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I am writing this early on Thanksgiving. It is quiet, the rain is falling. I just completed my devotions and after praying for you, decided to write my weekly update. I was so blessed by our Thanksgiving Eve service. So many people came out to worship the Lord and give thanks. I am grateful for the testimonies of thanks from Mary Manges, Kinsey Rhoades, Ken Rutt, and Jacoby Kreider. It was great to see all the canned food items for the food bank as well as our Thanksgiving offering. Great worship, great spirit of thanksgiving and a perfect way to enter the Thanksgiving holiday.

Of course, by the time you read this Thanksgiving will be over. We will begin focusing on Christmas that is now less than one month away. It is hard to believe that this Sunday, December 1st is the first Sunday of Advent. You will notice the changes in décor on the platform including the Christmas tree and such. This Sunday our Advent preaching series “God With Us” begins as we consider the Advent theme of hope from the book of Isaiah. Once again, the sights and sounds of the Christmas season will begin and we can anticipate the celebration of the greatest news of all: For unto us is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” I am looking forward to celebrating this Advent and Christmas season with you.

This week I was able to make a few visits including visiting Jim Kreider, Glenn Kreider, Mary Poe, and Bunny Bledsoe. Mary Poe is recovering and returned home from rehab on Wednesday. Your prayers for Jim Kreider are needed as his health is declining. We mentioned last Sunday and prayer for Ruth’s Uncle Jack. He is improving and if that continues should be heading to a rehab facility shortly. Keep Jim Showalter and Ben Wenger in your prayers as they each have cancer surgery on December 10th.

Coming this week is the “Everything Christmas” celebration for our Oaks Ministry on Tuesday, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. It will include a devotion, some singing of our favorite Christmas carols, a Christmas craft, and a competitive game of Christmas trivia. There will be refreshments as well as some great fellowship as we hope to get you into the Christmas spirit. On Thursday, the Ladies are having their annual Pine Trail event and Sunday is the deadline to sign up. In the middle of those two Christmas events is a Roots Night. By the way, in our Great Passages Adult Bible Study on Wednesday nights, we will be looking at Luke 1 and 2, the account of Christ’s birth this Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm. You are welcome to come as we look at this great passage of even greater news.

Last Saturday we had our family Thanksgiving, and it was great to have the family together for our first Thanksgiving in our new home. My mother even joined us for the meal. Yesterday was a bit quieter as Molly came down to spend some time with us but there was no turkey on the menu. Today Ruth and Molly are together doing black Friday shopping which I will definitely pass on.

As we transition from the celebration of thanksgiving to the anticipation and eventual celebration of Christmas, let us remember to make every day a day of thanksgiving. Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” This psalm of thanksgiving repeats the phrase “His love endures forever” 26 times in 26 verses. The psalmist while calling us to give thanks is reminding us as well that the love of our God continues on through eternity. We are about to celebrate the greatest love story of all--“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son.” Emmanuel—God with us is our Advent theme and we could add to that the wonderful promise of Psalm 136—His love endures forever!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to beginning our Advent journey together on Sunday. God is good…all the time…and His love endures forever! It is Friday, but praise God Sunday’s coming!