We will truly miss you today. We are down in Ventura with our dear friends, Kin and Sonia Jung. Kin was our family physician until he retired and they have remained among our closest friends. While we were pastoring there we married a young couple in their front yard on a hill overlooking the Pacific. That couple now has two boys and they contacted us to say that the boys had never been dedicated and they would like for us to do it. So, we are taking advantage of the long weekend to do that and just crash for a few days. We’ll be back Monday evening and I’ll be here every Sabbath until I leave for Romania in April, the week after Easter.
I am thankful that Sherilyn can be with you today and I know that she is glad to be here after four weekends in a row up at Leoni Meadows. I mean, it’s a nice place, but that’s a bit much! We are so fortunate to have the O’Ffills here as part of the team.
Speaking of team, I am hoping to hear some good news this week regarding a potential candidate for our open spot. I have in mind a couple from Tennessee that I worked with for awhile in Virginia. Conference personnel committee has met this week (but I wrote this last Sunday) and if things look good we can invite them to come and interview soon. Wouldn’t that be nice? It has been a long search process, but this couple does look like a very good match. Just keep praying for God to guide.
Please keep in mind the financial needs to support Pr. Sherilyn’s expenses on the mission trip to Holbrook next month. She needs only around $500. Also keep in mind our evangelism in Romania in April. That is a bit more expensive. My costs run around $3,000 and we are hoping to leave them a good offering to help finish the outside of the church. These are good people and they truly appreciate our help.
Certainly we don’t want to forget our own needs right here. There is still a balance of more than $8,500 on our roof. I think with the recent rains we are all very glad that we have that project done. Now we need to move on to other projects that really need to be tackled. Help us finish this up and let’s work to make our church more up to date so that visitors feel that we have an eye to the future.
I am so excited by some of the things I am seeing in our midst. Currently I have several adults that are preparing for either baptism or profession of faith. That is so affirming and stands as a tribute to our church family as a whole. Many of these came to us by your invitation. Keep inviting your friends and family and colleagues. There are so many thousands out there who do not have a church home and many of them are open to an invitation. The worst they can do is say, “no.” Let’s offer to hold their ropes and let Jesus lead them at their pace.
This morning (Sunday) I conducted the funeral service for Aroda Bramblett. Probably most of you do not know the name, but you would remember her face if you saw it. She attended here regularly up until about two years ago when her Alzheimer’s got bad enough that she could no longer be out.
Her daughter brought her every week and helped her to the door with her walker. She always greeted me with the biggest grin and the sweetest words. I never saw her really mingle with very many others and she left right after church was over, but she just loved coming to her church.
Her four children and ten grandchildren and not members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and most of them don’t seem to be active in any other church, but I was so touched by the memories they shared at the service. They talked about the mom who always told them that she was praying for them. The grandchildren talked about the “Granny” who taught them how to pray. They recalled how each one of them knew that they were her favorite. Here was a lady who knew how to love unconditionally and I could see the results of that in a family that was very close and open in sharing their love for one another.
One granddaughter talked about how excited she was whenever she was told they were going to Napa to see Grandma and Grandpa. She knew there was going to be lots of fun and love there. She said it wasn’t until years later she learned that people loved to come to Napa because of the wine. I was able to share with them that the reason she had that experience was because Aroda was a branch connected to the Vine and not just a show for visitors. Here was one simple lady who had a life of hard work, but connected and cemented her entire family together with Christ’s love through her.
I have watched so many families interact at weddings and funerals. It is interesting to see how some of them are connected and strong and others don’t seem to know what to do with each other. Those that are strong are those that have loving examples at the head who have guided the rest with consistent compassion. It is beautiful to see.
That is what I see when we come to worship here. I believe that we portray that while we do not have everything together and while we still struggle through the ups and downs of life we offer a place of refuge and a place where we value and love each other in spite of our different backgrounds and different tastes. We are a family and I am so proud to be associated with it. Spread the word. There are so many out there who are looking for just what we’ve got.
