I have abstained from blogging until I could top my 'reptile dysfunction' story from my April 12 blog, but no such luck...
(I had a different opening sentence, but Donna made me edit it.)
Things at church are going well. We've got a lot going on in the month of June, not the least of which is Pastor Shawn joining us beginning June 19.
This Sunday we will honor Wib Ferguson, a former pastor who passed away a few months ago. I hope it will be a special day for our church but especially for Wib's wife, Donna.
I'm preaching on "Why do Bad things happen and Why doesn't God stop them?" this Sunday morning. This past Tuesday morning, as I was trying to determine what God would have me preach on for this Sunday morning, I walked out of my study to the break room and bumped into a couple ladies coming out of the prayer garden. They were talking about a lady they had seen on the news who had been abducted and tortured. They asked, rhetorically, "why would God let something like that happen?" That got me thinking and praying... So this Sunday, I'm going to try to give the Bible answer for that question. The argument you hear is...
If God doesn't want to stop evil and tragedy then He must not be good.
If God can't stop evil and tragedy then He must not be powerful.
Or put another way...
How could a good God let bad things happen to good people?
Tough questions, but questions the Bible is not silent about. So this Sunday, I want us to learn the answers to these questions, but more than that, I want us to learn what we should say and do and what our attitudes should be in the face of evil or tragedy. I'm really looking forward to this coming Sunday.
In the evening, I will begin a new series of messages from 1 Timothy that I'm calling, "How To Do Church." We've got a lot of good comments from my series on Jude. Maybe when Pastor Shawn gets here we can get those online.
A kind and generous soul has gotten me and Pastor Wally and our wives tickets to the Memorial for tommorrow. I sort of thought the tournament officials would have called me when Phil Mickelson got hurt yesterday to see if I could fill his slot, but they must have lost my number. Oh well, I'm looking forward to going. I want to stand right behind Tiger Woods when he has one of his 350 yard drives and just see what that looks like.
For my FBC readers, Margaret Williamson did very well in her surgery today. It was a life or death situation, but the Lord has pulled her through.
Pray for Gene Yoder and his family. Gene is probably in his final hours. He made a profession of faith a couple weeks ago, and I feel really good about his decision and his heart. One of his sons made a profession of faith the same day, and I got to share a little with one of his friends today. Good things are beginning to happen in that family.
Two ladies, both of whom recently became Christ followers, are scheduled for baptism this Sunday!
I'm running out of battery on my laptop and I still need to check on my baseball team. I better go...
Pastor Noel
