Midweek: Wednesday, July 27th, 2022

 

Midweek 7/27/22

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Your Contact Information
• Birthdays & Anniversaries
• Prayers are welcome
• PPM Summer Break
• Church Website Renovation
• What do you want to be when you grow up?

“. . . that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:12

Your contact information: Contact information continues to come in. Thank you! For those who have not filled out the contact form to update your information, please do so and return to the church office: Gretel@lebanonfpc.org or 128 E. Main St. Lebanon, IN 46052. Didn’t get a form? Need to know what is needed? See the following:

Name/ Member: yes or no / Phone #s / email address / Postal address / family members in your household / birthdays and anniversary date if applicable / family members in church body and their relation to you

This coming Sunday, we will sing the Lord's Prayer during the service. Please visit the following YouTube video and learn the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ZWyB-Zwas

“Happy Birthday to you! We celebrate with you!
Please know that we love you, and God loves you too!”

Happy birthday to: Doris Nash, 7/29; Gwyneth Grey, 7/31; Janet Landon, 8/01.
Happy anniversary to Gary & Kitty Hill, 7/29.

Prayers are welcome: Please continue to keep the FPC church family in prayer, especially: Carolyn Dunham and her family; Casey and Craig Reynolds and their family; Pastor Je, Hannah, and Samuel Lee. “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16b)

PPM Summer Break: Summer Break for PPM will be August 1-12. The new year will begin on August 15th. However, absence of children does not mean absence of activity: Renovations will be going on in the preschool classrooms. The teachers and staff will also be in and out preparing for the new year.

Church Website Renovation: We are renewing the church website. Want to help with ideas and suggestions? Contact Pastor Je, je@lebanonfpc.org, or Neal, neal@lebanonfpc.org for more detail.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I don’t know if that is the question the children were answering, but I was listening to the children in the playroom recently and I heard a little girl cheerfully announce, “I’ll be a butterfly!” Isn’t it wonderful when imagination takes hold? Dreams become reality in the space of a few moments. For however long it lasted, this little girl flew or fluttered around the room as a beautiful butterfly. Before long, the teacher called the children on to the next task, and playtime was over. But I wonder, did the butterfly linger in her imagination for a little while? When she thinks back on her time in preschool, will she remember being a butterfly? I can still remember standing at a counter in my preschool years and answering a red telephone; I was probably taking messages for somebody. (Funny, isn’t it, considering what I do now?) I remember playing house in the two story playhouse that filled one corner of our playroom. Our preschool has two little cottages in our playroom/fellowship hall: one is a log cabin, the other is a sweet little house with a red roof, brown shutters and the address of 7425.

    What were your dreams as a child? What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you dream of being a butterfly? Did you dream of being a secretary, a parent, a fire fighter, a police officer, the mayor, the President of the United States? Do you still feel like you are waiting to grow up and wonder what you will be when you’ve finally achieved that goal?

    “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57) Whatever our goals, whether we have reached them yet or not, or ever will, our Lord Jesus Christ is victorious each and every day in meeting His goals. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6) God has such a beautiful work He is doing in each and every one of us. Does His work involve becoming a butterfly? Sort of! There is absolutely transformation involved. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”(2 Cor. 5:17) Does it involve serving others? Yes. “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another . . . forgive each other . . . Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. . .” (Col. 3:12-14) We serve others as much as in what we do as in how we do it. God’s goals for us also include serving the Lord. “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23,24)

    If you need a refresher course in what it means to dream and imagine, I invite you to 7425 Fellowship Hall. There’s not much room in this tiny home, but all are welcome! Enjoy a cup of coffee or a spot of tea and watch the little ones as imagination takes flight and dreams become reality in the blink of an eye. As you watch and listen, remember: God holds you in the palm of His hand. He is not done with you yet! We need not worry if we do not achieve our goals, for He will achieve His. And they are glorious!

Interested in joining the prayer chain? Contact Phyllis Duff at (765)482-1485/ raduff2@att.net. The following prayer is taken from the hymn Take My Life by Frances Ridley Havergal (1874)

Heavenly Father, Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love; take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee, swift and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing always only, for my King; take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from thee, filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold; take my intellect and use
Every power as thou shalt choose, every power as thou shalt choose.
Hallelujah. Amen.