Sunday, August 17, 2008
“TIME WARP”
You’ll notice at the end of this newsletter there are question
marks for last week’s attendance and offering. This is because I’m
writing to you on Saturday, August 9th and you’re getting this on
Sunday, August 17th and I’m suppose to be reporting to you for the last
week which was Sunday, August 10th but for me at the time of this
writing your last week is my next week! Did that make sense? It’s OK if
you’re confused because I am too!
I know that 60 seconds today is the same as 60 seconds ten years ago.
And a 24 hour day is still the same length as a 24 hour day
5 years ago. But my reality tells me we are in a time warp. The older I
get, time is accelerating.
As a kid, I thought I’d never grow up and get to be an adult.
Time seemed to drag and growing up was taking forever. Now as an adult I
think, where is the time going? It is all going by too quickly!
There is a country song out right now that says, “Don’t Blink”. You
blink and your kids are grown. You blink and you find yourself retired.
You blink and life seems to time warp past you faster than you can keep
up with. It’s the modern day version of Rip Van
Winkle: you fall asleep in the woods and wake up to discover you have
missed an entire lifetime!
This isn’t exaggeration. This is reality! Because the hours, days,
weeks, months, seasons and years fly by we need to carefully prioritize
what we will do with the limited time that we have.
I have discovered that the most important thing I can do in order to get
the most out of my time is to first spend time each day with God. My
natural inclinations scream against the thought of taking too much time
away from my busy list of things to do, but my spiritual reality and
experience has been something different.
God’s sense of time is different than ours. God is eternal.
He has all the time in the world. He created time. The more time I spend
in prayer and scripture reading, the more time I seem to have to get
other things done. I don’t get everything done, but some things I
discover really don’t need to be done and my priorities shift in light
of the guidance and direction I sense from spending time with God. It is
really like a time warp!
I believe God has given us enough time to do what He wants us to do. I’m
still working on the details to fully understand and implement it. Happy
time traveling!
“Take Risks” and God Bless,
Pastor Sal
JOIN US TONIGHT
Sunday, August 17th, from 6PM to about 8:30 PM is our first
community pool party in Millerstown. We need a lot of food donations and
we also want to have some greeters stationed at the entrance and also
some folks willing to oversee the food area and a couple of guys to work
the grill. We also need someone who is willing to bring an extra grill
so we can have 2 grills going at the same time and keep up with the
demand.
Check out the sign up sheet for both donations and volunteering.
Remember, you don’t have to go swimming or even wear a swim suit, just
come out and meet and greet people, have something to eat and enjoy. You
might want to bring a lawn chair.
KNOBELS YOUTH TRIP
Any of our youth (or adults) who would like to go to Knobels
amusement park for the day, we are leaving the church at 1:30 on
Thursday, August 21st. You are on your own for cost of rides and foods.
We will return to the church late that evening
BLESSING OF BACKPACKS
What is that all about? We are going to take some time during our
Sunday morning celebration on August 24th to bless the backpacks and our
children as they head back to school this year.
Moms and Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas bring your children and their
school backpacks to church with you on August 24th as we celebrate going
back to school and pray for God’s blessing, guidance and protection
throughout another school year.
BBQ CHICKEN
Dressler’s Ridge is having a BBQ chicken sale on September 6th to
go toward their building fund. They have about a $50,000.00 loan and
their building is close to being occupied.
As a sister church, we want to get behin them and support them as much
as we can. First, we need you to order chicken and get orders for other
family and friends. Pastor Sal hopes the Turkey Valley church family
will order at least 100 halfs. We want to keep those guys at the BBQ
pits busy. Second, they are in need of food donations: baked beans, mac
& cheese, pies, chicken corn soup, etc. These are food items that they
will sell when the chicken is picked up.
NEW MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY
We don’t have a name for this yet but we are going to begin a Jr.
High/Middle School/Pre-teen youth group. This is going to be aimed at
5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders and they will meet on Saturday nights from
6 PM to 8 PM starting on September 6th.
This will be similar to our youth group on a younger scale.
There will be games, activities and some bible lessons and prayer. It
will be a mixture of fun and learning.
We have a couple servant-volunteers to work this new ministry and they
are asking for others who may be interested in being part of the team.
Check with Connie and she will hook you up.
ANGEL FOOD
Mark your calendars, share some brochures and be a part of the
distribution team!
Aug. 10th: Orders Due
Aug. 30th: Distribution Day
Sept. 14th: Orders Due
Sept. 27th: Distribution Day
Oct. 12th: Orders Due
Oct. 25th: Distribution Day
FOR THE TROOPS
We are collecting donations and making care packages to send.
There will be a box in the back of the sanctuary for donations with a
list of acceptable and unacceptable items. If you have any questions or
know of any troops you would like to have included, please contact Donna
Kline.
CAR WASH
The children will be having their annual car wash on Saturday,
September 6th from 9 AM to 3 PM. Money raised from this goes toward
their mission projects. The kids have a lot of fun with this. Come out
and support them in their efforts.
FALL CALENDAR
Sept. 7th: Brunch
Sept. 13th: Work Camp Day
Sept. 21st: Dressler’s Ridge Sunday School Picnic
Oct. 4th: Leadership Retreat
Oct. 11th: Fall Fest
Oct. 17-19: Men’s Emmaus Walk
Oct. 24-16: Women’s Emmaus Walk
EMMAUS WALK
The Emmaus walk is not a walk, it is a spiritual retreat/weekend.
It begins on Thursday evening and runs through Sunday evening. The cost
is $100.00. The next Men’s Walk is Oct. 16-19 and the next women’s walk
is Oct. 23-26. Applications are back at the sign up table. We would like
to see a good group of both women and men going in order to experience
this.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
We are recruiting for next quarter’s Sunday School which starts
in September. We are looking for an elementary teacher and helper and
for some adult teachers. Check with Connie. Thanks.
SERVANT-VOLUNTEERS
Church Nursery (infant – 3 yr old)
Today: Donna Matter & Melissa Boonie
Next Week: Rose Hoffman & Jessica Sassaman
Children’s Church (4 yr old – 3rd grade)
Today: Connie Peer & Linda Forbes
Next Week: Nathan & Holly Bailor
Jr. Church (4th grade through 6th grade):
Today: Tina Linn & Eileen Linn
Next Week: Cindy Boonie
CARE & SHARE
Needs plastic shopping bags. Please drop them off at the store or
at the church. Thanks.
