Midweek message #72<\/p>\n
Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #72.\u00a0 Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to let me into your (often) busy and (sometimes) complicated life.<\/p>\n
I write with a heavy heart this week. I\u2019m sure many of you know by now that Lynn Arnett went to be with Jesus on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 I feel hurt and pain whenever anyone I love passes away<\/em>.\u00a0 In spite of the pandemic and my own ordeal with COVID, God has been good. However, I have lost two men in the past 8 months who impacted me in different ways. One was a quiet, unassuming man who constantly encouraged me. Even though he was not crazy about our music (he was more traditional), he once said, \u201cI stay for the sermon.\u201d WOW! He has no clue what that meant to me. The other man was a jokester, an out-going car salesman (\u201ctransportation consultant\u201d as he called himself) who made me laugh. They will be missed.<\/p>\n Having an older person pass into eternity is gut-wrenching for those involved. Imagine thinking you were going to lose your formerly healthy, soccer-playing 13 year old son when he is suddenly put on life support in the ICU! That is only part of the story that Mike, Trisha, and Ryan Laws (and Brooklyn, his sister) experienced and will be sharing with us this coming Sunday. Brooklyn has already settled into her freshman year at West Virginia University, so she will be unable to be here. I am simply going to allow them to tell you their story and how God faithfully stayed with them through it all. In this case, He chose to use Mike giving his kidney to Ryan to save his life. Jo and I were captivated by their story when we sat down with them a few weeks ago at their house, and I honestly believe you will be to. \u00a0They will be with us at 9 and 10:45 this Sunday. The youth will also be with us since it is the 5th<\/sup> Sunday.<\/p>\n Please keep in mind the Cookout\/pitch-in scheduled for Saturday night at 6:00. Jo and I are providing the hamburgers and hot dogs and won\u2019t be buying those till later this week so, if you would like to come, it is not too late to sign up. If you haven\u2019t signed up, come anyway. I\u2019m sure there will be enough food. Someone told me Sunday he would like to come but won\u2019t because he would have to come empty-handed. I told him bring his stomach then and don\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 He signed up as bringing an \u201cempty tummy.\u201d I laughed, but am glad he plans to come. You can too! Oh\u2026we will eat inside in the youth addition since it is supposed to be in the mid-90s the whole day. The whole week in fact.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t forget Backpack Buddies this Sunday for our mission.\u00a0 They are still in need of individual fruit snacks; small bags of chips, etc.; fruit cups and snack cakes. We will be collecting them this Sunday and in the future.<\/p>\n I told you in last week\u2019s MM to look for a big announcement about October 17th<\/sup>. Well, here is your first peek. There is more to come but hopefully this will serve to whet your whistle. Besides, you can put it on your calendar as a day you don\u2019t want to miss. We are calling it 17 on the 17th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Many of you know what I am referring to, but for those who don\u2019t: OVCF will celebrate her 17th<\/sup> year on that day. \u00a0I\u2019m not going to say much more right now since we have not had a chance to meet about the details. However, I will share more as I know. You can also look in the church bulletin, as well as the FB page for more, and up-to-date info.<\/p>\n I know this will seem like a shameless promotion, but I hope you don\u2019t take it that way. On my \u201cShadow\u201d blog, I shared the following post this past Monday. I\u2019d invite you to join the conversation there, subscribe and comment, but just in case you don\u2019t want to or have the time, I\u2019d like to share what I wrote:<\/p>\n This past weekend Jo and I made a quick trip to Ohio on Friday to watch our grandson, Braden, play his first game as a freshman in high school. We came back Saturday after the game. Driving 4-4 1\/2 hours one way gives one a lot of time to think. Lately, the church family has been hit hard with “stuff.”<\/p>\n There are more things I could add-much more-but you get the picture. As I thought about all of the “stuff” hitting us, I refused to have a pity party. I thought of Daniel and I thought of something I read this past week:<\/p>\n God is still God even when we don’t understand His ways.<\/strong><\/p>\n The nonbeliever cannot sync the idea of trials and suffering with a good God.\u00a0 But the follower of Jesus can. We must choose to worship God and to trust His goodness, sovereignty, and power. We remind the world around us that we are in the hands of the One who controls it all. God is still God; I am still me; and He is still in charge.<\/p>\n Above all: I hope you know you are loved most by God, and by me.<\/p>\n Pastor Bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Midweek message #72 Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #72.\u00a0 Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to let me into your (often) busy and (sometimes) complicated life. I write with a heavy heart this week. I\u2019m sure many of you know by now that Lynn Arnett went to be … <\/p>\n\n