Dear Church Family,
I forgot on Tuesday to wish you a blessed welcome to the month of September. So I trust you will have a blessed month though the weirdness of the pandemic seems like it will never end. I hope these words below will strengthen your faith in our Lord.
This time continues to offer God’s people to grow in grace in ways that we have not before. In this time we truly must live by faith and not by sight. Psalm 103:2 tells us to do two vital things that are crucial to not just surviving, but thriving, these days. I will let you pick them out, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Yes, I helped by bolding them. Offering praise God is what we were created to do. It brings glory to God and it keeps our focus on our Heavenly Father. It also helps us recall of the abundant blessings that God bestows on His chosen people.
Our country is blessed with the best medical care in the world, but still we are headed to almost 200,000 deaths by the end of the month. The way this virus should be treated remains a work in progress. It baffles the experts, but God remains firmly in control. Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God…” Remember God is God and we are not! Nor is anyone else.
Our land faces a great racial divide. We must beg God to heal us. By His grace we must love others and treat all people with the dignity that every person created in the image of God deserves. I talked with Officer Ray of the Weaverville Police last week. He grieves over the anger and hate that he has seen in his hometown. Reggie is black and loves our Lord. Children love him as he serves as the Resource Officer at the Primary and Elementary Schools during normal times. Pray for the safety of our police and may they be used to bring unity to our town. Thanks be to God for His peace that passes all understanding.
September brings change as the weather begins to cool, the fall harvest delivers a bounty of food and the trees start to color. Perennial plants will get ready for winter and annuals will be dug up to be tossed on the compost pile. Humans qualify as perennials and God has numbered our days. As the seasons continue their cycles what change is God bringing about in you? If you are still breathing, God has you here for His ordained purpose. May Philippians 1:6 encourage us, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
The pandemic continues and God’s abundant (hyper) grace continues in much greater measure.
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin