Church Game Night

A church game night will be held on Saturday, February 19th, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the fellowship building.

Feed The Flock Fellowship

The Feed the Flock fellowship will be Wednesday, February 2nd at 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Building. It will be pasta night and drinks will be provided. Please bring a dessert to share.

Orphans Lifeline International Mission Update

The church currently sends monthly support to Orphans Lifeline International through the Mission budget. The congregation is now supporting a family in need, in Kenya, through Orphans Lifeline. We will receive periodic updates on this family through Orphans Lifeline and they will be posted in the bulletin and in the back of the church as it is received.

Salt and Pepper Shakers

In the movie “Fireproof,” there’s a scene where Capt. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) and Lt. Michael Simmons (Ken Bevel) are in the firehouse discussing Caleb’s potential divorce.  Michael is encouraging Caleb to reconsider what he is about to do.  To illustrate marriage, Michael grabs salt and pepper shakers sitting on the table, and super glues them together.  After waiting for the glue to set up, he gives them to Caleb.  Caleb begins to separate them, but is stopped by Michael, who says, “Don’t do it, Caleb.  You pull them apart now you’ll break either one or both of them.”

Marriage is a lot like salt and pepper.  They are both totally different—different colors, tastes, smells, strengths.  Yet, they are inseparable.  When do you see one without the other?  Both are important and have their place together.

God designed us—man and woman—for each other.  When we choose to walk away from each other, even when we have Biblical grounds for doing so, a part of us dies.  We break.  We were not made to be separated after joining ourselves to someone.  It goes against our very nature as relational beings created by God.

We were not made to endure the crushing reality of divorce and separation.  “What God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6)

    -Scott McFarland

Church of Christ Disaster Relief Contribution

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Church of Christ Disaster Relief special contribution. Your donations made it possible to send $1,360.00 to aid in the relief efforts.

Thank You

Thank you for thinking of our family at this time of great loss. The lighted globe that was sent was perfect and given to Shelley and Brian. Your kindness is greatly appreciated.

                                                                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                                The family of Donald Longwell

Thank You

Dear church, In the darkest moment of our life, we were surrounded by God’s people in ways we never expected. The beauty of your love and generosity brought us to our knees where we praise God for all of you. The power of God in his people is an awesome force that sheds light in the darkest places. Thank you for shining on us and ensuring we can stand through this trial!

Love, The Parsons -Ryan, Amanda, Jacob, Gaige, Jones, Micah, Gabe and Brent

Youth Bowling

Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with the youth bowling Sunday. There were 21, 4th-6th graders that attended and everyone had a great time.

Churches of Christ Orphan Sunday

Sunday, November 14, 2021 we had a special contribution for the Orphan’s Lifeline International Orphan Sunday. The congregation donated a total of $1,347.00. We thank you for your support.

The Old Man and the Gulls

It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night until his death in 1973 he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.

Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean.  For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark...ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred. In Captain Eddie's own words, "Cherry”—that was the B- 17 pilot, Captain William Cherry—"read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off.  Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food...if I could catch it."

And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. You know that Captain Eddie made it.  And now you also know...that he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle...like manna in the wilderness.

—Paul Aurandt, "The Old Man and the Gulls", Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, 1977, quoted in Heaven Bound Living, Knofel Stanton, Standard, 1989, p. 79-80.

    -Scott McFarland