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!
Mission Moment 2.26.25
Mary VanRheenen
CBF Field Personnel, Europe
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
– Psalm 103:14 (ESV)
Learning to live with my own “frame” has been a life-long, life-giving process. I remember sitting in the doctor’s office about a year after our youngest child was born. I’d felt tired for a long time and had finally come to find out why. Then I saw the doctor’s questions were leading towards a problem that I’d seen in other family members. A sibling had wrestled with it. A parent and a great uncle had been hospitalized for it. It was a chronic problem I really did not want to have: depression. It would be several more years before I was willing to try medication. Our doctor here in the Netherlands prescribed a very low dosage to counteract the winter blues. When spring came, I wondered about stopping.
“I’ve lived with you on medication,” my husband Keith said. “And I’ve lived with you without medication. Keep taking it.”
Rick Landon, our CBF member care person at the time, agreed. “Thank God for your medicine just like you thank God for your food.”
Since then, I’ve added another medication, prescribed by the same helpful Dutch doctor, this one for restless leg syndrome. It isn’t a strong dosage; but without it, I literally cannot lie still enough to sleep through the night. Lots of other things help—exercise, the right kind of mattress, prayerful journaling at the close of the day. Even with all that, I’d still be a crazed insomniac without the medication.
We are but dust. The Creator molded that dust into clay and breathed eternity into us. But in this imperfect world, some of that dust is also imperfect. My dust has a chemical imbalance. Meditation helps. Prayer time and fun time with friends help. Time outdoors, regular exercise, creative expression, adequate rest—all help. Knowing that I am a child of God through the power of the risen Jesus helps even more. But none of that corrected the chemical imbalances in my brain. So, I thank my Creator for all of that—plus the pills in my hand as I take the daily medication which keeps me sane.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
When our children were young, we made a point of discussing how every human being has differences. We kept it concrete. That family member has limited eyesight and wears glasses; this friend can’t walk and uses a wheelchair. The concept fascinated our daughters. They wanted to know what their flaws might be. What are your differences? Are you ready to accept help for them, whatever that help might be?
Pray...Give...Go.
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update
Midweek Meal & Activities
Our Wednesday evening fellowship meal and bible studies are going great! Let’s keep the momentum going, inviting others to join us and enjoying the deepening of our fellowship.
Please spread the word. And remember, preschoolers and college students’ meals are free, grades 1 to 12 are $7, and adults are $11. The menu this Wednesday is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and a roll. Join us!
REMINDER: Reservations must be made before noon on Mondays.
Below is the schedule for our Wednesday evening activities:
The meal begins at 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday. Group time begins approximately 6:10 p.m. and goes to 6:45 p.m. This group time is for college students and adults.
Our youth will meet from 6:10 to 7:00 p.m. in the youth room.
Our children also meet from 6:10 to 7:00 p.m, and they will be in the children’s department for a devotional, activity and play time.
Choir rehearsal follows at 7:00 p.m.
We can’t wait to see you on Wednesday evening!
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update
Jackson County Youth Chorus
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.
Giving the Jesus Way
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!
Jackson Neighbors in Need
Midweek Meal & Activities Cancelled TONIGHT
Our midweek meal and ministry activities will be canceled TONIGHT due to expected inclement weather conditions for TODAY, Wednesday, February 19. Please pray for everyone’s health and warmth.
Stay home and stay safe. We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, February 26. Please note that choir practice has also been canceled for tonight (Feb. 19).
Mission Moment 2.19.25
Jessica Prophitt
Chaplain Major, United States Air Force
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”
– Hebrews 10:24-25
When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to live on a street where we became surrogate family with a handful of neighbors on our block. In the summers, we kids would house-hop throughout the day. The mom who was “lucky” enough to get the crew around lunch would set out sandwiches and juice boxes for the hungry mob. During the school year, there were many Friday nights when my own mom would fill her wine glass and we would walk to the house across the street to catch up on the latest gossip in the “hood.” After my parents divorced, my mom kept us in that neighborhood because of the closeknit community supporting us. This meant she would commute an hour a day to and from work, but she had peace of mind knowing we had “surrogate parents” to look out for my brother if needed.
Now, as an Air Force chaplain, my husband and I have moved with our two boys about every two to four years. We say goodbye to friends and neighbors and do our best to reestablish community in our new location as quickly as possible. This lifestyle has often left me yearning for the long-established community where I grew up. I long for my kids to have adults in their lives who love them and claim them. I long for my husband and me to have friends who invite themselves over with wine glasses in hand. I long for community that blurs the boundaries between friends and family.
For anyone who’s ever served in the military, you know a departure is rarely a “goodbye” but a “see you later.” As my husband and I prepare to uproot and move yet again, I’ve connected with several friends and colleagues currently stationed at the location for which we are bound. The move has also sparked conversations with others from both my military and CBF circles that will likely lead to connections in our new home. I will always long for an established community of neighbors whose physical presence is accessible. But during this season of life, the communities I’ve become a part of, communities that reach across the country and, in some cases, the world, are saving my life.
I’m reminded that I’ve been called to engage with a community that’s much bigger than a block or a neighborhood, but which spans states and nations. This “community” has broadened my sense of who my neighbor is and has deepened my understanding of the vastness of God’s Kingdom. While I pray that one day I’ll have that closeknit community in which I grew up, I’ll be forever grateful to have been part of so many friend circles, families and neighborhoods.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
O Gracious God,
For adventures and moves that beckon us out of our comfort zones and into new lands, we give thanks.
For the opportunity to widen our circles and lengthen our tables, we give thanks.
For acquaintances who become friends, we give thanks.
For friends who become family, we give thanks.
For phone calls that fill us and for arms we fill, we give thanks.
For the vastness of your kingdom, and the depth and breadth of your people, we are in awe.
In Christ name we pray, Amen.
Pray...Give...Go.