E-missive

The e-missive is a message by Pastor DeGroat. The message is biblical , enabling us to relate to the promise by a living God for salvation in Christ. Some of the content will come from e-mail forwarded by friends. In all attempts to lift up the Word, may we be blessed to be a blessing.

    In my last e-missive I mention my computer problems. The saga continues however with certain fortuitous resolutions and other mis-steps.
    Although the Microsoft FrontPage that powers this web was intact, a certain part slipped away unnoticed. The homemade calendar in coming events was to be cut and pasted so the page could be loaded and then the calendar pasted and updated. UNFORTUNATELY, the paste never took place. I only learned earlier this Saturday evening what I neglected to do. OOPS!
    For the Midvale Church, much on the calendar is regular week-in and week-out meetings. The next big thing is Scout Sunday February 12. Scout Sunday is for Boy and Cub Scouts to practice their "religion" because Scouts are religious. The Boy Scouts of America even defended the right to exclude atheists over this religious clause. Nothing personal, it's just that religion is looked upon as a vital component of their DNA. I thank God for that.
    Last week we had a nearly successful blood drive. Nearly successful because the delivery of the equipment utilitized by Red Cross personnel did not include the correct computer. Without the correct computer the drive could not begin. Not begin until noon, three hours late. Arriving by courier, the computer fired up and in nearly four hours (an hour of overtime) 25 units were successfully drawn, short a goal of 30 units.
    Waiting for this computer was not always an exercise in patience. To turn donors away in the morning, hoping they would return later, was not easy. Especially those who returned later that morning only to discover the computer had yet to arrive. Patience is a special virtue and some of us, myself included, learned a new lesson in patience.
    The sermon on Sunday the 15th deals with the calling of Christ's disciples as recorded in the first chapter of John. Read the chapter as a whole. It is a wonderful passage reminding us that faith is following ("Come and see") a living Christ in an adventure we cannot determine in advance. As written in Hebrews 11:1, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." We will also sing a hymn to honor the Martin Luther King remembrance. It is an Isaac Watts hymn put to music by Robert Lowery, "Marching to Zion"

    Come, we that love the lord, and let your joys be know;
    join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord,
    and thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
        We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion;
        We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.

    As far as people getting along with each other, may we march and realize that day when our differences are forgotten and all can live together in peace and good will.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Don

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For Further Reflection and Appreciation
Here is a really awesome site, Interview With God.
Another awesome site is love letter
Another site of peaceful music and reflection, Be Blessed
And still another site is The Seasons in Life
Another site with a selection of great graphics and music, andiesile.com