From Our Pastor | How can we face life in these days? Everywhere we look we see violence, lies, fraud, evil and hatred. It would very easy to get depressed and defeated. In fact, that would be a normal reaction to these times.
of Ashburn
From Our Family and Music Minster |
As the new year begins, most people are setting goals for things they want to accomplish in the upcoming year. If you are like me, you haven’t even started on the list you made last year. As we set our goals, we must consider if we are keeping God at the center of those goals. As Christians, we can be guilty of compartmentalizing our lives, especially when it comes to worship, work, and play. We give God our main focus on Sunday. However, the rest of the time, He may be along with us for the ride, but we keep Him in the back seat with the radio turned up, so we aren’t always hearing His instruction.
From Our Pastor | Happy New Year! I hope that 2024 is a wonderful year for you. I pray we all grow in grace and experience God working in our lives as never before.
From Our Family and Music Minster |
Christmas is upon us; hopefully, you all have plans for that special day by now. Forbes magazine published a study that in Christmas of 2014, over 99 million people traveled over nine days surrounding Christmas. A large percentage of those are people who say they are returning home for Christmas. When we think about it, home is a place where we feel comfortable, relaxed, and safe. If you think about it as we go through our lives, what we consider home changes. A popular Christmas song that I am sure everyone hears is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” These lyrics make us think of the desire everyone has to be at home, be loved, or feel like they belong somewhere.
From Our Pastor | Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season. It is a wonderful time of excitement and fun. Children (including those of us who never grew up) love this time of year.
From Our Family and Music Minister | The introduction of electricity was a major historical event in our world. Many people were stunned by its introduction and thought it intimidating, scary, and unnecessary. Not everyone was impressed when the news got out that Edison was developing the first practical electric light bulb. A British Parliament Committee wrote that Edison’s light bulb was “good enough for our Transatlantic friends… but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.” However, today, we can’t imagine life without it. Unfortunately, those who cannot benefit from it often experience life in darkness. Similarly, the birth of Jesus completely changed the course of the world. Those who accept Him as Savior can benefit from His life instead of remaining in the dark.
From Our Pastor | As we look at our nation, it is increasingly obvious that we are under God’s judgment. For years we have been experiencing judgment by the means of the consequences of our sins. We are now seeing God’s direct judgment upon us. We are plagued in so many ways in so many areas.
From Our Family And Music Minister | I hope this week has been a great time for all our church family as you celebrate Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite times of the year. It is a great time to get together with family and friends and enjoy spending time with each other. Not only am I blessed with a loving family, but I am also blessed with a great church family. I know that several of my articles in the past have dealt with my church family. However, I can never stress enough the importance of being a part of one. They are always there during the good times and the bad.
From Our Pastor | Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful day with family or friends. We have so much for which to be thankful. God has been so good to us.
From Our Family And Music Minister | A few years ago, my sister and I got a rescue dog named Bailey from the local pound. When we brought her home and gave her a bowl of food, she immediately picked it up and hid it. She was so used to not having food that it took her several weeks before she stopped guarding her food and hiding it. However, she never took it for granted; she would always eat whatever food we got her, and we didn’t have to worry about her wasting it. Fast forward a few years, and now I have a little adopted dog that came with my wife. Lulu has always had food and never had to worry about where her food comes from, including being given treats behind Saskia’s back by more than just me. If Lulu is not fond of a particular dog food, she only eats what she has to. And if we mix the food she doesn’t like with food she does, she pulls each piece out of the bowl and eats the good stuff while leaving the cheap food for the other dog. Bailey was more thankful for just having food because she had done without. As the holiday season approaches and we begin to share everything for which we are grateful, we must also remember to be thankful for the little things. We have to be on guard not to be thankless because it may be something we have always had.