It is the desire of GCF  to provide some needed money to Kathy Cunradi for her children for Christmas. Would you please come to church Sunday prepared to make a contribution to that worthwhile cause. I want to give her cash instead of a check, so please bring cash, if at all possible.

Thank you so much!

Grace & peace,

Mac

Just learned that Bob & Joanne have to be at the Houston County Hospital at 5:30 in the morning. I do not know what time the procedure will begin, but I do know that it will take a few hours to get the jobs done.

I will let you know what I know when I know it.

Have a good night and dream sweet dreams!

Mac

It seems that, in my message this morning, some of you heard one thing and others another, regarding Mary of Bethany. So, to clarify: regardless of what I might have said, I meant to say that the Mary of Bethany (the one in our text today) is not the same Mary that Kevin and I talked about a couple of weeks ago.

To be honest, there is good reason for question, as both of these women did very similar things to Jesus, namely pour expensive perfume on His feet, weep over him, and wipe His feet with their tears.

In a later post, I will share some of the reasons scholars tell us that they are not the same women.

I know you will live in eager anticipation for this information!

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!!

Grace to you,

Mac

Unfortunately, Bob’s surgery has been postponed until next Tuesday, November 20, 2012; the time to be announced. He managed to contract a stomach virus that would not turn loose of him. I think he is feeling better today, but he now has to wait another several days, and this kind of waiting is very frustrating.

Please keep both Bob & Joanne in your prayers, as this has not been a fun time for them.

I hope to see each of you Sunday. We will be thinking about the sisters, Mary & Martha, and how they responded to Jesus’ visit. Quite interesting.

Grace and peace,

Mac

The Love Birds

Last Sunday I said this: Over the years of my life as a Christian, I have often thought it would be really cool to read Jesus’ journal, to get the skinny on His thoughts and feelings at the end of each day. Unfortunately, no such journal exists; at least, not to my knowledge. Why, I even searched through the “Lost Books of the New Testament” in search of it, but found no evidence. Rest assured, however, that this lack of evidence does not in any way diminish my curiosity.

I also announced that, over the next several weeks, I will be doing something a bit different with my Sunday messages, and I began with the story of Jesus, the Pharisee, and the harlot. As you remember (hopefully!), after giving details of the story, I offered my opinion of what Jesus might have written in His journal about that event.

As I said, most of the time, our modus operandi is to read the text, attempting to understand it (from our own theological perspectives) using commentaries written by scholars (from their own theological perspectives), or listening to teachers who teach out of their own theological perspective. Sadly, I have never even heard of anyone purposing to view a text from Jesus’ perspective, which is why I wish He had left a journal.

The following is a list of the stories I plan for us to examine:

November 4: “Jesus, the Pharisee, and the Harlot” (Luke 7:36-50). [DONE]

November 11: “A Lawyer Puts Jesus to the Test” (Luke 10:25-37).

November 18: “The Sisters: Mary & Martha” (Luke 10:38-42).

November 25: “Dividing the Family Inheritance” (Luke 12:13-34).

December 2: “Woman, You are Freed from Your Sickness” (Luke 13:10-17).

December 9: “Children Coming to Jesus” (Luke 18:9-17).

December 16: “Zaccheus in a Sycamore Tree” (Luke 19:1-10).

December 23: “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Luke 22:1-22).

December 30: “On the Road to Emmaus” (Luke 24:1-35)

Just wanted to remind all of you that today is the Reverend R. Kevin Daniel’s birthday.

He is registered with Amazon.com, so send him books, especially on the subject of counseling, preferably of the Christian variety.

He is also registered at Taicuisine.com, so send him some Tai food, if you don’t mind.

As you know, he has a major problem with rejection, so whatever you do, do something; otherwise, he will feel rejected and blame you.

Have a great day on Kevin’s birthday!

I just talked with Roger Miller to get the results from his latest scan and the news is good. It seems that the cancer is stabilized, with some of the lesions improved. The Doc will give him more chemo and then do another scan. Thankfully, the chemo is not affecting him as negatively as it did at first. This is a good thing–a very good thing! He continues to be able to eat whatever he wants and that is another good thing!

Also, Drew, John Akacki’s son, went home yesterday; however, he has a long and difficult road ahead of him. He is with his mother, Rosemary, and his stepfather. Prayers are need!

Looking forward to seeing each of you on Sunday at 10:15 AM.

Grace & peace,

Mac

The Esteemed TRAVIS ALMAND is now the MATCH PLAY CLUB CHAMPION at River Forest Country Club.

Congratulations are in order!

To put this in proper perspective: 23 year old Rory McLLroy won the PGA Championship yesterday, and in doing so won $1.7 million.

60 year old Travis Almand won the Match Play Championship at River Forest yesterday, and in doing so won $250.

I think Travis was playing in the wrong tournament!

The Body of Christ is quite beautiful, especially when it is doing what it does so well–serving one another.

Paige was caulking; Mike was the demolition man of the day; Debbie was priming windows; Barbara was priming windows; Dudley was painting with the real stuff; John (the Miller’s son) was doing what is called “finishing carpentry; I (your humble pastor) was sitting in a chair talking with Roger (doing what good pastors do!).

Roger now has his chemo pump installed and is receiving the stuff. Thursday, he returns to the Doc for more chemo. Friday (I think) he gets the medicine that heads off that terrible sick feeling and a shot to build up his blood count.

Barbara is doing what every wife should do–fretting about her husband. Yes, she is entitled to be human!

Tomorrow there will be more of the same and others, too! Come on and join in, if you can. You will be glad you did!