February 21, 2025, 12:00 PM
Greetings in Christ. It's been another snowy week of winter weather here in Central KY. I hope and pray you are doing well.
If you've been out and about this week, I pray you've been safe in your travels.
That got me thinking... Are we thankful enough for ALL the protection God provides us? On a stormy night, I will sometimes thank God for providing shelter as I lie in bed. But I don't think I am nearly thankful enough.
God has always provided protection and a path forward for His children. Look in the Bible: Moses was protected from death at the hands of Pharaoh by being placed in a basket on the Nile River. Jesus was taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary to get away from King Herod who wanted to kill the baby Jesus. We cannot always see or understand it, but the Lord still watches over His children! I thank God for that!
And that's not all; there's even more! It's amazing how God provides in ALL areas of life (not just providing protection and a path) for His people.
Look at Bread as an example. One day this past week, I was at a Bob Evans restaurant, having some of their banana nut bread with my breakfast. Man, it was good!
In the Old Testament, we see God bringing down manna from heaven every morning to feed the people of Israel. In the New Testament, Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes (over 5,000) with just 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread!
In Jesus, though, we find more than just a provider of our physical needs. Jesus says in John 6 that He offers something more than bread. Bread satisfies our hunger for the day, but Jesus is the BREAD of LIFE. Believing in Him and living for Him gives us spiritual food that is truly satisfying! Now, banana nut bread is really good, but that bread -- the BREAD of LIFE -- is the best bread ever!
With all this said, let's not forget to say THANKS to the Lord for ALL His many blessings.
As my friend David Vaughn says, "It would be nice if we could FORGET our TROUBLES as easily as we FORGET our BLESSINGS!"
One final note: I wanted to let everyone know about a new tool we are utilizing this year to help our ministry efforts at First Christian Church.
FCC has been invited to be on the ground level of a brand new initiative of the CCLN (Christian Church Leadership Network) to help churches get healthy and growing.
We want our church to be as effective as possible in reaching lost people and discipling believers, and we need your help! This coming Sunday, February 23rd, we'll be officially kicking off the Church Working Right Church Health Survey, making it available church-wide (a QR code will be in the bulletin). This powerful tool collects and collates hard data on our congregation, covering areas such as leadership, culture, worship, discipleship, giving, and volunteering.
We need your input on key questions about our church. Could you help us by completing a simple online survey? The survey only takes 15-20 minutes to complete, and your responses will be completely anonymous! Your participation is extremely important and appreciated!
May God bless and I hope to see you soon -- maybe this Sunday (02.23.25)!
God Bless,
Greg H.
Greg H.
