Pastor Mike’s Garage September 30th, 2021

Below are some excellent thoughts from Pastor Mike. Please take the time to
read them. He has written some important thoughts for us in these
uncertain times.

But before you do I just wanted to announce that Sunday evening (October
3rd) we will be having an impromptu campfire and wiener roast out at Ken
and Shauna’s farm. Directions to their farm are at this link
<-102.8196843/@50.414292,-102.9449364,12z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x52e1e5a7a1534845:0xd4a1eefa0075c9df!2m2!1d-102.9300898!2d50.4113984!1m0!3e0″>www.google.ca/maps/dir/Grenfell,+SK/50.4261396,-102.8196843/@50.414292,-102.9449364,12z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x52e1e5a7a1534845:0xd4a1eefa0075c9df!2m2!1d-102.9300898!2d50.4113984!1m…>.
Feel free to show up anytime after 5pm. Hay ride for the kids will be at
6pm. The church will provide hotdogs, buns and condiments. Please bring
your own snacks (chips, cookies, desserts etc) and drinks and lawn chairs.
Lawn games and frisbees etc are welcome!

See you in church Sunday morning and don’t forget about Kid’s Club at 9 am.

*Pastor Mike’s Garage-Sept 30/21*

Are you ready for a fall and winter of misery? This is in reference to
a press conference that Dr. Shahab, our province’s chief medical officer,
gave to the media yesterday concerning what they feel is the future in
concerns to the Covid crisis. Now I know that the opinions on Covid-19 are
quite varied among those who will be reading this. It is not my desire or
intent in writing this to shed any light or try and influence you either
way from what you perceive to be the truth. I’ll let you in on a little
secret, I don’t actually know anything! Now don’t get me wrong, I do have
my own opinions, but they are just that, opinions!

What I do want to share with you is the first thought that crossed my
mind when I read that headline. Where are you putting your hope? If the
sole source of my hope is in what this world has to offer, its
entertainment value, its health system, its financial security, then yes,
there is definite cause for concern in these times! But we are not as those
without hope! If my hope is fixed upon that which is above, the one who is
faithful, and just, and all-knowing, and all-powerful, and loving, then I
need not fear! None of that has changed, even with Covid! My mind goes
back to something that Pastor Dave challenged us with last Sunday. Where
are your eyes fixed? The worst thing we can do as we look at the world and
times around us is withdraw and start navel-gazing! That will just lead to
isolation, fear and despair! Slightly healthier is for us to look around
us, try and figure out the situation, and form an opinion as we talk among
ourselves. That will just lead to division, conspiracy theories, and
ultimately more isolation, fear and despair! We need to look up people!
“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”(Luke 21:28) Is our
financial security looking uncertain? Yes, but guess what, it was never
that certain! Look up! Are there concerns with our healthcare? Yes, but
there never has been any kind of guarantee for a long healthy life for
anyone! Look up! Are all of the things we enjoy as entertainment on rocky
ground? Yes, but truth be told they never had the power to truly satisfy
anyway! Look up!

Today is a day that our government has declared “Truth and
reconciliation” day. A day to remember the many injustices our First
Nations have experienced throughout history. Through trying to find the
truth, hopefully we as a country can step towards reconciliation. I in no
way want to make light or ignore the many wrongs that have been committed
to our First Nation people. I am in favour of this day to remember and
honour them. But I believe that real truth and reconciliation can only be
found in one source, for all people! Look up people! We need to find our
truth in the person of Jesus! We need to be reconciled to God! It is only
in this that we can have any kind of true perspective for what is happening
around us and have any hope of real reconciliation with those around us!

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are
being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last
very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and
will last forever! So, we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we
see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Pastor Mike