A Musing for April 10

Perhaps you’ve heard …
An IRS agent contacted the pastor to verify a church member’s contributions.
“Did Mr. Smith contribute $10,000 to the church?”
The pastor replied, “I’ll check into it, but I’m sure he will.”

If an IRS agent and a lawyer were both drowning and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the newspaper?

My dad taught me, there are two things in life you can’t avoid: paying taxes and death. We put a lot of worry and energy into trying to cheat both of them; perhaps we should concentrate on using our God given finances and our lives to help others.

Perhaps we need to have more faith at tax time. Some people were worried that Jesus was trying to avoid paying taxes (Matthew 17:24-27). Jesus had Peter go fishing and pay the tax with money he found inside a fish. In the Garden of Gethsemane, some feel that Jesus was trying to avoid death. He told God, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus reminds his disciples to “Give to Caesar (the worldly government) what is Caesar’s, and to God (the heavenly government) what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:15-22)

KIDS TOGETHER
We had a good group at Kids Together this week. Sherry Snyder was our leader this week; some of the kids went home with a frog craft she helped the kids make. Francesca helped organize our Easter ducky ring toss game. Rob came to observe the music; he will help with the music in the future. We talked about Easter stuff. Eggs, baby chicks, flowers are symbols of Easter and are symbols of the new life we have in Christ.

This week Chrissy Casey and Dorothy Gardner will lead the Kids Together program. I will be thinking of you and praying for you from sunny (hopeful) and warm (unrealistically hopeful) Ocean City, NJ.

NURSERY
Our nursery is filling up on Sundays! It’s great to see so many babies – that’s a great way to grow a church! Thanks to Betsy McGeorge and Jill Jordan for providing nursery care last week. Flossie Rusbuldt and Danielle Burkett will be in the nursery next Sunday.

KIDS CLUB
Thank you for your contributions to the Kids Club ministry project. On Sunday morning we packed 11 boxes for soldiers serving in Iraq. The “We Care” boxes will be sent to Jane Arena’s nephew, Chris Foley, and Betsy McGeorge’s brother-in-law, Dan Scheidel. I thank Sherry Snyder and Dorothy Gardner for their help with Kids Club.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S ON VACATION?
I will be on a short vacation this weekend. Francesca gave “us” a weekend at Ocean City for Christmas. We call it a wellness weekend, a time to rest and be renewed.

Maybe you heard about the man who wasn’t feeling well …
He went to his doctor for a complete checkup. Afterward the doctor comes out with the results.
"I'm afraid I have some very bad news," the doctor says. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left."
"Oh, that's terrible!" says the man. "How long have I got?"
"Ten," the doctor says sadly.
"Ten?" the man asks. "Ten what? Months? Weeks? What?!"
"Nine, eight..."

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:26-27)

May you make the most of this week that God has given you.

Pastor Steve

This Week’s Motto: Vive ut vivas (“Live that you may live”)