Give Thanks!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love all the food that we normally wouldn’t get during the rest of the year. I love how the house smells and I love all the relatives coming together.

My most memorable Thanksgiving was in 1992 following Hurricane Andrew. The destruction was unimaginable, but that November we knew what we were thankful for…Family! We were safe, alive and we were all together. We met at my mom’s house, grilled hamburgers, ate canned baked beans, and enjoyed family time on what was left of her patio. In the midst of all the destruction, God sustained our family.

We all have so much to be thankful for. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isiah 41:10 (NIV)

Our church has much to be thankful for. We are growing and reaching people. We can all celebrate My Hope Sunday. It was amazing to see so many guests at church! We had 60 guests. Couple that with the families from the Fall Festival and we don’t have to look too far to see God’s hand at work!

The opportunities to invite friends are immense! We have the Children’s Turkey Hunt this Sunday. The Thanksgiving feast and worship service on Tuesday, November 20, and Christmas caroling on Sunday, November 25. “The Light Has Come,” Christmas Program, Sunday, December 2, is a great time to invite friends. Each Sunday in December is an awesome time for us to invite our friends to celebrate Christ!

We prayed that God would grow our church. He is doing it! Now, we need to do our part. All of these guests need to be reached. We need to let them know that Eastern Hills is a great place to worship and grow together. It is something we all want to happen, but it doesn’t happen without work.

There are lots of new faces that could use a friendly call or visit. Let’s continue to celebrate and Thank God for all He is doing in our church. His Love Endures forever!

Greg

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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