Dear Members and Friends of St. John,

 

Every once in a while a story crosses my desk that I like.  Today I am sharing a story sent to me by a friend from Kiwanis.  I hope this gives you inspiration and encouragement for your walk with our Lord, Jesus!

 

           There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree. As he went further, he saw a large wild 'Tom' turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A voice spoke to him and said, 'Pray first, aim high and stay focused.

However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill.  He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, 'I said 'Pray, Aim high and Stay focused.'

So, the man decided to listen to God's voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his family.

The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:

Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God.

 

That may be A BIT FAR FETCHED, but the moral is a good one for all of God’s children.

 

Your Pastor and Friend in Christ,

Pastor Jonathan

 

 

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 always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

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LWML SUNDAY is this Sunday, October 12.  In our worship we will remember and celebrate God’s work through the faithful and generous work of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

            Also, this Sunday there will be:

• 6 baptisms.
• 2 adult confirmations
• Reception of 2 new families by transfer.

I hope to see you in worship.  It will be a celebration!

 

THANKS to those who responded to last week’s opportunities to do God’s work:

 

• THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED in the Benefit Auction for Joel Stefanski.  Many people showed up, and much financial help was raised.  (I have not heard a definite figure yet.)

 

• THANK YOU TO ALL who helped with or attended the German Food Dinner and auction after worship last Sunday, October 5.  Proceeds are going to our Video Projector.  A total of over $2472.00 was raised in that one event.  Along with other offerings the funds now available for this projector are over $16, 575.00!  Our goal is $20,000.00.  Please feel free to contribute if you like to this effort.  You may place your checks in the offering and put in the memo of the check, ‘Projector.”

 

THIS IS THE LAST SUNDAY FOR LWML Health Kits – Lenita Deda and Linda Harm are heading up an effort by our LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) to collect health kits for distribution with the quilts.  These will be collected by LWML Sunday, October 12th and sent to Lutheran World Relief (LWR - the largest social service agency in the world!).  The ladies are looking for the following items:

• Hand towels – dark colors.
• Washcloths – dark colors
• Bath-size soap in original wrapping.
• Adult size tooth brush in original wrapping.
• Combs – Wide toothed.
• Metal nail file.
• Nail clipper.
• Band-aids – ½ to ¾ inches

Call Linda at 746-5933 or Lenita at 745-3413 for more information.  (Please, LWR is requesting NO toothpaste.)

 

TRIPS TO GERMANY AND THE HOLY LAND  -

After Kathy and Jamie and I traveled to the Holy Land last November, we discussed traveling there again in 2009.  We even met with about 15 people who want to travel with us to the Holy Land in the Fall of 2009, and 15 who wanted to travel to Germany and Luther Land.

Costs will be about $3500.00 a person for each trip.  If you are interested in joining us, PLEASE respond to this e-mail and let us know.  We will be meeting after worship in October to continue to work on plans for these trips. 

 

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO KEEP UP TO DATE ON KRISTIN KOPPERUD’S patient and faithful wait on a heart transplant, you can click the following link and find out how she is doing.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/specialhumanbeing

 

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Another Story . . . joke:  While I am sharing stories, I got this one from a member this week.  The subject of the e-mail was, “Glad this is not you!”  (Please remember that jokes and stories often do not necessarily share accurately the way God works.  But, we can laugh. . . )

A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabbie, St. Peter invites him to pick up a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven.

 

A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the preacher's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, "Okay, we'll let you in, but take that cloth robe and wooden staff."

 

The preacher is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely I rate higher than a cabbie."

 

St. Peter responded matter-of-factly: "This is heaven and up here, we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabbie drove his taxi, people prayed."

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DID YOU KNOW THAT MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT ST. JOHN is available on our church website?  The link is:  http://www.st-john-lutheran.org  We hope to have recordings of worship and sermons on our web page soon!