Pastor Jim sent the following message on 3/17/20…
Greetings Friends:
I send this out as a means of offering an encouraging word today. I hope that the worship experience on Sunday (3/15/20) was a blessing. As you 
received in a previous email we will not be worshiping “in person” this Sunday, but we will be worshiping through Live Stream at 10:15 AM.
Please stay informed, stay safe, be diligent in protecting yourselves and your family, and keep trusting our amazing, wonderful God who will see us through.
Pastor Jim
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Consider the following verses…
Don’t Worry- Be Happy!
Do you remember the happy song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy“? The song hit the air waves in 1988 and seems to have become seared into our brains! (go ahead and sing it.., you know you want to)! To be sure the tune is catchy and the message is simple yet profound. The first line of that song goes like this:
“Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy……”
Hmmmm, maybe some of you on the other side of this screen are saying, “Easier said than done”! I wish it was that easy for some of us to get rid of our worries, don’t you?
Linus…
In a Peanuts cartoon, Linus tells Charlie Brown,
“When I hear those coyotes howling at night, it totally depresses me. I start to feel lonely… Then I get scared.”
Charlie Brown says, “I thought holding onto that blanket made you secure.”
Linus replies, “I think the warranty has run out.”
That’s the problem with most security blankets that the world has to offer. Their warranty runs out. The “cure” for worry that the world offers is only short term. Jesus is the long term “cure” for all fear, all worry. He gently reminds us that He has overcome the world (John 16:33). He knows what it is to worry, the Scriptures clearly teach that so He can identify with us. But because He can identify with us we can boldly come to God through Christ in prayer and find a God who understands and who can offer help (see Hebrews 4:14-16).
“Donald”…
Erma Bombeck once told about a little boy named Donald. Donald was worrying about going to school. Here is how he expressed his fears:
My name is Donald. I don’t know anything. I have new underwear, a loose tooth, and I didn’t sleep last night because I’m worried. What if a bell rings and a man yells, ‘Where do you belong,’ and I don’t know? What if the trays in the cafeteria are too tall for me to reach? What if my loose tooth comes out when we have our heads down and are supposed to be quiet? Am I supposed to bleed quietly? What if I splash water on my name-tag and my name disappears and no one knows who I am?”
Poor Donald. Poor us. Worry about big things and little things. Worry about the future. Worry about the past. Worry about our finances, worry about our family, worry about politics, worry about the weather, worry about the hymns were singing (or not singing) at worship…
. . . .
Jesus!
It is for people like Linus, Donald, you and me that Jesus spoke the words recorded above. The Apostle Paul wrote to fearful, anxious, beleaguered Christians living in Ephesus:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:6-7 see also Jesus teaching in Matthew 6:25-33)
Maybe then, just maybe, for a child of God we can tweak the happy song from the 1980’s:
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, TRUST JESUS!
Shalom,
Pastor Jim
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