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Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
News
June, July &
August
2004
From the Pastor
A LIST OF BLESSINGS
In a time which knows so much heartache and uncertainty and in which we are so aware of all the divisiveness that exists in our country and the world, the blessings are often hidden in the shadows, but they are there. Here are a few of mine, gathered together after only a few minutes of reflection. In troubling times, whether personally or socially as citizens of the earth, it is always helpful to remain mindful of our blessings. Perhaps after reading my fragmentary list you will consider making your own. It helps us remain mindful that hidden in the shadows we can still see evidence of God’s blessing which in turn leads us to the conviction that above the shadows the Son still shines.
My list:
· Watching Sam Dungar receive his Eagle Scout Award in a special service at our church. Sam is the young man who installed the playground equipment behind the fellowship hall.
· The weekly presence of young infants in our worship service. God bless the parents who bring the infants and children to worship.
· The seriousness and precision with which our acolytes light the candles on Sunday morning.
· The story line of the play and the talent of everyone involved in the recent dinner theater production at our church, and especially the talent, giftedness and dedication of Scott Weaver and Mark Suffron. I stand in awe.
· Strolls around our grounds. It is a park, a garden, a landscape of beauty that lifts the spirit and quiets the soul.
· Listening to the young man from Guatemala share his experiences of working at Potters House. He serves the poorest of the poor but his heart is filled with riches.
· The honest sharing and probing that often occurs between participants of the Sunday School Class and Tuesday Bible Study I teach.
· Watching Smarty Jones run his race at the Preakness.
· In a culture obsessed with all things current and youthful, the way golf honors and reveres its legends of the game.
· The happy ending to the eleven year run of Frazier – a marriage, a birth, and the risk by Frazier to subdue all his stuffiness and go after love.
· The early quiet of a spring morning, affording a time to read, pray and journal.
· A grave side service for a lady who had lived a hundred years and listening to the love expressed for her in the testimonies of those who had been her care givers.
· A walk across the grounds of Our Lady of the Pines…a first time stroll through the sculpture garden of The Toledo Art Museum…browsing in Barnes and Noble on a Friday night and running into friends…never tiring of hearing the congregation sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” with the special thing Wayne does on the organ between verse three and four.
This is my list, blessings picked at random, trying not to censor between sacred and secular, because I believe it all comes from God, is of God and is given to us that we not lose heart and might find encouragement and insight in all seasons of life and every circumstance.
Now, you write your list. Simply let it rip. Record it as it comes to you. Don’t distinguish what you might think proper. Just right it down, reasons for thanksgiving; blessings, and at the end of it, a simple prayer, “Thank you, Lord, thank You.” In fact, why not add to it throughout the summer, a list of blessings to help you maintain an outlook of expectancy and remain ever mindful that as dark as the shadows seem, always there before us is a God who encourages and leads us toward the Son.
Dr. David W. Andersen
          
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