Spring is one of my four favorite seasons – so filled with the beauty of life.   It makes you want to get outside, take a walk, take a ride on your bicycle or motorcycle, or take a drive with the windows down and just take it all in.  I love especially to travel a country road where God’s creation is even more dominant in all the colorful sights and wondrous sounds around you.

On a recent drive I passed by two old country churches.  Their settings were beautiful with fields of wild flowers and blossoming trees nearby   As I took in the sight I thought about the people who attended there and came to know Christ there and what significant ministry history each one represented.  And I was especially pleased by their church signs to note that both were still holding worship services.   I love looking at different church signs and reading the ministry messages and advertisements.  You know what I am talking about – like the one in front of our own church.  One of their church slogans read, “A church that’s alive is worth the drive.”  I’ve seen that one before.  But the other church’s sign read, “Come in and enjoy the presence of God.” That one caught my attention, especially because it inferred a wonderful promise awaited those who came to worship there.   Both of these signs made me think about how well we live up to what we claim or advertise as churches.  I certainly hope that those who come inside our doors here at Downs United Methodist Church sense the presence of God more than anything else.

So how does a church reflect the presence of God?  The answer is in how we live, in how we show hospitality, in how we accept all kinds of people, in our quickness to help and serve, it is seen in our love for one another, in our generosity.  It‘s in the atmosphere that’s created by living for Christ in these ways that makes people feel safe and wanted and needed and included.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian church always to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Colossians 1:10).    He went on to explain to the Ephesian church what  being worthy means: It means “being humble, gentle, patient in love, making every effort  to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3).

It is my prayer that as one of God’s humble churches, we at DUMC will always conduct ourselves in such a way that others will experience the joy of the presence of the God who lives in us (especially at church) but equally important no matter where we go.

Always walk with Christ and you will bring the presence of God to those around you.

So get out  and enjoy the beauty of this new Spring!

Pastor Ron

The Timber-lee Group Prays Before Departure

For the very first time, the number of youth and chaperones attending the WinterXtreme 2012 Timber-lee camp was enough to require two chartered buses!

The sophomore Broom Ball team took second place. The senior Broom Ball team took first place.

But best of all…lives were changed!

Thanks to Carrie for her continued dedication to this ministry!!

And as I think about it, this kind of a fasting is actually not a bad idea.  We really do need to free up time from our busy lives (much of which we overfill with the things we enjoy) so that we will find the time to focus on God and our spiritual relationship with Christ.  If we then fill this time with prayer and study it can help correct bad habits and increase our spiritual disciplines.    In fact, instead of craving  our favorite food or drink or missing our tech time on some media entertainment or communication gadget deep down our souls are craving for time with God.  And this craving manifests itself in regular feelings like uneasiness, restlessness, stress, anxiety, worry, fear and sleeplessness.  Because whenever we do spend time in study and prayer and worship, we feel better, we cope better, we perform better; life is better as it should be.

I believe the fast we need the most should go beyond Easter and become year round.  This fast should free us up to spend regular time with the Holy One.  Ignoring that innermost spiritual craving can never be satisfied with other things.

It’s time to fast from our busyness and stress, from judging others, from complaining, from worry, from anger, from control, from destructive habits.  It is time to spend time with our Lord who is the Prince of Peace, gracious and merciful, full of life-changing love and power.

Fasting is emptying yourself to make room for God.  We say “no” to the things that bind us only to our selves and this world, so that we can make room to respond to and be ministered to in return by God.

I pray you will join me in this fast that goes through Lent to Easter and beyond to make room for the strength and power of God to fill us for the life journey ahead?

Pastor Ron

• 8:15  Sunday School
• 9:00  Fellowship
• 9:30  Worship

 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?    I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:18-19

This month we begin our Lenten journey for 2012.  It’s a journey that ends with the glory of Easter.  It’s a journey that every Christian should take every year.  It’s a time of special focus when you listen to what God is saying through the story of the events leading to the Cross and how they are relevant to life issues you are experiencing right now.  It’s a time to take stock in how we have been living our lives and how we should live as we keep moving forward.

Christian poet M.S. Lowndes said,

“Don’t be afraid to keep moving on,  For what was before, now has gone,  And God wants to accomplish so much more,  But we need to move forward in the Lord.”

In Sunday School, I remember hearing as a boy the story of the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness.   I thought, who would be so dumb as to do something like that?  I wanted to get where I am going and I would never get lost like they did.   But then life happened.  I found out that I could get lost with the best of them.  Growing into my teenage years and into adulthood my life took many twists and turns and I wasn’t even attempting to follow the Lord most of that time.

Our family splintered.  My brother and I went to live with my Grandmother and then not long after that we went out to live on our own.  My step father and mother constantly were at odds.  No help there.    I longed for real and loving family relationship with them but it was not to be.  So I joined the military and my life took many more turns until I met my wife Kathy and we decided we would go to church together.

The children of Israel finally made it to the promised land and would look back with gratefulness to God for His deliverance and leading that they finally sought.  But they wandered a long time (40 years) before they did. I kind of know how they felt (and it wasn’t 40 years for me).   It is good to remember how far you’ve come – to look back and then up to God with gratefulness.  Because when we do – we realize that He wants to lead us on to even better things from the place where we are now.   God always wants to do new things in our lives that will benefit us and bring us closer to His will.

In the reading of that bible story, we are given the big picture of what happened and how God delivers and blesses.  Lent helps us do that anew each year so that again we will not be afraid to move forward.

When we are living our own story we cannot see beyond the next curve of the road.   We don’t know how this chapter of our story will turn out and so often we are afraid.  But we need to reminded that the opposite of fear is love.  1 John 4: 18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

God loves us with perfect love and has said that we will never be given tests that are beyond our strength.  We should take comfort in that.  God prepares us for what’s next?   And God is always faithful to lead us where His grace will keep us.   We can rest in the promise that we will have what we need when we need it even though your fears probably won’t want to let go easily.

Dear Downs UMC family, as we look down the road before us, we can’t see what’s ahead but we can sense that God is leading us in a new direction.   As we go when we are unsure, let us think of the Children of Israel where the whole story that leads to the Cross tells us that God is making a way.  Then we can anticipate with excitement that something good is just ahead.

Following Jesus Always,

 Pastor Ron

As believers in Christ, it is not just simply saying to yourself, I will do this and I won’t do that anymore.  It is more about seeking the Lord’s help each day, realizing that you can trust Him and then growing deeper and deeper in your faith and love for Him.  If you do this, your focus will be much more on the things of heaven and not exhaustively on all this earthly stuff.   A great New Year resolution is to have a deeper commitment, a deeper love, and a deeper worship for the Lord.     “…Seek FIRST the  kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  ~Matthew  6:31-33

Something tells me this passage isn’t just talking about Sunday mornings for an hour.

Jesus in HIS LIFE words and actions said, “I am more than enough. I am more than enough in every area of your life.”   He wants our undivided attention and devotion especially and precisely because He knows we can face so many challenges and  temptations in our lives.  He wants to help us through each one.

If he is your main focus then this could be the best New Year of your life. The Christmas message taught us that Christ was born so we can be filled with love and hope and joy peace which gives us inspiration and direction. Why should every year be the same as the one before with not much really changing?   Perhaps it’s the kind of New Year’s resolutions we’ve made in the past that we too soon give in and up on.  The reason our track record on resolutions is not so great is usually related to a lack of inner strength and will (“I know I shouldn’t eat that third helping but….”).

As Christians sometimes we can feel stagnate in our relationship with the Lord.  It is in those times that we tune out his voice distracted by all the noise and demands of the world.   Perhaps now at the beginning of a new year, is the time to rekindle the love we have for Christ recognizing the love he has for us.   In fact, I know it is.

May God Bless You With a Wonderful 2012!     Pastor Ron

As in the past, you are encouraged to dress casually (bring your children in pajamas, if you wish!), and come for a delightful and meaningful time of Christmas praise and worship including: carol and candles, special music, poems, readings, skits, prayers, a Christmas message, “Silent Night” by candlelight, treats for the kids, and more!

Come with your Christmas spirit to just relax and enjoy, or, if you wish, bring gifts to offer the Christ child in the form of: singing a song, playing an instrumental, offering a Chrisstmas reading, poem, skit, or other.

Please call the Downs United Methodist Church office at 309-378-2651 or Reverend Ron George at 309-378-2650 by Wednesday, December 21, if you have a special gift you’d like to share.

We hope to see you there!