The snow days we wished for, hoped for, prayed for over the last six years came as forecast on Friday, January 29, 2010. I bought groceries on Thursday morning so that if the blizzard materialized, there would be food to eat for days, even weeks. Anna flung open the blinds on every window in our house and we quit worrying about who might see in so that we could see out. Friday was a day to sit and watch and read and nap and snack and flip television channels. It was an excused lazy day. No one expected you to be somewhere or to keep a schedule. Those days do not come often enough. I liked it.
Aaron Foster, Robert Parrish, and Jerry Keener came over to the church on Saturday afternoon and cleared sidewalks and driveways. Pastor Shane Tarter and the Senior High Students set up chairs in The Center. Jody Scott went on contact alert and sent emails and made phone calls. On Sunday morning, doors were opened and greeters were in place and band members drove in from Trevecca and Hendersonville. There were twenty members in the choir. Close to 300 people crawled out of their houses and drove in their cars to HCN to attend the 10:00 AM service. Randy Layne told me services like Sunday are sweet and I think he was accurate.
I had a pre-service conversation with Dakota Biggs (five years old), about the adventures of sledding at his house. I told him I liked sledding but I did not like walking back up the hill after going down the hill. He told me it was better if you could run and then he demonstrated how fast he could run. I do not think I would like running up the hill either but I enjoyed the dialogue with Dakota.
Last summer, I began to talk with a friend about a backpack program wherein children from homes without resources are provided food for the weekend through a local school. Churches adopt a school. A resource official at the school decides how many children are at risk. The church purchases the supplies and delivers the food to the school weekly. The school privately sends the food home with the child each Friday. My friend researched all the details and identified an elementary school in Wilson County which was unassisted. When I mentioned the opportunity in pastoral staff meeting, Pastor Carol Waller asked if the children in our church could sponsor the ministry. Adult Sunday School classes share the costs and the kids buy the food and sort it for delivery. My friend delivers the food. I tell you this story because I had forgotten about the program until several weeks ago. My friend told me the school had asked if they could add several more needy kids. When I talked to Carol about it, she told me the kids were already added. I worried about whether our money was adequate until Scott Steinmetz, our church treasurer, told me the reserve for the backpack program is healthy. I thought you would like to know that. I like knowing it.
A mother wrote me an email rejoicing that her child had asked the Lord Jesus into her heart and asked if it was possible for her child to be baptized. We have scheduled a service on Sunday, February 21, 2010, at 5:00 PM in the Sanctuary to observe the sacrament of baptism. If you believe in Jesus Christ and have received him into your life, you, too, should be baptized. It is my experience that people wait for years to be baptized and then are too embarrassed to tell anyone they are not baptized. This is the time and place to step forward and to follow Christ into the baptismal waters. Call the church at 847-3335 and put your name on a growing list.
I am hoping that the snow showers which are forecast for this Saturday and Sunday will not keep us from a regular schedule of services. However, if it does snow again and roads are hazardous, remember that our severe weather schedule includes one service at 10:00 AM.
I look forward to singing with you on Sunday.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Howard
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