Just wanted to remind everyone of our impromptu hang out at Ken and
Shauna’s farm on Sunday starting at 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! If you have an extra
roasting stick that would be great – bring it along. Smore’s are apparently
a pastoral favorite so, well… just sayin.

It will be a great time to just hang out, chill and be together. Feel free
to invite a friend or neighbor.

God bless,

Pastor Dave

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

What an absolutely beautiful morning! In some ways this is my favorite time
of year. The glory of summer is ending and the cold of winter is beginning.
There’s kind of a joyful melancholy (if that’s possible) that comes over me
as I remember all the fun things we did in the summer and I look forward to
the next one, dreaming about what I might try or what adventure we might go
on as a family.

There’s a parallel in our lives as well or there probably ought to be. Our
life on earth is like the passing of seasons. There is often a time of
youth and enjoyment and vitality followed by a slow decline as winter
approaches. We look back with fondness and wish things could be like they
used to be. For many people it stops there. But as Christians we have the
greatest summer ever – of all time!!! – to look forward to. Eternity
with Christ. How often do we put our eyes forward to this?

Jesus said in Luke 21:28 in regards to the end of time, “When these things
begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near.” He’s telling us to look to himself, to Christ,
as the end draws near. Now I think he is speaking about the apocalypse, but
I think it has relevance to us today, right now. Look to Christ. Look to
eternity with him. Cherish the memories you’ve made, cherish your youth,
but there is an even greater summer coming! Because you know, every one of
us is facing the coming winter. It comes for all of us, but it’s not the
end nor is it the final chapter. If what the bible says is true, the rest
of the story is beyond incredible!

Please pray for me as I plan on speaking on this passage this Sunday and
for Pastor Mike and his team as he leads worship. Also I have an exciting
announcement for this Sunday from Rachel and Waylon Kardash who have taken
up the charge to run Kid’s Church which is evolving more into Kid’s Club.
I’m very excited to see this start up! Here’s the note from Rachel:

*We are excited to announce this Sunday Sept 26th we will be starting a
weekly Kids Club from 9-10a.m. Our first quarter theme is Made By God,
Built for a Purpose. Drop your kids off and we will be doing songs, games,
a lesson and a craft for the hour.*

*If you are wanting to be a part of the Kids Club team let Waylon or Rachel
Kardash know. *

If you have any questions, please get a hold of Rachel or Waylon or myself.

God bless,

Dave

Hi all,

The recent updates from the Premier yesterday have made it clear that we
will be required to wear masks in church this Sunday at least until the end
of October. I understand that this probably feels very discouraging for
many of you. It does feel like a major inconvenience and a step backward. I
would encourage you to do what you feel is right for you and your family.

For those who are able and willing, we will still be gathering on Sunday at
10:30 and will plan on having a bit of a shorter service as we ease back
into things. Also, we will still be starting up Firm Foundations again at
9:00 Sunday morning.

We will continue to live stream our services for those who will not be able
to come. Please pray for me as I share this Sunday and for Rachel Drinnan
as she leads us in some worship songs.

Would you also prayerfully consider your giving at this time. We are still
hoping and looking to the end of these restrictions and I think there are
exciting times on the horizon for our church. We ask that you seek God on
how to support the church through these dry months so that we will be
poised to move into what God has next for us.

As always God bless!

I think you are an amazing church!

Pastor Dave

*Pastor Mike’s Garage/Sept 16, 2021*

As I sit down to write this PG a couple titles come to mind. Maybe to
quote a Bob Dylan song “The times they are a changing” or “Don’t be a
dinosaur” might be appropriate titles. Earlier this summer we took a drive
out to Creston BC to visit family and I was reminded of a vehicle I saw
many years ago that is in the Creston museum. It’s a 1921 Model T ford that
was converted to a truck. It was the first known vehicle to cross over the
pass into the Creston valley. Two brothers from Sask bought it new in North
Dakota and decided to move to BC. They loaded all their worldly possessions
on it and headed out. When they got to the pass, which at the time would
have been nothing like the highways we are used to today, but rather a
narrow, rut-filled, zig-zagging goat trail over the mountain, they
discovered a problem. On many of those older vehicles the gas tank was
situated behind and slightly higher than the engine and they relied on
gravity to feed gas to the engine. There was no fuel pump. When the
brothers started their ascent up the mountain the truck died as on a steep
incline the tank became lower than the engine and it ran out of fuel. They
tried several times with no success. Finally, they did the only available
option, they backed over the hill. Imagine backing a fully loaded truck,
over those roads, with limited power and brakes, horrible tires and
steering, likely no mirrors, over a mountain! This is why that vehicle is
in a museum today!

We definitely live in different times than those! I’ve read stories of
what people thought of the first motorized vehicles as they were being
invented and first seen on roads. A horse drawn carriage can achieve speeds
up to 10 to 15 mph for a short distance at a trot but most horses at a
walking pace can maintain a speed of 2-3 mph for a longer distance. The
first horseless carriages could achieve a blistering pace of 4-5mph for an
extended period of time. The first cars could go up to 20mph. There were
many articles written at the time how man was not meant to travel that fast
and these were a menace to society, would likely never catch on, and should
be banned. The first mass produced vehicle that was relatively affordable
for the masses was the model T ford. It could achieve a deathly top speed
of 40-45 mph. Would any of us in this age of air conditioning, cruise
control, power steering and power brakes want to go back to those days for
a long trip? Calgary seems like a long drive when it takes 8.5 hours at
120kmh, let alone if it were to take probably 16-18 hours with gas stops at
40mph!

As we are looking ahead at the future of both our church and the
church at large there is an undeniable fact that things are changing. Now
most of us are resistant to change, but it’s not actually the change that
bothers us! It’s the cost and unknown that always accompanies it! Anybody
out there want to go back to driving a horse drawn carriage? How about no
running water, or electricity? Want to go back to travelling doctors and
mid-wives? How about sleeping on a straw mattress? Nope, not this cat! As
we as a church look to the future, we are making some changes to try and
stay relevant to the world and culture we live in. I agree that some of
that seems scary at times. There are no guarantees that what we are trying
is perfect but we have to try. To just stay the same as always will
guarantee that we will become irrelevant! I heard a guy preach once about
the dangers of becoming a dinosaur. As I’m sure you are aware they are
extinct. Now there is much speculation what factors led to their
extinction, whether it be cataclysmic events, weather change, etc. but the
reality is that the rest of the life forms on earth did survive even though
they went through the same events. The difference was the dinosaurs were
unable change or adjust to the change surrounding them.

I don’t think this concept is new! I will leave you with some verses
written by Paul in which he also addresses some backlash they were facing
because they were preaching to the gentiles at the time. This was a very
new concept to the Jews, was considered blasphemous, yet it was because of
this that we are in relationship with Jesus today! “When I am with those
who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to
Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I
can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share its
blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:22-23

Pastor Mike