TMG
Hello, Crossroads Family!
“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour'” (Job 37:5-6).
God said, “Fall mightily” to the rain and the snow last night and today! I hope you are safe and well. Take time to pray for someone at Crossroads today. What needs might they have that you could pray for? Who are you thankful for? Tell God about them!
Here are some reminders and other thoughts…
This Sunday
We’ll worship this coming Sunday morning at 10:00 at the Community Center, 200 N. Ash Street. Todd Brooks, from the Central District of the Evangelical Free Church, will be speaking. It will be a good morning to get to know Todd, to be with each other, and to be encouraged in our hearts. Thanks to nursery workers, worship team, greeters, all those who set up and tear down, and thanks to those who bless us with food and drinks on Sundays!
Weather Information
If there is ever a need to cancel Sunday activities at Crossroads, you will almost certainly receive a text message early Sunday morning, and an email if I have your email address. There will also be an announcement posted on the Crossroads Facebook page and on our website, http://www.nevadacrossroadschurch.org. If you’re ever unsure, call me or one of the other elders.
“Breathe” Bible Study starts Sunday, February 20
Ladies, on February 20 at 9 am the “Breathe” Bible study will begin. “Breathe” is a 5-session study that teaches how observance of Sabbath offers a fullness that helps us move from day to day with more peace, more joy, and more opportunity to breathe! Meet at the Community Center, 9:00, before worship.
Some Personal Thoughts
Here are a few thoughts that have encouraged and challenged me in recent days …
Another reason to be thankful.
Did you know that thankfulness prepares the way for answered prayer? Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me, and prepares the way so that I may show him his way.” In some way that perhaps we can’t fully understand, God’s answers to prayer are prepared by our thankfulness. All the more reason to maintain a discipline of giving God thanks all the time!
Do you possess serenity?
I was listening to a program last week by Elisabeth Elliot on the subject of aging and serenity! She suggested that a Christian’s attitude toward aging should be joy … because with growing older comes the prospect of seeing the Savior all the sooner! In a larger sense, she reminded her listeners that serenity comes from trusting Christ in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, not in other circumstances we imagine would be better for us. “We moan and groan and imagine that if we could just shed our own circumstances, the limitations on our own minds and bodies, and could get a different set of each, we could really make some progress in life. Yet, the only place we are going to make progress is in the very place God has put us, with all the mental, physical, and circumstantial limitations that seem, to us, so restrictive.” I love that, don’t you! So, let’s make progress today … right where we are! He is helping us to do that!
Encouragement from Philippians
- “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6).
- “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel(Phil 1:27).
C.S. Lewis: Christians too easily settle for less.
The film last Sunday night on C.S. Lewis and his journey to faith in Christ was excellent. If you’ve never read C.S. Lewis’ books, you should! They are weighty, but they will captivate your mind and imagination, and the chapters are usually short so you can digest them a little at a time. Since the movie on Sunday night, I’ve started re-reading The Weight of Glory. Here’s a familiar passage Lewis writes in that book on the subject of real joy in the Lord vs. the temporary amusements and pleasures we so easily accept instead:
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
The people God gives us.
- One of the new vocal music students this semester at Cottey College is from Paris. I was able to meet her this week, and we enjoyed talking for at least an hour in both English and French! I look forward to getting to know her and to accompanying her recital pieces this semester. Recitals this semester will be in the afternoon on April 24, and in the evening on April 25, in the Missouri Recital Hall.
- I’m so happy that my daughter Betsy and her fiancé Dan have set this coming September 17 as their wedding date! Also, it looks as if all of my kids, some of their spouses, and a couple of the grandkids, will be in Nevada for Evan’s graduation on May 22. It will be the end of a long run of having kids in school, starting in 1988 when our oldest, Emma, went to pre-school in Albertville, France! There are five students from Crossroads graduating from Nevada High School this spring: Kylee, Asa, Chosen, Kyle and Evan. Great students! My Samuel will also graduate from the College of the Ozarks on May 7 with a degree in Biblical Studies.
God is faithful and will continue to be! We can trust Him! I hope you will today in whatever you’re doing! Whenever something troubling finds its way to your spirit, stop and tell the Lord about it. Let Him carry the thought-burdens and heart-burdens you bear today. “Casting all your cares on Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
— Tom
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