Hi Church Requel! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "what's happening" blog post. Hope your week is going well.
Mary Kay and I arrived back in town this past Tuesday safe and sound from our vacation in Myrtle Beach. We had a great time of family, food and rest. My dad invited us to share his condo with him right on the beach. I thought you might enjoy the view from our 16th floor balcony. I took this picture using the panorama setting on my iPhone. What do you think? (This is only a thumbnail. If you click on the image you can see the whole picture.)
I did a lot of reading with my new Kindle. I finished two books and got a good start on another four books! Dave snapped this picture of me from the balcony just down by the pool relaxing, what my sister Kimberly has dubbed "poolaxing!" Sometimes Mary Kay and I would walk the beach, hand in hand - yes, I know I'm still a hopeless romantic!
I thought you might also enjoy this photo - a self-portrait of a wind-blown couple by the pier. (Alright... enough vacation snapshots.)
I'm really looking forward to being back with you all this coming Sunday evening! We are halfway through our 40 Days In The Word campaign. By the way, didn't Pastor Steve do an outstanding job last weekend? I was so thrilled when I listened to last weekend's podcast.
This weekend I'm really looking forward to sharing the talk with you. We are going to consider the topic of illumination. Have you ever read a passage from the Bible that you've read many times before and then said to yourself, "I never saw that before!" It happens to me all the time.
Sunday night we are going to learn that when we become Christ followers, we receive new spiritual eyes. The Holy Spirit helps us to see things in the Word of God that He wants us to see. We'll share 4 examples of spiritual insights from the Bible and then talk about 5 ways to prepare ourselves to see what God wants us to see. It's an outstanding talk. (I can say without boasting because I didn't write it; this is another of Rick Warren's fantastic messages!) You won't want to miss Sunday night at CR!
Clothes Closet. Remember to bring your slightly used clothing with you this Sunday night. You've been doing an outstanding job. This will be our last week of collecting clothes. Next weekend we will need all the help you can give us to display the clothes for an hour before and an hour after the worship service. Next weekend you can take home anything you can use or that you know someone else could use. Whatever is left - which will probably be most of it, we will offer to the Women's Shelter. The rest we will donate to other charities. If you have the time, please let Jenn Carrick, Sara Scott or Lisa Hatfield know that you can help with the display of the clothes next weekend.
40DITW Celebration Potluck. Circle November 11th on your calendar! Sunday evening, 11/11th at 5pm we will gather in the fellowship hall for a potluck meal together. (You can bring your food a little earlier so we can start eating at 5pm.) After our meal together, we will stay in the fellowship hall that evening and share with one another how God has blessed each of us during this 40 Days In The Word campaign. As you go through the devotional messages, be thinking about what you could share that would encourage others at Church Requel on November 11th!
That will wrap up this week's blog post. Can't wait to see you Sunday night! With great affection, Pastor Mark
