Something for Everyone!

Hello and good Saturday evening to each of you! I trust you all had a good day. First off let me say how thankful I am for the rain we received today! God always knows when to provide what we need.

We have lots of things taking place in and around our church over the next few weeks. Remember to mark the dates on your calendar so you don't miss anything!

First item on the agenda is the Quarterly Church Conference tomorrow morning during the worship hour. One of the items of business will be electing our Nominating Committee and our Trustees. The Nominating Committee is responsible for finding folks to fill positions in the church. As the body of Christ, it is our duty to set about doing the work of the Lord. After all, it's all for His glory and not ours! Allow God to guide you as He only He can if you are approached about position(s) needing to be filled.

Women on Mission will be meeting Wed., April 16th. All ladies of the church are invited and encouraged to attend!

The Semi-Annual Orangeburg-Calhoun Baptist Associational meeting will be held Thursday, April 17th at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The meal will be served at 6pm. The meeting will begin at 6:45pm.

The XYZ will meet on Friday, April 18th at 6:30pm in the fellowship hall. They might be a few years older in numbers than some of us in the church, but these folks are certainly young at heart! I am sure their love of people and their steadfast faith in God aid greatly to their outlook and attitude in life! They will be playing BINGO. It is asked that those planning to attend bring a BINGO prize with them. A meal will be provided.

Next week marks our spring revival. Services are scheduled to begin on Sunday, April 20th through Wed., April 23rd. The guest speaker will be the pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Columbia. Please be in prayer for our revival in the hopes that God's will be done and we will indeed have revival in our church! Look for additional information in your weekly church bulletin.

Vacation Bible School is right around the corner! I can hardly believe we are approaching the 3rd week of April! Time goes by so fast. VBS is slated for June 8th through June 12th. There will be classes for folks of all ages. The topic is learning how to know, speak and live in God's truth. If you are interested in teaching or assisting a class, please see Lori Creech.

The youth will be heading to the bowling alley Friday, April 18th. May this be a night of fun and fellowship for our young people!

The youth will also be hosting a Lasagna meal fundraiser to help raise money for upcoming activities they will be participating in.

The topic of interest this week has been on the troops that have been coming home during the week. I know there are many thankful and relieved folks to have their loved ones back home safely. The husband of a friend of mine came home this week from Afghanistan. She has shared pictures with me of the welcome home party they had in his honor. Lots of smiles and hugs. The opening of Christmas and birthday presents he wasn't able to open with the rest of the family. She even saved a few for the kids so they would have something to open with Daddy! Such a thoughtful and loving gesture! I am very grateful to the men and women who serve and have served in our Armed Forces. They are folks keeping our borders and our country safe while we live, eat, breathe and sleep. Hats off to them for the awesome job they do and may God continue to bless them and their families and keep them all safe from harm. I also pray that God keeps vigil over those still serving overseas. May it all be for His glory!

The other thing I want to touch on briefly is the video buzz of the week pertaining to the cheerleaders who ganged up on a fellow cheer team member. Young people: you can't be told enough how wrong such behavior is! It most definitely does not depict Christian behavior and it isn't for God's glory by any stretch of the imagination. There is nothing funny, popular or right in degrading and belittling another human being in such a manner. For these young people to even take what they have done in a nonchalant, carefree manner is just plain dumb. They need to realize the depth of their actions and know that such actions do have consequences. They don't need to sit in jail asking "Am I going to get out of here in enough time to make it to cheerleader practice tomorrow?". Why didn't you think about that as you were berating and beating the young lady you abused until she was unconscious??!! And if by some strange reason she was a part of this fiasco, she needs to have her head examined.

I know we shouldn't pass judgment on others and that is not what I am trying to do. I believe as parents, teachers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and the list goes on and on, it is our duty to raise these children right. They need parents who are involved in their lives. Parents who know what their children are doing. Reprimanding them when needed. A good ol' fashioned spanking never hurt anyone. The Bible says "Spare the rod, spoil the child". I believe that parents (not all parents, but some) have definitely spared the rod for far too long. It's time to pull that good ol' rod off the shelf and use it as God intended. Tighten up the belt buckle, get these kids in school getting an education so they can make educated decisions. Get them in church where they belong so they know that there is more to life than whether "I'mapopular girl" thinks more of you than you do of yourself. Believe, your attitude and how you feel about yourself is far more important than another's opinion of you. It is ok NOT to follow the crowd. If the crowd has tied themselves together and are about to jump off a cliff, you need to untie yourself and find others to help you pull them back before they make a drastic mistake. And one that can't be undone very easily.

I could go on about this for hours, but I won't. I have some very strong feelings about it and until we as Christians take a stand and protect our young people the way our parents protected us, things will continue as they are. I do believe that God has bigger, bolder plans in store for us than such careless, thoughtless behavior that society today depicts as the only way to go.

Believe me when I say..............the crazy notion that society has today about how things should be does not coincide with God's plan for His people. He only wants what is best for us and us killing, raping, abusing, etc. is NOT the thing He has in mind! That is the work of the devil and we need to send him back where he belongs. To the depths of hell to live in his miserable, black hole away from the Light of the World. When Satan made the decision and had himself cast out of Heaven, he knew what he was doing. We don't need to help him and make him stronger in any area of our lives. He needs to be left alone, all to himself, with no-one to talk to. He tries to make things look all pretty and nice and all the while he is poisoning us with his lies and foolish notions. The only thing I can say is "May God have mercy on his soul".

Until next time, take care and God bless!

In Christian Love,

Tina :-)