Mission Moment 3.5.25
Daniel Sostaita
Senior Pastor, Iglesia Cristiana sin Fronteras (ICSF), Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”
—Jamie Anderson
On February 23, 2024, my mom (born July 31, 1932) departed this life to be with the Lord. No one likes goodbyes and that painful agony, especially when it is a loved one. My mom lived the last 22 years in my home, along with Irene, my wife of 33 years and my three beautiful daughters Barbara (Barby 31), Daniela (K 29), and Victoria (Vicky 24).
Caring for my mom was not easy. Becoming a primary caregiver, without resources or legal status, automatically makes you the only source responsible for sustaining the life of the person who is in your charge (my mother). Within this context, a unique bond is also generated, being a provider child, a caregiver child and a child who gives love and receives love.
Understanding how the Lord took care of us all these years and understanding that suffering can be a sweet experience in Christ, leads me to another reflection: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. The love of my wife and my daughters are the elements that are saving me during this time of mourning.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
My prayer today is this: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my beloved congregation of Sin Fronteras, friends, colleagues, neighbors, partners in our activism, community leaders; in short, all those who day-by-day commit themselves to be wipers of tears and washers of feet for our community. They also save me every day.
Pain aligns us with God’s perspective; everything is stored in the memory that often eventually saves or rescues us.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
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
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!
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.