Begins February 5 at 5:30 p.m.
Our weekly Wednesday evening prayer and study time will be enhanced with meals! The menu for February 5 is lasagna, salad, rolls and cookies (made by that always delicious cookie maker, Tonya Lloyd). Please plan to reserve your place at the supper table. Reservation cards will be available at worship service THIS Sunday, February 2. Thank you!
This past week we did “Kindness Counts” week where we celebrated the legacy of MLK Jr. We learned what he did in the fight for equality and how important it is to be kind to each other. We created a kindness board where we wrote many different acts of kindness that we can do for each other and the world around us. We finished off the week with writing an encouraging letter, giving a compliment, or drawing a picture to another explorer in the room!
Sign up now to sing in the Jackson County Youth Chorus! This is for singers in grades 3–8. Rehearsals begin on Monday, March 10 and run from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. each Monday. The end-of-semester concert will be on Friday, May 23. Rehearsals will be held at FBC Sylva. For more information or to register, contact Director Sarah Hall at sfhall3@gmail.com or 704.245.2302. Click here to view an event flyer.
“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” –Hebrews 10:24-25
“Fellowship” is defined as a friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests—such as a group of people meeting to pursue a shared interest or aim, or a guild or corporation. It has also become a term used to describe a gathering of church folk. It is what church folk do before and after a worship service. It is what church folk do before and after Bible study and Sunday school. It is also what church folk do just because it gives them meaning and purpose to share with one another their thoughts, dreams and desires. It is what I do every week to give me life.
I am an extreme introvert. You may be asking me how fellowship gives me, an extreme introvert, life. I have undiagnosed attention deficit disorder. I am one of those who seeks out answers to my medical conditions on WebMD. All the anxiety and depression I feel every day often times keeps me from wanting to face the world and makes me wish to retreat into my own little bubble. Fellowship does not allow me to do that. Fellowship allows me to step out of my comfort zone and experience the world through the eyes of other people whom I love and cherish in my life. Fellowship allows me to appreciate all those people whom God has put forth in my life to encourage me, ground me, support me and love me. And, yes, I am extremely tired and completely drained after retreating to my comfort zone, as all introverts are.
I am so grateful and thankful that I have my circle of friends and family that I can turn to in my times of woe and all around downtroddeness. God has given me people who provoke me to love and good deeds, never neglecting to draw me into fellowship with them. They encourage me as we wait together for the coming Day of our Lord.
So, what is saving my life right now? It’s fellowship. The joy that comes with knowing that I am not alone in this world. The comfort that comes with knowing there are people who love and support me. The peace that comes with knowing God will never leave or forsake me. It reminds me of one of my favorite hymns:
What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Refrain: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms; Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
I encourage you to find a group to engage in fellowship. You may have a group that you meet with regularly. Discuss with them what is saving your life right now. If you are without a group currently, find at least two to three people to meet with you who have a common interest. There is healing in a group gathered together. There is love in a group gathered together. There is peace in a group gathered together.
Pray...Give...Go.
United Christian Ministries is in need of: canned soup, canned chicken and Boost. To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Eddie Aldape
CBF Field Personnel, Almería, Spain
"Some seed fell among thorns, which grew up
and choked the plants… still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." –Matthew 13:3-8
I hope I am not the only one who feels this way—thinking I am young, when each year, a week before my birthday, my body reminds me that time flies. The other day, I was reading how an elderly man was attacked by four young girls; the first thing that came to mind was: “How could they do that to a frail, elderly man?” As I continued reading, I discovered that the elderly man in the story was 60-years-old. I am 60-years-old. That caused me to rethink so many things.
On my side of the family, most relatives live to be in their 90s, which is great; but that led me to think about the rest of my life. If live to be 90, that means I have only 30 more years; and if 60 years have gone by so quickly, what will I do with the rest of my life?
This has also led me to think about our ministry in Spain. Although our time in India came to an abrupt end, the ministry not only continues, but thrives. What about our work in Spain? What do we have to show for our time here? How much longer will the Lord use us here?
I started talking with local ministry partners about this and all have been very supportive. It has been said that “Spain is a missionary’s burial ground” in that it is a tough country to evangelize. Friends have pointed out some of the things God has done through us and yet we really do not have anything tangible that we can see. Long-term presence and being fully devoted to being the presence of God, establishing relationships, building community and sowing seeds are great; but we have yet to see fruit. Our friends have also encouraged us by reminding us that there are times in which one sows, others water and others get to harvest.
As we watched last year’s promotional video for CBF’s Offering for Global Missions, something that Shane McNary said has helped me deal with this. He said, “If we invest our efforts in programs, once we are gone, the programs will end; but when we invest in people, the seeds we have sowed will bring forth fruits, even long after we are gone.”
The relationships that have been cultivated here have recently started to show signs of germination. Most of the people we minister to are Muslims who have just finished celebrating the annual Ramadan. This year, I decided to participate in Ramadan with them. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunup until sundown and do not take any kind of drink either. As they do so, they seek God’s will and search for truth. I told them that I would fast with them, but that I was going to be praying for them and their struggles. I did fine with not eating, but I was so thirsty. At the end of Ramadan, we were invited to several meals of celebration. One friend told me that since I had observed Ramadan with them, they now had to join me in prayer. We were asked to say grace for the meal. I will take that as a glimpse of hope and my joy.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
Today, reflect on the last year or so of your life. What seeds have been planted that are beginning to germinate? These can be seeds you have planted in relationships, professional projects, personal goals or something else entirely. Consider what seeds fell “among thorns” this year and have been choked out. Take a moment to pray, offering God gratitude for the seeds that took root, and asking for God’s guidance as you discern how to let go of the ones no longer bearing fruit.
Pray...Give...Go.
Our weekly Wednesday evening prayer and study time continues this Wednesday, January 22 at 6:00 p.m. Kaitlyn Cabaniss, our student ministry associate, will continue the youth midweek study that began last week. The Sunday evening college student Bible time will begin on January 26. Help spread the word!
United Christian Ministries is in need of: dried beans, canned beans and canned chicken. To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
