Friday, February 27, 2009

The End of February

"There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: A right time for birth and another for death, a right time to plant and another to reap." Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, The Message

I am struck by these verses once again. I feel like there is indeed a time to consider the construct of time; a time to open up Ecclesiastes and remember everything happens when God intends it to. There’s always been something about the shortest month of the year that makes me ponder the length of life and the need to find God within the details. This week brought that into focus.

It would seem that it is the time for a garden at 5846 Gregory. We are excited to announce work days, beginning the afternoon of March 8th (from 1:30-4:30), and have been so thrilled at the level of interest from God’s people and some kids in the neighborhood. Alison has taken the lead on organizing this and is pulling together the talents of FPCH Deacons, young adults, and other community members in designing and planning the garden.

It is also time to begin to share testimonials about the year, as Mary, Sara, Stephanie, Alison, and I (along with our board members and some prayer partners) will be sharing the story of the year thus far with the Missions Committee at Hollywood Presbyterian on Monday, March 2nd. Anyone is invited, so if you’d like to come learn more about what’s going on here, please come to the Hollywood Presbyterian Sanctuary, 1760 N. Gower, from 7-9pm on Monday evening. We will be drawing from many experiences, like this one from Stephanie:

"[Working at a ]non-profit for homeless families, we have certainly noticed an increase in phone calls and intakes. We just had two new families move in and we are officially a full house once again. With those two new families came 7 new kids for my after-school program, which brings us close to 20 kids. I feel truly blessed to be working with these children. They continue to teach me new things each day and am certainly learning to be very flexible and patient."

We have a Discover group coming from Rimrock, Arizona the second week of March, so it is a time to be their stay and praying over the work they will be doing here in the city.

And these verses, in particular, have rocked me this week. We are surrounded by the joys of newborns and pregnancies within our church communities in the midst of several painful passings. The Lord indeed takes people home, and amen for this, but he also provides new life constantly here on Earth. May we be encouraged and press on in our work!

Blessings to all of you reading,

Matthew

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