Christian Love

This past week has been very busy, as usual. Last Monday, we received a car full of clothing, as well as a truck full of Keebler crackers for the Food and Clothing Ministry. No sooner has we delivered these when we received a call from a park resident who said they had some clothes to donate - 10 boxes later our Texas room was full - as well as two full boxes of toiletries, including some very expensive small bottles of name brand perfume. Think of how special some ladies are going to feel this Christmas!!! Many folks have donated money for Christmas hams (the small 1# ones). We checked prices and were aghast at the price increase from last year, but this morning's newspaper ads showed a great sale at CVS Pharmacy, so today we scoped out two of them - only a total of 8 hams were to be found, but more to be on the truck Tuesday morning. So far we have enough money for a total of 24 - not counting those caring people who have already donated hams and cans of Spam, tuna, etc. The Spirit of Christmas giving continues on.

a car full of clothes - even the front seat was packed

a trunk full of crackers

and a house full of boxes of clothes and toiletries

The moon was so beautiful this week - jut the small sliver on the bottom - I tried to take some good pictures, but they turned out a bit shaky - you can see the entire outline of the moon though. So many wonderful things to see if we just take the time to look.

 

  almost looks like two moons

 

 

Our park has a "yacht club" for remote control boats A group has built steps down to the lake so all the boating enthusiasts can have races or just spend the afternoon "boating". After our huge Thanksgiving dinner at the hall, people were out walking, riding bikes, touring the park in their golf carts, watching the races, whatever they could to walk off the turkey and trimmings. The day was so beautiful and perfect that it seemed a shame not to be outside.

 some of the residents enjoying the boat races, while loving the great weather

three sailboats on the lake - there was even a speedboat

 

This morning during church services a gentleman became ill and needed immediate attention. Chaplain Bill, a retired MD,  quickly assessed the situation while his wife Ali began to pray from the pulpit. Everyone sprang into action, attending to the man, calling 911, running for a wheelchair, consoling his wife and praying with her while we waited for emergency crew to arrive (which did not take long at all).  Members left phone numbers for the wife, in case she needed to return home (she rode in the ambulance) so that she would need transportation. (I myself was a recipient of this loving kindness a few years ago when Fred had a heart attack - neighbors set up a transportation schedule so I did not have to drive to the hospital.) The area needed  to be mopped, and immediately the congregation grabbed mops, rags, whatever was handy. Everyone acted in the manner that Christ has commanded us to do. It was so amazing as everyone worked together to help another. The gentleman is hospitalized overnight for observation, and could possibly return home tomorrow. We resumed services with only 10 minutes for Chaplain Bill to preach. I think we learned more about ourselves and our obedience as a result of our actions.

 

 We are reading the Essential 100 weekly - a series of Bible Scripture that everyone should read, starting with Genesis. We then discuss the past week's reading in Sunday School. This past week was the story of Joseph - what an amazing story. There were many things that were brought out during discussion - almost like a book club discussion (guess that is really what the Bible is). Even though Joseph was hated by his brothers, and sold as a slave, he himself did bring this about by his attitude and feeling of superiority. I always felt sorry for Joseph, but the discussion shed a new light on his misfortune for me.

 

We were not able to help with the soup kitchen and produce distribution this week as Ali and I hosted a thanksgiving dinner table, but according to those who did so, 480 people were fed a chicken dinner on Thanksgiving Day (sad to say, the chicken ran out and some folks had the usual beans and rice. Produce was distributed to over 400 people also. What a great God we serve that provides for those in need - and what a privilege we have to be part of His provision.

 

As Thanksgiving 2014 becomes just a memory, we look forward to the Christmas season and the beautiful story of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. All of the fuss, presents, decorations, and gaity are just the wordly celebration - keep Christ in your hearts this year.