From the Pastor’s Heart

By the time you read this letter 2008 will belong to the history books.

Some will be glad to close the 2008 calendar; for them it has been a year of tears because of grief and pain. For others it has been a year of struggle due to illness, loss of employment, economic downfall, or loss of a marriage.

Others will be sad to see it come to an end because the year was filled with joy and excitement given due to success, the arrival of babies, new employment, new love, and the list goes on.

As we look over our shoulder at 2008 most of us discover we have had a mixture of joy and sadness. We have had our times of celebration and we have had our wilderness journeys.

And as we stand on tiptoes of the threshold of a new year, we do so with a sense of anticipation and perhaps a little fear wondering what these 12 new months will hold for us.

Bertha Adams didn’t have to wonder what the next day or the next month would hold for her. It was always the same routine: begging door to door.

At 71 years-of-age she weighed only 51 pounds. She was a pitiful case covering her emaciated body with Salvation Army clothes.

Her begging and suffering came to an end with her death on April 5, 1975 in Florida after spending her last few days of her sad life in a nursing home.

When she died, however, authorities discovered she left behind a fortune of over a million dollars, including six hundred thousand dollars in cash and several hundred shares of valuable stock she had stored in two safety deposit boxes.

What would possess a person to live the way she lived with such valuable resources at her disposal? To think about the wealth that was hers and how she could have thrived instead of begging and starving until there was no more life in her body might lead one to exclaim, “WHAT A FOOL!”

As we step into 2009 we do not have to enter as “FOOLS.” We do not have to endure the year in spiritual poverty limping along until we are spiritually dead.

Our reality is there is an abundance of spiritual wealth at our disposal. It is there simply for the asking. Whatever we may find or encounter this year we have God’s bank full of the necessary resources: his strength, his presence, his comfort, his love, his forgiveness, his joy, his peace. You can make a withdrawal at any time and as many times as necessary. And the good news is God’s bank is always open and God continually makes deposits so that we are never overdrawn.

My prayer for all of us for the New Year is that we will not be fools. God is waiting with open arms to give us what we need as we need it.
We have before us the blessings of 12 new chapters waiting to be filled.

May the New Year find you thriving in God’s mercy.

Peace, Health and Happiness for the New Year,

Pastor Russel

Your generous Christmas gift is greatly appreciated. Each and every one of you blesses us again and again, touching our hearts in amazing ways. It is a privilege and honor to serve as your pastor. My prayer is that God will make me worthy of this calling.

Your Parsonage Family,

Nancy & Pastor Russel