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Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
News
2001
From the Pastor
Thank You
My daughter, Corinne, and her boyfriend, Spencer Holt, were visiting from Louisville, KY, for the Christmas holiday. We had just arrived home from the Men's Fellowship Christmas Breakfast the morning before Christmas Eve Day when the call came. There had been a fire in Corinne's apartment building. From the description we knew the fire had engulfed the entire building but it was not until Corinne returned to Louisville after Christmas that she learned it was a total loss. Nothing was salvageable.
This experience while devastating has given to our entire family an appreciation for the kindness of friends and church members that has been so generously expressed it may never ever be able to be reciprocated, except in a very humble attempt to say thank you.
Friends expressed their concern and have followed up with inquires to see if there was anyway in which they could help. The January Fellowship Offering and a special Pathfinder Sunday School Offering were designated to help Corinne get re-established. Corinne received word and support from First Baptist friends residing in both Wisconsin and Georgia. We thank everyone for being so kind.
My prayer would be that such love and generosity might be known to all who experience such times of trauma and loss in their lives. The same day the fire occurred in Corinne's apartment, there were other fires in other cities, including our own, some more tragic; I only pray there was for those as well, loved ones, friends, church members who were present for them in the way you have been for my daughter. I thank you. I thank God for you.
Book Notes
I have recently read two novels although not by overtly religious writers nevertheless carry strong religious theme that are provocative and challenging.
The first is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The cover of my edition says it was a selection of Oprah's Book Club. It
chronicles the missionary lives of a family who lived in the Congo. It shows how mission work can error when people are seen as objects to be converted rather than people to be embraced. It is an apt warning to all of us who would be witnesses.
The second book is entitled Lying Awake and was written by Mark Salzman. The story is of a cloister nun who experiences a series of visions that deepen her faith and the faith of many others who are touched by her poetry that is inspired by these visions. It is later discovered, however, that these visions are caused by a medical condition which when cured the visions cease. It leads to a crisis of faith in the nun's life, causing her to question everything she has ever believed. It forces us to confront our own basis of faith.
These are not necessarily books that inspire but they are books that confront and cause us to look deeper at our own faith. I recommend both and especially Lying Awake as it is shorter and in the end, ultimately affirming.
Favorite Bible Book
For me at the moment it is Ecclesiastes. I started it around the time of my birthday. It is written by an older man looking back on his life, trying to make sense of it. It is powerful. I would recommend it for anyone my age or older. I think it would be a very appropriate book to be read during the season of Lent. If you are under fifty, however, you might want to wait a few years.
Dr. David W. Andersen
          
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