TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
June 10, 2020
Hello, Crossroads Family!
I hope you’re experiencing God’s grace and peace this week! I’m thankful for each one of you and am glad we’re connected to each other through the Lord Jesus!
Calendar
An Opportunity to Serve this Friday, June 12
There is an opportunity to serve this Friday from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. distributing lunches to families who are receiving lunches over the summer. These lunches are packed at the YMCA and are distributed at a few of the larger churches in town. Could one or two of you join me and a few others this Friday at Pine Street Baptist Church to help with this project? We will simply be handing lunches to people in cars as they pull up. Easy work. Great way to help someone and make a difference. Please let me know today or tomorrow if you can help so I can let Pastor Chad Bailey know how many are coming from Crossroads. Thank you!
Saturday evening worship on Facebook.
Jessica will be leading us in some worship music on her Facebook page this Saturday at 5 pm. Join Jessica and others in praise to God. You’ll be blessed, and your heart will be better prepared for worship on Sunday.
Sunday morning worship at the Y, 10:00.
I look forward to a great time of worship outdoors at the Y this Sunday at 10:00. I hope you can be there. Bring a lawn chair. I’m very excited about this week’s sermon from Ephesians 4:1-16, “The Christian Life is a Life of Unity with Other Believers.” I believe we’ll be challenged and encouraged by this section of the book of Ephesians. Do we dare strive for real unity in the church? Join us this Sunday. The sermon will also be posted on the Crossroads Facebook page starting Saturday evening.
Monday Night Bible Study, this coming Monday at 7 pm.
Join us on Facebook Live on Monday for the next part of our “Summertime Psalms” Bible Study series. We’ll be looking at “Psalms of the King” which will include Psalms 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24! Can’t wait to get into these psalms and be encouraged with you!
Saturday Morning Prayer at the Courthouse
The Vernon County Commissioners have authorized “Praying at the Flag Pole” on the first Saturday of each month at 9:30 am in front of the steps of the Vernon County Courthouse. Anyone is invited to attend.
I’m thankful for Crossroads church! I described it to someone this week as a group of Christians who are authentic and who see life as ministry. I’m glad you take to heart the idea of being a light and a witness for the Lord everywhere you go – work, home, school, and other places. More than ever, our world needs spiritual renewal through faith in the Savior of the world. Imagine if we, and all living on the earth, were filled up with the fruit of the Spirit of the Lord – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ! What a different world it would be!
Crossroads is changing too! Once we come out of this pandemic, we probably won’t look exactly the same … and we’ll probably be doing worship and ministry a little differently than previously. All of that is good – it means the church is alive and growing! Solidly planting a church (which is what we’re trying to do at Crossroads) takes a great deal of energy and flexibility as we develop our identity and respond to God’s unique call upon us.
Even though we aren’t a heavily program-oriented church, I’m amazed when I consider what does go on at Crossroads. This year we’ve had two different kinds of encounters going on for young people, in addition to Sunday Children’s Church and Young Life events! We had a monthly Home Group meeting in the winter and spring; now we’ve added a weekly Monday Night Bible Study. There have also been some young adults meeting for fellowship and encouragement. I look forward, as soon as we’re able, to renewing our Crossroads Connection fellowship lunch on the first Sunday of the month. In addition, many others of you meet informally for friendship, encouragement, and prayer. Very exciting. Let’s look for ways to widen our circles of friendship, to grow in new ways, to become mature followers of the Lord, and to be prayerful, effective church-planters!
Thoughts for Encouragement & Reflection
Dr. Terry Powell, professor at Columbia International University (where Diana and I attended seminary, and where four of our children did undergraduate studies), recently wrote a blog on his thoughts about getting through struggles “one day at a time.” I’ve reprinted it below. You can read more of Dr. Powell’s insightful articles at www.penetratingthedarkness.com.
Finally, Dr. Kevin Kompelien, President of the Evangelical Free Church of America, has written an article on the recent events dividing our nation. It’s called “A Time for Lament,” and Dr. Kompelien includes a prayer of lament which I urge you to read as a means of reflection and of expressing to God the great needs that exist in our nation and in our lives. Since the offices of the EFCA are in Minneapolis, our leadership there has been close to the epicenter of the recent protests and riots. I hope you will take time to read Dr. Kompelien’s thoughts at this link: https://www.efca.org/blog/engaging-culture/time-lament
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at the Y!
— Tom
One Day at a Time
How wise of God to create us with the need for bodily rest and sleep. How thoughtful of Him to design a world with a recurring cycle of sunlight and darkness which provides us a built-in opportunity for a fresh start every 24 hours. In a very real sense, we do not live decades, years, months, or weeks. We only live days … one day at a time.
This perspective injects a dose of strong medicine into my weary soul. It isn’t mere semantics, a play on words that avoids the realism of suffering in our future. No, it is a biblical way of looking at things, a principle that instills resiliency for facing difficulties. I find this insight extremely helpful, despite battling insomnia for decades. I still get some rest and sleep each night.
The all-beclouding hopelessness of a severe depressive episode does not overwhelm me next year. Just today. (And not every single day at that.) What encouragement!
The piercing pain of spinal degeneration does not feel like I am caught in the vise-grip of giant pliers next month. Just today. What reassurance!
Satan is not bombarding me next week with temptations that make me want to raise the white flag of surrender. Just today. What comfort!
The circumstances I cannot control, which often generate all-consuming anxiety, do not aggravate me tomorrow. Just today.
Realizing how short-lived those threats are boosts my spirit!
For one day, God grants enough grace and sufficiency to endure any trial. If I thought I had to fight these foes 24/7 nonstop, without the blessed respite of sleep and the start of a new day, I would falter at the bleak prospect. Ask any recovered alcoholic or drug addict, and he will tell you that the only day he needs to stay sober is today. Similarly, the only day in which I need to endure physical or emotional pain, resist temptation, or overcome worry through grace-motivated effort is today.
On the positive side, the only day I need to exercise the discipline to nurture my walk with God, through extended prayer and time in His Word, is also today. “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
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