WAITING! They’re coming! In the early hours of the morning, I am sitting here while I wait - listening to the rain coming down in drenching bursts of huge drops … then suddenly, it all stops. All is quiet. Then as suddenly as it stopped … it starts again. Noisily pouring down! But I am sitting here on purpose. Our youngest son and five of his friends are making the long trip from western Nebraska to this part of Minnesota to attend a friend’s wedding in the Cities this weekend. And when they are not there – they will be here with us! It will be like old times – when he was in high school and suddenly our house would be filled with lots of guys, the noisiness of rowdy laughter and fun, and of course, music. Always music! Years later, music still ties these guys together. The groom was a part of their band before moving to the Cities. So … we’ll pack in as much fun and laughter as we can – and make some new memories with our son and with all these young men who love the Lord and serve Him! It will be great to hear the stories of what God is up to in their lives! It’s funny (not really!) when suddenly God reveals the tactics He is using to get some new stories written, like in our own lives these past several weeks! Perhaps “unique” is a better word to describe the style God has been using on us recently. While God is tender and loving and kind, He can definitely step up the pace and turn up the volume – and even use a certain tone of voice with a certain choice of words to get our attention! That’s exactly what He’s been up to in our lives since the first of the year! He speaks. And we listen to the reverberating sound of His voice. We can’t miss it! He’s not angry-sounding. But He’s right to the point … and no matter what else is going on in our lives, we realize it’s time to halt everything and get busy with what HE wants accomplished NOW! Let me tell you, He’s been churning out the work, the planning, the projects. And He’s been turning out some planned work on us. He’s stretching our abilities, enlarging our creativity, pushing us into new arenas, and expanding our faith – blowing it way out of our normal proportions! But … it’s all good! His re-arranging changes are always good. Not always comfortable at first – but good! You see, when we finally get adjusted to where He has already stretched us to … He doesn’t want us to stay in that spot forever. He’s got more ahead for us. Much more. But we’ll never realize it or see it come to fulfillment – if we just stay where we’re at. So, He uses a variety of ways to get us to move forward. And sometimes it comes through the voice of someone that God uses to bring us up short – real quick-like! And all we can say is, “We’re sorry, Lord! Sorry for lagging behind You – not intentionally, of course … but because other things pull us here and there, we can easily miss the precise place that we’re supposed to be right then. It seems like our lives have so MANY tracks, God – just help us get on the track that YOU want us on for this moment in time!” He’s answering - and now that He’s getting us there, we can HARDLY WAIT to see what is up ahead!
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
LOVING BIRTHDAY WISHES to our daughter-in-love, Becky, (March 4th), and to our grandson, Wade, (March 7th!)
SPECIAL THANKS to Hazel for the perfect dessert & finishing touches on the Couples Dinner-Out last Sunday!
SUN, MAR 04: 10:00 A.M. – PRAISE & WORSHIP / MESSAGE: “The Claims of Christ”
SUN, MAR 04: 11:15 A.M. – KINGDOM CONNECTION / Sunday School Classes & Puppet Ministry!
SUN, MAR 04: RE: FUEL YOUTH EVENT following church; bring your money for lunch and invite some friends!!
WED, MAR 07: 6:30 P.M. – Pre-Easter Bible Study on “Christ’s Final Words on the Cross”
SUN, MAR 11: 10:00 A.M. – PRAISE & WORSHIP / MESSAGE: “The Names of Jesus”
WATCH FOR MINISTRY EVENTS for the month of March – schedules are being finalized!
PRAYER OPPORTUNTIES . . . Chuck, David, Kelly, Tina, Gerard, Justin, Lundstroms, Seykoras, unspoken requests
REMEMBER . . . “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
