Announcements
School
Supplies--
Folks,
I know we ask for a lot. There are a lot of needs in the
congregation, and we're always collecting laundry detergent &
food & things for the community kitchen. So yes, we're asking
for more, because we have the ability to give and there are still
more needs. If you are able, could you bring some school supplies
and drop them in the big blue tub in the narthex? This will only be
there for the next 2-3 weeks, so this is a limited chance to join
with Earthfare & First Bank. Items you can bring:
Kleenex,
Clorox Wipes, #2 pencils, white copy paper, block erasers, scissors,
crayons (24 pack), yellow highlighters, baby wipes, spiral notebooks,
backpacks (w/out wheels), post-it notes, 3x5 index cards, paper
towels, glue sticks.
Ladies
Luncheon-- The
Ladies' Luncheon will be August 13 at the Mt. Vernon Restaurant.
Please contact Marilyn Suber if you're interested in attending.
Community
Kitchen Spot
There are a lot of hungry and
homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding
them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following
items to church this Sunday & put them in the grocery cart.
ZIPLOCK SANDWICH BAGS
BROWN PAPER LUNCH BAGS
# 10 CANS VEGETABLES
COFFEE CREAMER
CEREAL
CANNED TUNA
NAPKINS
METAL FORKS / SPOONS
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will continue to study
Revelation. We'll pick up in chapter 15, hopefully making it through
chapter 19.
Pray
For:
Norma
Capone
Everyone
is back to school today. Be in prayers for the school year ahead and
all that it brings
Father,
We ask for funding to increase in schools for more art classes, and
that school boards would see the incredible value of the arts.
(From Chattanooga
House of Prayer)
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
I love baseball. It's no secret
that I've been addicted to it since the days when I would stand out
in the driveway, bat in hand, with the Reds' game on the radio and
swing away as the pitches came in. Now Rachel makes me do this in
the backyard so I don't embarrass Caleb.
The baseball season is a long
162 game slog. It's an endurance race that tests the quality of the
team and its ability to persevere. You can't have a good week and
win the championship, and you can't have a bad week and end up in
last place. The long season means that a team's strength's are
revealed and tested, just as a team cannot cover its weaknesses for 6
months. The old saying is that you can't win a pennant in May, but
you can lose one.
Social media and baseball have
an interesting interaction. If you're at all tuned in to social
media, you know well its tendency to make the latest news, however
big or small, into the BIGGEST THING EVER. There are many reasons as
to why this occurs—it may well be that social media turns us all
into reporters/commentators, so each news story is an opportunity to
share our opinion with our fans/friends/followers, each of whom waits
with bated breath to see what we are having for lunch or what we
think about US-Russia relations.
After each baseball game, there
are countless individuals willing to cast judgment on the entire team
for the entire season. Lose a game badly, and the whole team is a
bunch of bums who need to be tossed on the street. One player goes
hitless in 30 at bats? Get rid of him! (Never mind that there are
probably 500 other at bats in the season) A team wins 10 games in a
row? Crown them champions!
But the baseball season is long,
and the emotional reactions run the gamut from good to bad. In the
end, we see the result of a long season of many games and many more
at bats. The season gives us a good idea of the overall quality of
the team and the talent of the players.
The Christian life is similar, I
believe. As Christians, we have our entire lives to live out our
faith. We grow into it, and we grow stronger over time. If we give
up and throw in the towel after our first big mistake, we won't make
it very far. If we believe we're the most saintly Christian ever
just because we held a door for someone, our over-inflated egos will
be badly bruised when we come crashing back to earth. As the saying
goes, we're never as good as we think we are, and we're never as bad
as we think we are. We're not perfect, but we're not terrible.
We're growing into our faith, and hopefully we learn from what is in
our past and are able to improve in the future. Hopefully, we're
depending on the grace of the Holy Spirit and falling more in love
with Jesus Christ each and every day, not letting ourselves stray
from the path of discipleship due to emotional highs or lows based
upon one day's actions. Each day is 1/365 out of 1/75(ish). It's a
small part of our life, and our Christian witness is the big, overall
picture of how we are living and how we are growing.
Are some parts of some days
bigger than others? Sure. Are there critical moments that should
inform and guide us? Absolutely. But recognize that life is a long
effort to grow in Christ, and just because you messed up one day
doesn't mean that you should give up or that God no longer loves you.
We get up, dust ourselves off and carry on, pushing forward,
trusting that God will lead us on.
Text
for this Sunday
9
You should pray like this:
Our
Father in heaven,
help
us to honor
your
name.
10
Come and set up
your
kingdom,
so
that everyone on earth
will
obey you,
as
you are obeyed
in
heaven.
11
Give us our food for today.
12
Forgive us for doing wrong,
as
we forgive others.
13
Keep us from being tempted
and protect
us from evil.
New
Hope on iTunes
Keith's
Blog
& Devotionals
for your Kindle
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