WEBSITE ANNOUNCEMENT
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Due to the heavy snowstorm we experienced this weekend, services at City Temple have been canceled. We will be having baptism and observing the Lord’s Supper on next Sunday, February 14, 2010 at the regular worship hour. We will also be making our anniversary pledge during that same worship service. All of the meetings, including the Leadership Prayer Service, that were scheduled for Saturday, February 6. 2010, will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at there appointed time.
The books, which we will be using for our congregational study beginning the first Sunday in Lent, have arrived. They will be available for purchase and pick-up during the week whenever we are able to open the office between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:00 pm as well as on Sunday morning following the morning worship.
Prayer service will not be held this week again due to the snow conditions. We will pick up with our study on next Tuesday.
Lastly, our annual church meeting that was scheduled for this week has been postponed until Tuesday, February 23rd at 7:00 pm. This will allow us to have addition information about the direction of the church’s ministry for 2010.
I hope that all of us will take the time while we are snowed in to share with our families and to spend some of that time with God, listening to God and seeking His will for our lives. After Pat and I spent some time outside shoveling snow, Pat spoke of the beauty of the snow, of the unusual silence that fills the earth as the snow falls and of the awesome nature of God that he designs a different snowflake for every one that falls. It is reassuring to know that if God gives that kind of attention to a simple snowflake, surely that attention that He gives to us is beyond anything we might be able to imagine.
Enjoy this time that God has given to us to be still. As the poet has said in Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Pastor Yeargin
As I watched the snow fall, I too witnessed the beauty and the silence of it. It almost seems as if at various times God allows something that will purge the earth and give us time to meditate and reflect. Isn’t it something, that crime is at a 0 level during major snowstorms? One begins to wonder why man cannot exhibit the self-control needed in times of good weather. Because we are not able to move, it causes us to reflect and take time to do the things we should do, i.e., time reading God’s word and things at home that we have not had time to do. It seems as if God really gets our attention now, because we really cannot move outside of our homes. As I did my devotions yesterday from 1Samuel 1:1-20, my devotional Bible asked me to reflect on a time this week God had done something for me. I did and I thanked God for it. But, it also, caused me to look back over time and remember all of the times when I knew there were two sets of footprints in the sand, because I know, I could never have made it by myself. My devotion reflected on the miracle of God to bless the womb of the barren Hannah. God is an awesome God, full of wonder; but full of grace, mercy and compassion. I am trying, more and more to “be still and know that he is God”, realizing that his mercies endure forever.
Isn’t it amazing the effect that snow has on us. The effect that stillness has on us. Greg and I also went out yesterday afternoon to shovel the snow (Greg did the shoveling while I mostly watched). As the snow continued to silently fall, we began to focus on the enormity of the snowfall, how quiet it was at that moment and how amazing it was that this massive blanket of snow fell one flake at a time. Imagine; how many snowflakes must it have taken to cover even our tiny part of the world? There’s no way to count it. That’s how awesome God is. We also lost our electricity for most of Saturday. But, in the words of City Temple’s “pint-sized sage”, Drew, the power was still on in our house. God’s power and His presence allowed us time to be still and to be silent and to connect with one another and to connect with Him. I treasure these quiet moments and thank God for this snowy respite.