Do you remember? I asked you to pray for sunshine so that I could ride up to Leoni Meadows instead of drive. Thanks a lot! I know what you were praying and I know who you are!
However, you prayed for non-motorcycling weather so effectively that the meetings were actually cancelled due to snow and power outages. You folks are pretty good prayers, but you don’t realize your own strength!
Since the previous few weeks of this weekly rambling were written ahead of schedule due to the church office being closed over the Christmas and New Year Holidays, there is something I want to emphasize that I mentioned in the opening remarks of my message on December 29. What I want to share here in writing is how extremely proud I was of our church family for the awesome musical presentation that we were treated to on December 21 & 22 and then how amazed and proud I was to look in the Fireside Room and see the packages prepared for the children of so many families in our community. The children represented received pretty much whatever was on their wish list. That included a lot of nice clothes, toys, high-tech games, and bicycles. What an awesome testimony to the love that is in your hearts! The unselfishness represented in the hours of rehearsal for the program and the generous gifts shared tells me that the true spirit of Christmas is alive and well in the Napa Community Seventh-day Adventist Church. I could not be more proud of my church family! Thank you everyone who had any part in these happenings.
Our daughter and son-in-law will be arriving on Wednesday evening and we’ll have them with us until Monday night. What a delight that is going to be. Words can’t express our thankfulness to God for bringing such joy from such despair.
While we look forward with great anticipation for that visit I have to relate the very sad news that we lost a true pillar of our church this week in the passing of Dr. Jack Turner. Jack passed away last Sabbath morning. Betty was in Sabbath School and Church with us and her daughters elected not to make her aware of the situation until after church. Jack had been at Alderson Convalescent Hospital in Woodland for the past several weeks and was declining. I did have a wonderful visit with him there and had planned to stop again on my way to Leoni Meadows, but he slipped away from us quickly and peacefully. He was 98 ½ and very proud of it. How we will miss this lovely and loving man!
Please keep Betty and all the family in your prayers. They are doing well and all recognize that this was a blessing considering his circumstances. We will be having a memorial service for Dr. Turner this afternoon at 3 pm in the Sanctuary. There will be a reception following in the Fireside Room.
I want to let you know also that Roger Abrew had a heart attack last Sabbath. Roger has played first trumpet with our orchestra for the past several years during the Christmas and Easter programs. He is a member here, but is not always able to attend in Napa. He is in the Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland.
I am looking forward to getting back into our regular schedule beginning this week. We will resume Walk Through the Bible and pretend that everything is normal again. (Whatever that looks like!)
I want to put in print how amazed I am at how we ended the year financially. I guess I shouldn’t be, but I am. I am not sure of the final official figures as of the time of this writing, but I know that we made our budget for the entire year with a nice amount left over. I also know that while we had been looking at a significant decrease in tithe, due to some large gifts last year, we have actually ended the year with an increase of more than 10%. That is outstanding! God’s blessings and your faithfulness combined can do some mighty things.
A big “THANKS” is offered to those who played a part, whether big or small, in cleaning out the rain gutters all around the church. This should help stop the water that is seeping through some of the wall areas. It is good to know that some of our members are still in the gutter. Thank you!
And finally, I want to extend an offer of thanks to everyone who participated in any ministry of the church this past year. It has been a great year and I believe that 2008 is going to be the best one yet.
God is good, all the time. As we work together this year let’s pray that God will clearly show each of us just how He wants to use us to reach the community He has given us to serve. We each have a place and we each have a part because God has promised that each believer will have at least one gift. Ask Him to reveal it and then surrender it for Him to use.
