West Main

 

 

RAPHA  HOUSE

 

 

Many thanks to the NW Schools of Mission for getting me in contact with Stephanie Freed of Rapha House.  Stephanie was a huge blessing to the teens, some parents and I as she presented to our kids this past Sunday night.  Her ministry is one dedicated to fighting the international and growing domestic problem of human trafficking.  It was startling to hear some of what is going on in the world.  Everyone there was deeply touched, and I hope spurred to seriously consider our own role in this fight.  They exist to love, rescue and heal the exploited in this world, and she challenged us to do the same.

 

 

I really appreciated how she talked directly to the kids on their level and in their language. But she did not talk down to them. Instead, she empowered them and challenged them to rise up! She was a gifted presenter and was really impactful.  She constantly made efforts to say “this is a problem that can only be solved by GOD’S PEOPLE.”

 

One statistic that has stuck with me was about success rates of other programs.  She talked about some other programs doing the same work. She spoke highly of their efforts and the people working behind them. Most of these were funded by government money or Hollywood funds.  Can you guess their failure rate?  It is 80%!  She explained to our kids why. It is because after ALL the great work they do, they are not able to offer these beautiful girls any lasting real hope. They have every piece in place except the one that matters: JESUS. “Without Jesus and the hope we have in him, all of this work is in vain,” she said.

 

That stuck with me.  We MUST give the world Jesus!  Anyone out there can feed someone, or dig wells.  Anyone can build a house. But only God’s Children can offer real hope!  Only we followers of Christ can speak life!

 

May we all continue to love this community. May we continue to reach out to the world. May we fight injustice and poverty! May we seek the lost.  Above all, may we NEVER forget to share Jesus, the source of all life and hope!  Please pray for Stephanie and her peers at Rapha House. They are doing wonderful kingdom work.

 

 

She never once asked for support, but I will! If you are interested, please visit their website at www.raphahouse.org.

 

--  Pannell

 

 

 

THE UNSEEN

 

 

Faith, hope and love are the essence of Christianity.  Yet they cannot be seen except in the actions of those who subscribe to them as a way of life in Christ.  They have been ridiculed by some who speak of them as “pie in the sky” because they are not tangible per se.

 

 

Apostle Paul wrote the following description of Christians: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:18) While detractors might describe looking at the unseen as an impractical way of life, we insist that it can power our lives through thick and thin.  As a recent widower, I can attest to that.

 

 

While the unseen may be in disrepute with materially minded people, it continues to get a lot of press from astronomers and cosmologists.  The current estimate of the amount of our universe that is made up of matter that can be seen is down to 4.9%.  (That includes the stars.)  The rest is assigned to dark matter and dark energy  – both of which cannot be seen but are needed to account for the gravity holding the universe of galaxies together, and the forces accelerating its expansion.  For more on this, see the April 20, Science News, page 6, article on the Plank satellite’s findings.

 

 

The emphasis in my time at the altar of education was in electromagnetics.  Electric and magnetic fields are also invisible.  However, the energy present in these fields in the radio broadcast bands is sufficient to power a set of earphones listening to a crystal radio set without a battery.  World War II shipboard radar rooms had enough stray energy bouncing around to light up neon probes.  There is often worry that such fields are a threat to people, but the wave lengths are too long to damage body cells.  Ultraviolet light (also unseen) is another matter.  It can kill, and is a part of sunlight that is mostly blocked by our upper atmosphere.

 

 

Particles are small bits of fields that bubble out to propagate outward.  Photons of light are an example of this.  They consist of tiny quantum bundles of waves that can excite both our retinas and plant photosynthesis.  Concentrations of energy, like those in a light bulb, are necessary to make photons take wing from fields surrounding the nucleus of an atom.

 

 

Gravity fields surrounding a body like the Sun  – or any other body for that matter, can only be detected by the pull on another body.  We are thankful for Earth’s unseen tug on our bodies that keep our feet on the ground.

 

 

The Higgs field, also invisible, but existing throughout the universe, has had its presence verified recently in the huge Switzerland-France particle collider.  The field that gave birth to the particle is likely to remain invisible forever, but affects our everyday lives profoundly.

 

 

In view of all of the faith the scientific world has in the unseen, let us hear no more ridicule of a Father-God who cannot be seen except for what he does in our lives.

 

– James Gibbs 

 

 

 

 

Servers for October:

Coffee Servers: Marcie, Preston, Paige Dixon

Greeters: Brad & Christi Olson; Brian & Jessie Pannell

Nursery:  Oct 6 & 13: Ariann Wisdom; Hunter Thomas

                 Oct 20: Becky Anderson; Zach Kirk

                 Oct 27: Jessica Fitzimmons; Zach Kirk

 

September Attendance

1^st Sunday   182

2^nd Sunday   270

3^rd Sunday   255

4^th Sunday   240

Calendar of Events

Oct 4-6: Ladies Retreat

Oct 13: Baby Shower for Lane & Whitney Augustson; FSR; 5:30 p.m.;

              Bring Finger Foods

Oct 17, 19, 20: Marriage Seminar

Oct 27: Anniversary Sunday