Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
Karl Kopperud and I were eating breakfast at The Noisy
Goose this Friday morning, preparing for Sunday’s Voters’ meeting, when the
earthquake hit. Coffee spilled all over
our table, and all over my phone. People
in the restaurant looked around wondering if they should leave. Finally that shaking stopped and everyone was
ok. Karl said, “That’s the biggest
earthquake I’ve felt since 1964.” I
think I’ve personally counted at least 5 separate aftershocks since then!
I spent my day checking on folks. I checked on our elderly members and home
bound people. Phones weren’t working for
a while, but I finally got in touch with pretty much everyone and they were
fine, if a little shaken. Praise the
Lord there seem to have been no serious injuries, at least in the folks I
checked on. There will be much cleaning
to do. If you want to help, there might
be a few seniors who could use help cleaning up the mess. (Please call me if
you need help, or can help someone else.)
You should know that the church building is actually in
pretty good shape. Peter Probasco was at
St. John when the quake hit. He and I
checked things out. There were some
pieces of paint and plaster on the floor, and some books and other items off
shelves. We did notice a cap from a
sprinkler lying on a pew in the sanctuary.
But, other than that things look fine.
The church never lost power.
Koinonia (Seniors’ fellowship group) was cancelled for
tonight and postponed to a later date.
But, I see from their Facebook page that our Young Adults’ Group plans
to decorate the church tomorrow. Worship
and Sunday School and our Voters’ meeting will be held Sunday.
There are two earthquake Bible verses that come to mind
as we all pick up after our shaker.
First, no one expected the quake, but it came anyway,
unexpectedly. In Matthew 24, when
talking of end times, Jesus says, 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will
be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of
birth pains. . . 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come
at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew 24:7-8 a, 44) The unexpected nature of today’s
earthquake points to our need to be ready for Jesus’ unexpected coming.
Also, the words of one of my favorite Psalms come to
mind. You’ve heard me quote Psalm 46 many
times. Today, did you think of the first
3 verses of Psalm 46? “1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in
trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the
mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and
the mountains quake with their surging.”
(Psalm 46:1-3). The
earth giving way? (Have you seen pictures of the roads?) Mountains falling and
quaking? I think they were shaking
today. But, even when the foundations of
our life are shaken, we don’t HAVE to be afraid, even though we sometimes
are. God’s love and the ever present
help that verse 1 mentions is always there.
God has eternal life already won for us through Jesus. God has a home in heaven for us where . . .
nothing has fallen off the shelves.
Thank you,
Lord, that when our world shakes, your present help is sure!
A Child of God, Shaken and Thankful,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Instead of me
sending you pictures, why don’t YOU send ME pictures from your quake experience.
******
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.
******
No comments:
Post a Comment