Change is Constant

I've seen change all weekend long! Friday, I celebrated my 20th high school reunion. Amazingly, many of my high school friends have not changed much over these years! A few have changed drastically and I am ever so thankful there were name tags to show me what their names were! Saturday, I had my first Board of Ordained Ministry meeting. I found it odd that just a few short years ago, I was on the opposite end, being interviewed by members of BOOM for my ordination. Now, I sit on the interviewing side! Sunday, I celebrated that Addison Kate Bechtold was baptized! Life has certainly been changing for her lately! Sunday evening I was at my parents house to pick up our kids since Jenn worked all weekend and I had meetings. Dad's health continues to change in a way that has prevented him from being mobile. He has truly struggled in the midst of life changes here recently and I ask you continue to pray for him as he tries to find relief from this dreaded disease. Today, you see change to my weekly E-News. Apple has made some major changes with it's Mobile Me site and I am no longer able to publish my weekly E-News to the web via that site. So you get to see my "old" blog site. It's being resurrecting again.

It was a beautiful day of worship at both services! We welcomed Rev. Dean Ziegler, Butler District Superintendent, along with his wife, Linda to our church yesterday for a visit. We also celebrated in a baptism at the traditional service and got to hear special music from Ken and Ann Killby. Our praise band rocked out our 9:26 worship with a newer song, "I am Free." It was a wonderful day to praise God!

Sunday in worship we centered on surrendering our "self" to Christ Jesus. In surrender or you might say, "emptying" we then are filled with God's Holy Spirit. When we surrender and then are filled, God equips us with the necessary tools to fill ourselves and fill others. God's Spirit equips us with  Character, Confidence, Courage, Compassion and Companionship. As I shared in worship, from the Secret Millionare, Steve Kaplan emptied himself of his "life" so that he could gain more in life. As he let go of his "life" he was able to see life from the eyes of someone living on the south side of Chicago. In living that "life" Steve found generosity and compassion to be more prevalent in his life from then on. Our passage came from Mark 6:1-13.

I had in the bulletin a sheet titled, "Letters to God" As the Letters to God station is being utilized in the lobby, we can take this sheet home with us, bring back to church or hold dear to us. This sheet can be used as a tool to "surrender" to God so that we may be filled more with the Holy Spirit.

Have a blessed week church and know it is an honor to serve and lead as your pastor.