Let Us Give Our Best

Let Us Give Our Best

Dear Friends,

            The other day I happened to be in the kitchen with my wife when she was cleaning out the refrigerator.  I do not usually take part in this event but I stood next to her giving her moral support (and an occasional guiding word of advice).  Doing her best to ignore me, she methodically went about her task.

            As plastic containers were opened, sniffed and identified as edible contents, I noticed she was throwing out a few egg yolks.  I asked, “Why?” and she informed me that they had blood specks in them.  I said, “So, why does that make a difference? You mix them up and fry them anyway!”

            She responded that when she had grown up on the farm her grandma always told her that is what you did with blood specks in the eggs.

            Well, I wanted to find out if that was true or not (not doubting my wife, of course!)  Wanting to find out the origin of that kitchen wisdom, I went to my trusty computer and Googled “eggs”.

            What I found was a wealth of information.  I basically learned that the blemishes that I was referring to came from fertilized eggs and basically you could eat them if you wanted but if they were sold they would be a grade B egg.

            Triumphantly going back to the kitchen, I proceeded to tell my wife that it really didn’t make a difference or not if you ate eggs with blood specks in them.

            Her response was less than I had anticipated.  She turned back to me and proceeded to throw another egg yolk away and said, “That is nice honey!”

            Later that day, I was doing my devotions which included verses from Jude 24 & 25. “Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory…”

            What struck me in this scripture is how the word blemish is referred to.

            It made me realize that my wife was throwing those eggs away because she wanted the best for her family – an egg yolk without blemish!

            I was further reminded that God gave us his Son, Jesus Christ so that we could be introduced to our Heavenly Father without blemish!  Christ had given his life and taken our blemishes, our sins and made us presentable before God.

            As we enter this Thanksgiving season, may our giving represent our appreciation for all that God has done for us.

            Let us give Him our best!

            It is a time to give back.  It is a time to teach our children and children’s children that we give our best, without blemish or excuse to our Heavenly Father.

            Happy Thanksgiving!

Pastor Wayne

            

Build Your House for the Lord

Dear Friends,

            “I’m ready to see some dirt piles on the church yard,” I exclaimed to my wife recently “and a nice big hole in the ground to go along with it!”

            Of course I was referring to the much anticipated beginning of our Legacy Building project.

            I also know that behind the scenes of beginning the first stages of this project was a mountain load of paperwork, loan provisions and engeneering templates that needed to be in order before the dirt work could begin.

            I’m also anticipating that in the very near future the grean light will be given for the go ahead for this much anticipated first step.

            God does teach patience!

            In the meantime, I have reflected on the tremendous effort of our volunteers that keep the ministries and programs of this church going.

            It indeed is a team effort!

            If you come around 1^st Reformed on a Wednesday night you will find the church humming from 3:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.  There is barely a space in the church that doesn’t have activity in it.  In fact, we are out of room.  We have two youth classes meeting in homes and an adult elective class meeting in another home. 

            The STARS after school program involves 31 children.  Add to this choir, praise band and team practice, misc. meetings and such and you have a church crackling with energy!

            Back to the dirt pile and volunteers.

            God blesses those who use their gifts for him.  Thank you to all who teach Sunday School, lead and give of themselves in any way to the building up of the body of Christ.  I would miss many people if I tried to describe all the tasks and duties that are done by everyone.  On behalf of the church, I want you to know you are appreciated.

            The anticipated dirt pile I refer to reminds me of how we will be using our added facilities next year on.  Diana, our Youth and Education Director, and I cannot wait to see what has been envisioned to be used in expanding our current ministries and the space in which to do things better.

            May we build our house for the Lord and may we build to wear it out for Him!

            It is great to be on God’s team as a servant worker for the Lord of the harvest! 

            Stay tuned for a dirt report!!

NOTE:  Since the writing of this article, the digging has begun as of September 23.  Praise God from whom all Blessings flow!

In Christ,

Pastor Wayne

Keeping Your Eyes on Christ

September 1, 2012

Dear Friends,

            This past week I spent several days gathering documents to complete our church’s loan application for the Legacy Project.

            One of the documents that I was looking for was the By Laws of the church.  After an afternoon of searching countless minute books and records, I found out that back in 1937, our church’s Articles of Incorporation and By Laws were merged as one document.

            If I have bored you with this paper search, bear with me for just a little longer in my transition.

            One fact as I read countless years of consistory notes that covered decades of church existence is that periodically the question was asked “What is our mission as a church?”

            As I returned these historical minutes back to the vault, that question echoed in my mind.

            My mission as your pastor is to clearly and passionately remind us at First Reformed of our mission as a church.

            If I don’t, I have failed first and foremost in helping define and develop our vision and our reason to exist.

            What is our mission?  Look no further than our mission statement.  “Impacting Lives for Christ.”

            I know there are many theological variances that can bring this statement into further depth but in a nutshell, we exist to “Impact people for Christ.”

            We do this first by being committed to our creator God and responding to His love.

            We do this by living lives for Christ.  Being the hands and feet of Jesus!

            Digging into all those minutes reminded me of the ways we have done mission in the past.  Thus, for present and future generations of this church, we have to be clear and ever diligent as we live our mission statement.

            As we do so it becomes clear that ministry is a marathon.  It’s not how you start that matters but how you end!

            Let’s keep our eyes on Christ!  Impacting Lives for Christ!

           

God is good!

Pastor Wayne Sneller