Don’t forget to join us for family night, as we discuss why we put so much emphasis on Operation Christmas Child. We will be hearing from Havard Harris who has had first-hand experience with the impact this ministry has on reaching families for Christ. Don’t forget to bring a friend. The supper starts at 6 PM in the fellowship hall.

THE CHRISTMAS POST OFFICE IS BACK.

Start working on your Christmas Cards. The Camp Post Office will open Sunday morning, November 27. If you would like to send Christmas cards to church members who live in Ashburn, drop them off and let us sort and distribute them for you. Donations to the post office will go towards shipping and items for Operation Christmas Child Boxes.

OCC PREP NIGHT- TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022

We need volunteers to help us prepare for our church-wide packing night. We will meet at 5:00 PM on Tuesday to label and assemble boxes, open up packages, and organize items to be packed.

Giving as of October 25, 2022

Budget for 2022 . . . . . . . .  $322,471.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $266,655.91
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $238,471.12
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,201.37
Tithes Received this week . . .  $3,974.95

---

---

From our Family and Music Minister

The ability to memorize anything, much less scripture, is a talent I have never possessed. So even though I learned it unconventionally, one of the first scriptures I learned was the 23rd Psalm. Growing up, I had to stay with my dad for many hours at the funeral home. As boredom set in, I would walk all over the place, including the casket room. Engraved on the corners of one of the caskets was the 23rd Psalm. I always thought it was the coolest thing, so I constantly read it as I passed by. One phrase stood out to me as a child: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” So in my childlike mind, I understood that even though I might die, I shouldn’t be scared because I get to go to Heaven. However, even though our eternal home is priceless, I have come to understand that the statement means so much more. 

In life, we will experience some high points and feel like we are on a mountaintop; without a doubt, we will experience some valleys. Not just some low points in life, I mean deep valleys. Valleys in the Old Testament actually mean deep ravines or gorges. A gorge was narrow, dark, and damp and usually encased by steep stone walls, making it virtually inescapable. They were extremely dangerous and usually contained snakes, wild beasts, and criminals. Valleys can mean the darkest times in life, such as death, sickness, sudden disasters, famine, or even war. But even though we will experience those valleys, as David writes in Psalm 23, “You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” We can completely trust God to be with us in the hard times. God will guide us just as a shepherd guides his flock out of danger with a rod and staff. God is worthy of our praise because He is the same God in the valleys as He is on the mountaintop. He does not change. Our Savior is always faithful.

If we think about it, would it change our outlook on a situation if we choose to praise God even when it is bad? Paul and Silas are great examples of this. In Acts 16, we read how they were wrongly imprisoned and beaten. Yet, they continued to rely on God for their strength as they were in prison. The fantastic thing is, they were not even quiet about it. We see in Acts that they started singing hymns of praise in the midnight hour. Ultimately we see that God used their praise to witness to others around them. They knew God had not changed, even though their situation had. Paul later wrote in Phillippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice.”

Think about what opportunities your current circumstances could give you to tell others about Jesus. How can you choose to praise God even if you are going through a valley? What is holding you back from entirely relying on God? Charles Spurgeon wrote,” “It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by … Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men.”