It was requested that I try to podcast the sermons that we record. You can see the podcast spot on the sidebar. You can subscribe to it if you have itunes (a free download). These first sermons I uploaded in a higher quality format than I normally will. It sounds better but takes longer to download. Anyway, it is available if you want it.

Don't Miss It

I used this story in my "From the Pastor's Study" in today's bulletin.

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk NC. On their 5th attempt, the plane under the control of Orville, embarked on a 12 second flight. Wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message – we have flown for 12 seconds - we will be home for Christmas! Upon receiving the telegram their sister, Katherine went to the newspaper office, told the editor of her brother’s new flying machine, and informed him, they would be home for Christmas, if he would like to set up an interview. He told her that was nice, and he would be sure to put something in the paper regarding the boys. On December 19th, the local paper placed the following headline on the 6th page of the paper: “WRIGHT BROTHERS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS” The most important story of the year – man’s first flight – and the editor missed it! I wonder if the same could be said about us when it comes to Christmas.

I thought it was an interesting story that reminded me that it is so easy to miss the meaning of Christmas in all of the other "events" of the time of the year. I know that my family is very busy during this time of the year. We have already had a School Christmas Program and a Cantata at church. This week we have a piano recital, a violin recital and another cantata. That is just this week. It is so easy to get wrapped up in all the events that we forget why we have all the events - celebrating the birth of Christ. So how do we keep our focus on Christ even through all of the busyness? That is my question to you. What do you do individually or as a family so that you keep your focus on the birth of Christ during this time of year?

Anniversary Sunday

Anniversary Sunday was today. We had great services - even though the snow kept some away today. It was a great day remembering God's faithfulness throughout the years. I will try to upload two presentations from this morning and as always the audio of the sermon is available at our website. 

I have also uploaded the history presentation in pdf format here. You will need the Adobe reader, which most of you all will have. I originally uploaded it to YouTube in video format, but I figured out how to do this all on my own. I am so proud of myself - until the website crashes tomorrow!

I have also uploaded the Year in Review video here. You can also access it via the History tab at the church website. This one is a bit long to download if you have dialup, but I did keep the video in lower quality for those who do. 

I have been having a bit of trouble downloading the video using Internet Explorer - which I try not to use. I use Google's browser - Chrome and it starts fine.  I also tried Firefox and Safari , and they both worked fine also. (which is why I use anything but IE) With IE, it seems to not want to auto start the video. If you have that problem, right click and select "save target as" and choose the location where you would like to save the video. Make sure you know where it is so that you can find it again. Hope that helps.

Blog

By the way, if you signed up to be a follower of this blog because of our Ecuador trip, you might be wondering why I am blogging again. I thought I would try to write a bit each week on here to try to be an encouragement to those who wanted to read it. I would love for you to comment about what I write, or even bring some other point up. 

I did change a setting to protect from spammers commenting on the blog. If you do not see your comment posted immediately, it is because I will be reviewing all comments before I post them.

If you have not looked at our church website, I encourage you to look at it. David Reed made some changes for me that I hope will be a help to both those in our church and interested people out of town. Thanks for reading.

Thanksgiving

There’s a story about a city fellow who was visiting relatives on a farm and the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw.  "Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?" The forgetful farmer thought a minute, then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That’s it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?"

Forgetfulness. Most people do battle with forgetfulness. I know that I do. I am glad that my wife remembers where I put things and what appointments I have. I would be lost without her - at least I remember her name! As we consider Thanksgiving this week, I want to remind you to be thankful. I look at thanksgiving as a reminder to be thankful all year long. Because we are forgetful people, we need reminders even to be thankful. 

I think it is interesting that God knew the forgetfulness of the Israelites and warned them that once they were comfortable in the Promised Land, they would forget what He had done for them.

Deuteronomy 8:11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 

Notice in this passage that God knew that once the Israelites had experienced comfort, they would try to claim that it was of their own strength and power that they had gotten their comfort and wealth. God wants them to remember that it was of His power and strength that they had received the blessing of the promised land. He wants them to show that they remember by obeying and giving Him the glory. 

Many times in our comfort and wealth, we forget that it is God that has given us what we have. It is God that has placed us in this country of wealth. It is God that worked in our hearts so that we accepted His gift of salvation. It is God who gives us our health. The list could go on and on of what God has done for us. Do you thank Him for that, or like the Israelites, have you forgotten what God has done for you? I encourage you to remember to be thankful for all that God has done for you - not just this week of Thanksgiving, but all year long. As the Psalmist says:

Psalm 92:1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High. 

Give thanks to your great God. He has done so much for you.

We Made It Home

I thought I should share with you that we did in fact make it home. It was a long day of flying, but we made it. Sunday was a great day in Ecuador. At the church service Sunday Morning, Kevin preached about the body of Christ being many members, but one body working together. He used our week of work as an example. At the end of the service, some of the men who we had been working with and a few of the women who were helping with bringing food stood up and gave testimony of thanks to us and testimony of what they had learned. It was an emotional time for both them and us. It was so exciting for me to see that these young believers had grasped why we were there in Riobamba. We had gone down there with the goal of being an example of Christ's love working and serving to the believers in Riobamba. We had prayed as a church that we would be an example and by the testimony given, the Lord did in fact use us in this way. We praise God for using us men for His glory. I do invite any who would like to come here more of our trip to our services on Sunday. We would love for you to be there as we share of God's work in and through us during our trip to Ecuador. Thanks for praying.

Saturday Update

Today we finished up the roof and then started on the concrete. First we needed to get more rock to cover the bottom of the floor. This is the dump truck that came to deliver the rock. This is one of the few full size trucks in the city.


This pictures shows how we got the concrete to the area we needed the concrete. Ron manned one most of the day as well as hauling water from the cistern and loading the mixer. He just doesn't quit.
Here is a picture of the completed building.
Here you can see Kevin putting the finishing touches on the concrete. The float he has in his hand is the biggest float that was used for the entire floor. Kevin floated the entire floor with that!
Here is the concrete mixer we used for the day. We were thankful that one of the men in the church brought and operated the mixer. Most of the time they mix it in wheelbarrels. It was still hard work to add rock, sand, and the cement. It was a lot of lifting.We were excited to get the floor poured today. It was a hard day of physical labor, but we made it. Andrew's adventerous eating finally came back to get him. His stomach really was bothering him this afternoon, but he kept after it.
I am not sure if there will be another update tomorrow. After church we will be heading to Quito, probably stopping by the equator tomorrow afternoon. Please do pray for us as we travel to Quito tomorrow. There will be three of us riding in the back of the pickup the three and a half hours to Quito. Then Monday morning we need to be at the airport by 4 AM for our 6:45 AM flight to Miami. We only have a 1 hour 40 minute layover in Miami where we need to go through customs and recheck our luggage. Kevin said he usually wants to have a 2 hour layover, so we are really hoping and praying that all goes well in Miami so we don't have to catch another flight to Chicago. Also be praying for me as I travel on from Ohare to Omaha, NE to meet with my wife's family concerning her grandma. Please pray for the Meyer family this week, and pray for me that I would keep my strength through a long day of travelling. Thanks to all who have read, kept up with us and prayed for us during our stay in Ecuador. We know that God has answered your prayers for us. We do feel as though God has worked through us and in us this week, and for that we give Him the glory. If you can be at Bethany's services next Sunday, we will be giving a report and showing many more pictures and some video. We would love to have you join us both in the morning and evening services.