Pastor's Notes
Dear Church Family,
Recently one of my ministerial colleagues lent me a 5 disc DVD special edition called NBA Dynasty Series. It is called “The Complete History of the Boston Celtics”. As a person from New England, I knew a lot of the history and thought it would be fun to revisit the highlights of the Celtic organization. What I especially liked about this series was that I could watch several of the actual games that I had seen when I was a teen-1969; college-1976 ;a young adult-1981, 1984, and 1986. Since this was made in 2003, it did not include the 17th championship.
What I do remember when I watched all those basketball games for the first time on television was that they were all stressful, nail biters. When I watched them, this time on DVD, I noticed how relaxed and calm I was, because I knew the outcome.
This made me think of spiritual things, that we all know life‟s final outcome, but do we allow ourselves in life to worry and be stressed? The Celtics DVD Special was a good reminder that God has everything in control and to trust in his grace. (Will I be able to remain calm during the Patriots-Giants Superbowl? Probably not).
January is the time when we started new plans, resolutions or made commitments for the New Year. Now that it is February, and I want us to keep that alive. One focus that I have talked about has been reading through the Bible in one year. I have passed out Bible Reading Records and hope that you are well on your way. We also have a Bible Reading Forum and an email support group to help encourage you along the way.
Let me share some things that work for me. Read the New Testament first. Begin with the gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Progress to the Book of Acts, then the epistles, and finally the Book of Revelation. I do not recommend that you first start in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. By the time you get to the difficult books of Leviticus and Numbers you can get discouraged. In many cases the background of the gospels helps the Old Testament come alive.
Also, let me recommend that you read the Upper Room on a daily basis. We have copies in the church. When we become active in the devotional reflective part of our spiritual life, we are stronger for service.
Maranatha (O Lord, come)
Pastor Paul
