Pastors Message

Reaching Out from

Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 

This is the day of the autumnal equinox that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Let us rejoice in a calm (if a bit cool) first day of fall, and let us be glad that the colors are beginning to peek out from a few trees by the side of the road!  As we prepare to bid “farewell” to the warmth of summer, and greet the new season, let us rejoice and be glad for the ongoing cycles of life and the unique joys and blessings of each season!

One of the devotionals that we read every day touched on a subject that we don’t pay enough attention to, in these challenging days of pandemics and strife around the world; cheerfulness.  So many of us are feeling pretty beat-up these days, with good reason; the news is almost universally negative, COVID-19 is surging, politics are beyond ugly, and the Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for a brutally cold and long winter.  But we read in Proverbs 15:13 that “A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance.”  Are our hearts not glad?  Is that why we go about with furrowed brows and downcast eyes?  Have we forgotten the great and eternal good news, that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven?  Have we lost sight of the fact that God loves us, and wants only good things for us?  Did we not notice that, as dark as the days seem to be sometimes, the sun always comes up the next day?  All of these things, and many, many more, should make our hearts glad – and make for a cheerful countenance on each one of us.  We are loved, cared for, and protected by Almighty God; we each have a full measure of the grace of Jesus Christ, and we are filled by the Holy Spirit.  If that doesn’t put a smile on our faces, we don’t know what will!

With our love in Christ,

Karen and Greg

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; Ephesians 2:8

 CHURCH AND COMMUNITY UPDATES

-Joint GLCC and WPC Adopt-A-Highway—Tuesday, September 28^th at 9 a.m., with a rain date of Thursday, September 30^th at 9 a.m. We will meet at the corner of 23 and 638 to begin.  Join the fun!

-Women’s Conference— Thursday, October 7^th  God Does His Best Work with Empty is the theme of the Women’s Conference this year.  This one-day Bible study will be held in the “living Room” of the Birch Hill Store, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Lunch and snacks will be served.  Registration forms and $30 fee are due by September 27^th.  The green forms are available in the GLCC Narthex, or from the pastor at WPC.

Wishing you joy and peace in your day!  Remember, God’s got this.