Good Friday morning to you, Church Requel community! Pastor Mark here with your weekly blog keeping you posted on all the good things happening at CR. Mary Kay and I have been so enjoying the bright, sunny weather this week. Yes, I know the rain is coming over the next few days. Can we really complain? We need it badly as evidenced by my lawn, which looks like a post card from Death Valley. Ha!
So what's this balloon launch all about? I was working on a creative way to talk to our children Sunday night about the power of God's Holy Spirit in our lives, when I came up with the object lesson of using balloons. I don't want to give everything away here, but I think it will be a fun experience for all the kids in our church, including those who haven't been to elementary school in decades!
We will enjoy the participation of lots of CRers Sunday night. Brandi Walker is back from vacation and all revved up to lead our worship time. Pastor Steve will lead our prayer and communion time. And for the first time ever on the Church Requel platform, 3rd-grader Dylan Melton will read our Scripture!
Our teaching time is titled, "Crossings" and comes from the Exodus story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Of course we will see that most famous movie clip from the 1956 The Ten Commandments! (I couldn't resist.) We may not see walls of water on both sides, but we all will experience major crossings in our lives. I plan to talk about one of my own crossings as an example. We'll examine 4 characteristics of crossings and the one thing we must do when confronted with a crossing. I'm praying that Sunday night will be a God appointment for all of us. Here's a link to the YouVersion Sermon Notes.
New photo albums. Diana has done a marvelous job with our photo albums on the Church Requel website. This past week she has added some new albums. If you haven't been there in a while, check out the Baptism album, Jack and Sheri's wedding album, and a new special album about the children of Church Requel! I especially love the mosaic at the end. You can see all 15 photo albums here. Thanks Diana!
Thanks for praying. Your prayers for Dick and Lincoln are being answered! I spoke to Dick Jourdan this morning, now 2 weeks past open heart surgery. He has experienced some concerning swelling in his ankle where his staples were removed, but his doctors tell him this is normal. Other than that Dick's recovery is going well.
Lincoln's dad, Dan, writes: "Lincoln is still on a hot streak. He is currently at 49% oxygen on the ventilator... Once they get him below 40% they will consider [removing the ventilator.] ... He is currently at 3375 grams, or 7 lbs. 7.1 oz. We brought Dominik down on July 4th to meet him. Dominik loves him because he kept kissing the top of his head." I encourage you to encourage Dan and Katie by going to their Caring Bridge site and let them know you are still praying.
Pot Luck on Saturday July 28th. In two weeks we will enjoy some special fellowship time together at North Lake Park in Mansfield. I hope you will make plans to join us at 4pm. This is a great opportunity to make new friends and keep up with old ones. There are lots of places for the children to play. And for those who want to escape the heat, you can't beat the coolness of the air-conditioned pavilion. Kyle and Sean will also be celebrating their high school graduation. Families should bring two dishes and single folks bring one. Pastor Steve and I will be grilling burgers and dogs. Should be a good time for everyone.
That's going to wrap up this week's "what's happening" blog post. Hope you're staying cool and refreshed. May God bless and keep you this weekend. With affection, Pastor Mark
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