Greater
Greater
De Colores!
Hearing the Closing Comments of the men on
Men’s Walk #29 of was so spiritually powerful. Certainly lives were changed for
eternity on the weekend. The Pilgrims came back for their Mini Gathering that
followed on Thursday and after the Mini Gathering the men sang for all of us at
the Gathering. Many, if not all of the Pilgrims shared their fourth day with
us. We all had a great time. If you weren’t at the Gathering, you missed it and…We missed you!
There is a Women’s Walk coming up the last
weekend in June. If you know a lady that would be interested in this walk, get
an application to her now and avoid the rush!
Denise Kiger, our Ladies Registrar, will
thank you for getting it in early.
Laura Miller will be the June Lay
Director. Pray for her. Being Lay
Director requires about as much work as giving your daughter a huge wedding.
Being the mother of the bride and being Lay Director have a lot in common in
that neither mind how much work is required of them because they are both
involved in a labor of love. The difference is in a wedding, you work hard to
give your daughter the wedding of a lifetime, but a Lay Director’s work lasts
throughout eternity.
When Clint and I married, we worked so hard
to have the perfect wedding. And… It
was. Or, it would have been perfect if
I’d remembered corsages for my hostesses! But, I married a man who loves Jesus
and loves me. Life just doesn’t get any better.
I work on weddings around town and I never
cease to be amazed at the lengths people will go to get what they want. They
want things just right for their perfect day. Many times, brides with a lot of
money spend it cautiously and those with little spend it carelessly. But, in
both cases, they want the perfect gown, tuxes, caterer, cake, photographer,
band, and the perfect reception hall and of course it must all be perfectly decorated.
After all of that, then they think of the church where they will marry, who
they can get to perform the ceremony, and the un-churched bride wants to know
how much “religious stuff” they can convince the minister to leave out.
Everything at the church has to be perfect
for the big day.
Nerves may be on edge. Everything seems to be
well thought out. The thing I don’t hear about from the bride is the commitment
she is about to make.
As Christians we need to remember- WE ARE THE
BRIDE OF CHRIST. Our commitment to Christ should be first. It should be our
central concern.
Do we put our “religious stuff” in its proper
perspective or does it get pushed aside for the “comfort stuff”? When we truly give all of our service to
Christ, it all becomes the “comfort stuff”. It is then we can let go of our
past failures (and forgotten corsages) and serve Christ with joy.
Again this month, we will meet on the fourth
Thursday at 7:00 instead of the 3rd Thursday at 7:00. (Remember, Gatherings
are ALWAYS on the 3rd Thursday at 7:00, except when they’re not!)
Lovin’ all that Emmaus stuff!
In Him,
Pat Arthur
From Our Spiritual Director . . .
There was an article in the news recently
that a mother received a very sad note from the Pentagon. The news was that her son has been killed
while in battle in
But after three days, the telephone rang. The
voice on the other end said, “Mom! It is me! I am alive!’
She said, “I laughed. I cried. I felt like
turning cartwheels. My son, who once was dead, is now alive. I am sure that no
one could even begin to know how I felt.
Perhaps none of us could really understand
how she felt but there were some who walked the pages of the new Testament who would
have understood, because they experienced the same emotions themselves.
They witnessed his pain and suffering, and
they watched as he bowed his head and said, “It is finished.”
Friday and Saturday they mourned until finally
on “the first day of the week, early in the morning,” the scriptures say, “some
women made their way along the path that led to the tomb wondering who would roll away the stone for them.” When
they arrived they found the stone rolled away and an angel told them, “You are
looking in the wrong place. You are looking for Jesus among the dead. He is not
dead. He is alive! He is risen even as He said.”
This is what we celebrate during the Easter
season. He is risen from the dead and what a difference he has made in our
lives!
The apostle .Paul writes, “Now brothers, I
want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you which you received and
on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of
first importance: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the
scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and to the twelve.
“After that he appeared to more than five hundred
of the brothers at the same time, most who still are living, though some have
fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all of the apostles, and last
of all, he appeared to me.”
After Paul gives this testimony, he turns his
attention to us, “Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep but we
shall be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will
change.”
What a wonderful
promise!
Dale Evans once said, “I spent most of my
life searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then I finally
found it at the foot of the cross.
In “Portraits of Perseverance”: there is a
story about a rich man who owned a great estate. He enjoyed riding on horseback
through his estate enjoying his wealth.
One day while riding he came upon one of his
tenants, named Hans, sitting under a tree. It was lunch time and Hans was
getting ready to eat. Before he ate, he bowed his head and thanked God for his
food.
The rich man looked at Hans while he prayed
and noticed that all that he had to eat was a piece of cheese and a piece of homemade
bread.
The rich mans said with a sneer, “If that was
all that it had to eat, I would not even bother to pray.
Hans said, “It is
enough and God has provided it.”
The rich man got ready to ride away when Hans
said to him, “I had a dream last night and my dream was that the richest man in
the valley will die tonight.”
The rich man rode off but the words of Hans
haunted him. He began to experience pains in his chest and he thought, “What if
Hans was right?”
When he reached home he called his doctor and
his doctor examined him and said, “You have nothing to be concerned about. You
are strong as a horse.”
So reassured, the rich man went to bed. The
next morning there was a knock on his door and the messenger said, “Hans died
last night.” Truly the richest man in the valley died last night.
Paul wrote, “O death, where is thy
sting? Grave, where is thy victory?
Thanks be to God! He gives us victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
We need to remember in this Easter season
that the resurrection has made all of the difference.
De Colores,
Les Grooms
Spiritual Director
2008 GSVE Board Members
POSITION NAME TERM YR. PHONE eMAIL
Agape 1 Pat Cook 2 740-634-3277 pcook1529@gmail.com
Agape 2 Savilla
Ruggles 1 740-776-6501 huge@bright.net
Chairperson Pat Arthur 2 740-998-4843 pattiarthur@verizon.net
Chrysalis Joanne Charles A 740-354-4494 jcharles@shawnee.edu
Computer Kevin Pancake A 740-703-8782 pancake@bright.net
Good Shepherd Karen Edmonson 1 740-998-5650 bk_edmonson@yahoo.com
Housekeeping 1 Dena Benner 3 937-981-4162 db0142@dragonbbs.com
Housekeeping 2 Richard Schumacher 2 937-981-4296
Kairos Jim
Mathers A 740-983-2120 jmathers@columbus.rr.com
Kitchen 1 Lorri Stewart 1 740-775-2379
Kitchen 2 David Burriss 1 740-947-8194 dpburriss@roadrunner.com
Kitchen 3 Harley Barney 3 740-998-6523
Leadership Ed Ruggles 3 740-998-4843 huge@bright.net
Music Dick
North 1 740-776-7420 rcnorth@verizon.net
Newsletter Amy Edler 3 740-642-2938 amyedler@horizonview.net
Outreach Rick Harper 1 740-998-3882 jrharper@horizonview.net
Purchasing Jim Penix 1 740-852-2792 gbread@columbus.rr.com
Registrar, Men Tony Siders 2 740-884-4622 tsiders@mail.gsn.k12.oh.us
Registrar, Women Denise Kiger 2 740-335-0016 kigerd@nationwide.com
Secretary Laura Miller 2 740-332-6003 laurabeth@wildblue.net
Social 1 Danny Morris 3 740-437-7472 capmorris@hotmail.com
Social
2 Jim Skinner 1 740-993-2118 2skin4him@earthlink.net
Special Projects
Spiritual
Director Les Grooms 2 937-549-2113
Sponsorship Candy Dishong 1 740-596-4353
Treasurer Arla Bush 3 740-773-7865
2008 Walks
Women’s Walk # 40
Lay
Director, Laura Miller
Men’s Walk # 30
Lay
Director, Danny Morris
Women’s Walk # 41
Lay
Director, Linda Morris
Newsletter
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Got Faith?
Ah…Spring! A time of refreshing and renewal.
And Easter! Our holiest holiday, when we celebrate Christ’s redeeming love and
glorious victory over death. What a joyous time!
Well…ummm, actually, as I write this, I’m looking
at a depressingly large pile of snow. Winter hasn’t quite loosened its grip on
southern
Do we really have to exercise faith to
believe spring will come? If you had no long-term memory, if all you could recall
was the cold dark months of winter, you would surely say yes, it takes faith to
believe spring will come. But we do remember all the springs past and how the
fountains of the earth rise annually with new life. We have rejoiced in the
renewing of the earth and we are confident spring will return. So, is this
faith or is it just common knowledge — no big deal?
Brothers and sisters, that’s faith. Faith is
not diminished because we have seen it born out over and over. On the contrary,
it is strengthened and increased by many evidences. So is our faith in the
risen Lord increased when we see the mighty, omnipotent hand of God interceding
in the affairs of man. The more we see God move, the more confident we are that
He cares for us and has our best interest at heart.
What about you? Have you noticed how God is
moving in your life or the lives of those around you? No? Maybe you’re not
seeing Him because you aren’t looking for Him in the troubling situations you
encounter. Remember, He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take
heart, I have overcome the world.” John
16:33b He has already overcome our troubles. That happened one
sacred day at
As you walk along the fourth day on the Road
to Emmaus and beyond, you encounter the hardships of the world. You may stumble
and falter. But look up in faith. Recognize that it is Christ who walks beside
you. He offers sustenance along the way. He feeds our souls with goodness and
mercy and He encourages our spirits with demonstrations of His love in many
small and large ways. Look for them. Acknowledging them will build your faith
and make the walk toward home easier.
Your faith will increase each time you see
the hand of God working among us. Haven’t seen it lately? Have you been to a
gathering? Candlelight? Closing? He’s there, and we rejoice to hear how He is
moving and working among this fellowship of believers called the Greater Scioto
Valley Emmaus Community. Next gathering is March 27th. Come and have
your faith strengthened and enlarged.
See you there!
my Edler
Because Maundy Thursday is
March 20, our March gathering will be on the fourth Thursday
March 2008 Gathering is the 27th.