it better. Training is a value because it helps us grow in our serving.

  On Wednesdays we are in training from 6:10 until 6:55 P.M. each week. Join us for our “Harvest Study.” For several weeks we have been studying the book, “YOU ARE A MIRACLE WAITING TO HAPPEN,” by Ken Houts. This week will be the last session of this study but next week Kathy Hershman will begin teaching on “RELEASING THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS.”

  This new study will help us to find out what our gifts are and how we may work out of these gifts. True fulfillment in our spiritual work requires that we let God work in and through us as He has gifted us for the job to which He has called us.

  Every Christian is a minister. What is your ministry? Do you know? Do you feel qualified to do your work?

  We don’t have any batting cages but practice begins each Wednesday at 6:10 P.M. I hope to see you there.

                                                                                                            God bless,  David

 Heartfelt needs are met through relationships. Relationships empower the…member to meet the needs of others by first meeting the needs of those ministering. Loving relationships strengthen the…member to meet needs and love bonds the visitor to the church.
Ken Houts, in YOU ARE A MIRACLE WAITING TO HAPPEN

  I have a friend who left the church years ago to create what was at that time a new idea, an internet church. When I got past the fact that this was just strange and alien to my experience, I realized there were more basic reasons for my objections.
  Jesus created the church because He wanted people to be saved; then He wanted to provide a place for those saved people to serve others and to be witnesses to what Jesus has done in the past and is doing today. While it may be possible to come to belief on one’s own, I know very few who have done so. Why would we wish to? We need the encouragement we receive from our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we need to be encouraging to others in their walk.
  There are too many things today which pull us apart. Years ago I heard a “futurist” talk about what life might be like in the not-so-distant future. Just about everything we need will be ordered on line and delivered directly to our homes. We will board our cars in locked garages and exit our gated community by the guard station. We won’t have to worry about encountering people on the way to work because our office will be in our home. In fact, we could possibly go for weeks or months without actually making contact with another living, breathing human being. How sad.
  John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This not only tells us that God loves people, but that this love is so great He had to come to us “in person.” If God did that for us, how are we to truly love without relating? Relationships are important.
                                                                                                                    God bless, David

     This fall we will have a study on Wednesday nights after the meal (6:10-6:55 p.m.).  There will be several sources used over time, but each will focus our attention on some aspect of the “Harvest” which God wishes to bring to our church and community.
    Our first study (Wednesdays, September 2 - October 7) will be on the book, YOU ARE A MIRACLE WAITING TO HAPPEN, by Ken Houts.
    Do you believe that God can work miracles?  Could you be a part of someone’s miracle?  This book talks about the fact that God is already working in people’s lives and, if you are willing to be available, God may use you to do His work.
   The special price for the book is $7 (list price is $14.99) and you may purchase it in the church office or on Wednesday nights.
                                                                                                                       Bro. David

  “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”                                       (John 6:51, NRSV)

  The symbol for the medical profession is of a serpent on a pole. It comes from the story of the Israelite people traveling in the wilderness. When the snakes attacked, God told Moses to lift a serpent up on a pole and all who looked up would be saved.
  Later, Jesus was lifted up on a cross. If we look up and believe, He will save us from our sins and He will lift us up on the last day.
  Jesus refers to Himself as “The Bread of Life.”  We are reminded every first Sunday when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper that He gave His life up for us.  Whenever we partake of the “Bread and the Cup,” His “Body and Blood,” we remember that the Bread of Life came down to be raised up so that we may be raised on the last day.
  In John 6:51 Jesus says that “the bread that I…give…is My flesh.” Jesus’ mission was more than a theoretical idea. Jesus really suffered and died. He felt the pain that should have been ours.
  His promise is that if we look up and believe, we will be saved. Sometimes we seem to think that being a Christian is all a matter of what we think. Jesus has shown us that it is also what we do. More importantly, it is what He did.
  My prayer is that we will all look up and live and then go tell everyone we love that because Jesus was lifted up, we may live forever.
                                                                                                   God bless,  
                                                                                                   David