October 24, 2024
This coming Lord's Day we will present our newest members to you in the morning worship service. One of the chief joys of our elders is to hear the testimonies of those desiring to join with our body, as well as how the Lord in His providence led them to POPC. Several of those in this group of new members were drawn here directly through one of our ministries, including Sonbeams, Christ Covenant School, and Trail Life. It was such an encouragement to hear how the Lord is using our ministries, and the relationships that are essential to them, to bless those outside the church. Whether it results in new members or not, we have been blessed to be a blessing to believers and unbelievers alike in our community. As you use your gifts to serve the Lord and your neighbors, know that He will use your service to bear much fruit for His kingdom!
Another note that was sounded at the latest new members meeting was how warm and intentionally welcoming our congregation was to them. So though it sounds like I don't really need to say this, I will - whenever you see someone that you don't know in worship, go up and introduce yourself and make them feel welcome. You may be meeting someone who has been a member for some time, but you just hadn't crossed paths with them yet. Or you may be meeting a visitor. Either way, noticing someone and showing that you are interested in them can make such a huge impact in their life. If you haven't met the new members that you'll be introduced to this Sunday, please make it a point to do so soon! Have them over to your house for Sunday lunch or dinner during the week, get together for coffee, go out to eat, play together, serve together. Let's continue to be the body of Christ and the family of God!
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Many of you have asked me about my father in the last month, and I so appreciate your words of encouragement and your prayers for my brothers and me. My brother Cory, who lives in Hot Springs, AR, near my dad, moved him into a nursing home at the end of September, and I was able to go up there last week for a day to see him with my own eyes. It was heartbreaking. I'm pretty sure he knew I was his son, but I don't think he recognized me by my name. His speech was not fully coherent (I had been frustrated before that I couldn't call my dad on the phone any longer, but now I realize that he wouldn't be able to hold a conversation on a phone even if I could call him). He wasn't making much eye contact with me, and dazed off into space several times while I was there. He was walking slowly with his walker, and was able to make it down to the cafeteria for lunch and feed himself, for the most part. But when I tried to get him to sit down in a chair to trim his beard, I could tell he was unable to easily locate the chair behind and underneath him and so was hesitant to sit in it. It was all very hard to see. But thankfully he's not agitated or violent, and is in a place that is safe and warm, with a lot of staff present who seem to care for him, and who are willing to redirect him back to his room whenever he tries to wander into someone else's room. My brother and sister-in-law and their six children are able to go see him regularly.
It's been aptly said that aging is a process of loss. So is experiencing and watching someone you love age - particularly when part of what they are losing is their mental faculties. It's a slow process of death - which allows you to begin the process of grieving already, on the one hand, but feels so very unnatural, on the other. They're present but not present. They're themselves but not themselves. You want to ask questions to see how they're feeling or what they want to do, but you realize right away they can't understand what you're asking, and even if they could they wouldn't be able to express an answer. For all who are living with someone walking through the decline of dementia/Alzheimer's, whether a spouse or a parent, my heart grieves with you. How we long for the day when every tear will be wiped away, when memory will be restored, when bodies will be made new! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.