If you've been on the Journey very long you know there are mountain top experiences with God and there are also the times, often painful, when you go through the valley. Today we talked about how to get through those valleys by taking steps in the right direction via trust and obedience.
Next Sunday Andy will pick up where I left off. Then the following Sunday I'll bring a seasonal message on the Sunday before Christmas.
Nate chose Steven Curtis Chapman's song "The Mountain" to introduce the message today. If you know his family's story this year you have to appreciate the insights God gave him well in advance of the valley they would traverse with the tragic death of their daughter. Here are the words from the 2nd verse:
You bring me up here on this mountain
For me to rest and learn and grow
I see the truth up on the mountain And I carry it to the world far below
So as I go down to the valley
Knowing that You will go with me
This is my prayer, Lord
Help me to remember what You've shown me
Up on the mountain
They also plugged in some Christmas music including a rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" that sneaks in a lead guitar part from "Carol of the Bells" (with distortion, of course). It's fantastic. Can't wait for more.
Tina tells me our Lil K class (pre-schoolers) was maxed out today at 9AM. The place is crawling with young children.
Following the second worship gathering a lot of folks stayed around to get the place re-set and decorated for tonight's annual Christmas dinner. We don't have a separate "fellowship hall", so our worship space is multi-purpose. In came the tables and chairs for tonight's meal. We set up enough to handle 216, utilizing the lobby as well. Good thing!
Talk about a ton of food! Our Fellowship Team did a great job setting up the food lines, getting nearly 200 people through pretty quickly. Shawn P., who has been around a few years looked around and was remembering when things were much smaller. It's quite amazing to me, too.
The stack of coats donated to give away next week to the needy in the community is becoming a mountain! Keep it up! And I don't know what was given tonight to send Bibles to youth and children in countries where believers are under persecution, but it looked like a pretty healthy offering. Thanks for giving to Jesus' body like this in celebration of His Birth, especially when it's not so easy to give.
My Flashback next Sunday will not be about NHC. I'll be speaking in a church in Vero Beach, FL while visiting our daughter and son-in-law. Hope the weather's warm!
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10 comments:
Your church is doing an amzing job! God bless for the Christmas season.
I too remember when we would eat in the fellowship area of the old building. I think it probably held around 60 max.
It was cool to sit there and look around last night and see how the church has changed (grown) in the past several years.
Looks like next year we will have to come up with a different plan, eat in shifts, have two different dinners or something.
Andrew added a nice touch to the ambience with his keyboard skills.
I remember having fellowship in the old building before the addition! Talk about cramped! It's amazing to see how much NH(B)C has grown in just 10 years!
First, the message today was very good on the highs and lows of our spiritual journey. I have never heard a pastor speak of the lows in any prevous church I have been to--or maybe I wasn't listening? Anyway, I appreciated the message very much because I am concerned about new Christians getting discouraged.
Second, Christmas dinner was very well organized and flowed quite well. Andrew was amazing on the keyboard! What a nice touch that was. Sometimes I do miss the intimacy of the smaller fellowship but last night was cool to see soooo many people packed in to celebrate Christmas dinner together. It was a beautiful evening spent among friends.
I don't know Rick...I hear Vero Beach is dangerous...here is an article that was on the web today:
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.
The report said the man would not let the woman out of the vehicle, so she threw his drink out of the car. In response, the man allegedly grabbed her arm and smashed the cheeseburger into her face. The pair got out of the car, and authorities say the man again took the McDonald's sandwich and put it on her face.
The man was released on $1,000 bond Wednesday.
that would have been a loving act if he had used a Hardee's thick burger.
That cheeseburger would have probably hurt her MORE in the long run if she had eaten it!
Still, I hope she trades up in boyfriends after this.
Never seen a blog post hijacked by a cheeseburger before...
Never seen a blog post hijacked by a cheeseburger before...
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hijack your blog, but since you mentioned Vero Beach.... we're a bit distractible...did you see that squirrel?
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