Dear Port Ann Wesleyan youth:
Hello, everyone. I hope you each are doing well. We miss getting to hang out Wednesday nights, but are grateful for the opportunity to stay at least somewhat connected online through lessons such as this one and social media.
With that, there is a new Facebook messenger chat window devoted to our youth group with all youth, their parents and grandparents that I know about on Facebook hooked to it. It is a great place to share comments, prayer needs or even just share some positive encouragement to the group.
For those who may have missed it, last Wednesday’s PAW youth lesson on God’s calm guidance during the coronavirus craze can be found here.
Before we get into prayer needs and the main message of the day, here is a song many of you will recognize from our church hymnal that talks about God being the solid rock on which we stand. A great message whenever, but especially in the “sinking sand” world of coronavirus concerns and overall uncertainty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVE-xXFDOwg
There are a lot of prayer needs … and our group does an amazing job of lifting up those needs each week. We encourage you to do that daily.
Please remember to pray for the coronavirus situation … specifically that God’s will be done via this situation, not necessarily what we want, but what God needs to happen to further His master plan. Please continue to pray for people within the church that are on the front lines of dealing with the virus and the people who may be infected. Julianna asks us all to remember her parents, who are impacted directly. The same for Claire’s mom, Abby. Others within the immediate congregation that could use an extra blanket of prayer: Deb Angelo, Ned Campbell, Nicole Hoover, Brittany Keister, Brooke Keister, Joleen Keister, Wanda Keister, Barry Kuhns, Ryan Long, Sarah Russell, Jerry Rute, Tasha Rute, Jason Shaffer, Crystal Shambach, Ruth Smith, Michael Sprenkel and Starla Wagner.
There are also those who are impacted by the loss or major reducing of income via layoffs, closures, etc. Debra Zaktansky, my mom and Paige and Samantha’s grandmother, is among them. Please share names of others you know who could use extra support in this fashion via prayer. Cameron Mulaney asks for prayer for schools, graduating seniors and decisions that need to be made and disruptions caused in that area. Don’t forget those who have coronavirus and are dealing with the painful effects on breathing and recovery.
Please remember Jason Kratzer’s shoulder injury from Saturday’s dirt bike wreck and both he and Jeremy for further testing and results concerning his seizure. We also had prayer request for the Davis family, the April and Roy Simpson family, the Turns family and both Peito and Marissa. Claire asks for prayer for the family’s goat, Sassy, which is suffering with a uterine prolapse. Please pray for a full recovery after delivery.
Lastly, two prayer requests tied to big praise announcements:
Beth Wagner is engaged! Congratulations to both her and Daniel Marks. Let’s pray for all the arrangements and for a great, God-driven start to their lives together.
Also … Holly Dillman is an aunt, again! Her brother, Travis, and his wife, Zowie, welcomed little Ellie Grace to this world on March 20. She was 4 pounds, 10 ounces and 17 inches long. Congratulations to the whole Dillman family!
Small streams runs along each side of our property and feed into the Penns Creek behind our house. Due to flooding and massive soil erosion, you can see in the picture above the damage caused by what is typically a tiny little waterway. On either sides of the bank stand tall, majestic maple trees, and the erosion has exposed an amazing network of roots.
There are a bunch of potential object lessons that come to mind when thinking of this natural phenomenon and Biblical implications. However, God has nudged me today toward two specific aspects.
In the book of Jeremiah, found in the old testament and written by one of God’s prophets named (shocking, I know) Jeremiah. I want to focus on chapter 17:7-8 (NIV):
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
It amazes me in our yard how the small stream has worn away at the foundation of the large maple tree. As you can see in the picture, the exposed roots are taller than Paige, and yet, the massive maple tree they feed still stands, is starting to bud up for the new season and has plenty of sap flowing within.
Despite the steady erosion efforts of the stream and in spite of how much worse those effects are during time of flooding (which has happened quite a bit over the past two very wet years), the tree still stands because it has run its roots deep into the ground.
It makes me think of all the worldly things that try to erode away at our faith, especially the fears surrounding the coronavirus. The situation has even cut us off from our physical meetings at the church. And yet, as a group, we can still thrive with God’s providence and guidance, especially if we continue to grow our roots deeper and deeper into the solid ground of God’s word.
That may seem to be harder to do without our Wednesday night meetings, or Sunday morning services, and yet, no quarantine can keep us from God and His instruction in our lives. Online resources such as this can help, but the true growth happens directly with God’s word. If nothing else during this time away from “normal” life, I encourage each of you to spend more time reading your Bible. Spend more time praying — there is so much power in an open conversation with God.
The second part of this week’s lesson involves where we allow our roots to run.
For my new job as the Riverkeeper, I was asked to do a variety of videos that help families better understand how our greater watershed works and how pollution can impact it. One of the hands-on experiments I shared recently involves some celery, colored water and patience. You can check out the video, if you want, here.
The experiment is fairly simple in nature … place fresh-cut celery sticks in cups of colored water and then observe over 24 hours. The capillary action of the celery draws up the water, but also some of the food coloring, and it gets deposited in the leaves and stalk. The properties of celery make this the best plant to demonstrate the effects.
Obviously in my video, the focus is on how plants can absorb pollution … however, it can be a great object lesson for us spiritually, as well.
In our everyday lives, are we mindful of where our roots are growing? When things get boring with this prolonged time stuck at home, do we allow ourselves to wander into watching television shows or streaming movies that taint our focus? It sure can be easy to lose sight of what is important — to allow our roots to grow into areas where we aren’t absorbing what is best for our spiritual growth.
Remember the parable of the sower Jesus shared during his ministry. From Matthew 13:3-8 (NIV):
“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
When the birds, thorns, scorching sun and various temptations of life — or the crippling fears connected with the uncertainty of a global viral pandemic — threaten us, the only way to truly survive is by having our roots firmly and deeply entrenched in the fertile, solid foundation of God and His Word.
Again, I encourage everyone to spend extra time in your Bibles during this time away … in fact, feel free to share with us what you have been reading as a way to reinforce what you’ve seen and maybe inspire some others in the group to delve deeper. Contact Michelle or myself with any prayer needs, updates or other topics. Reach out via Facebook, send an email or give us a call.
Time to wrap up with two songs.
The first is one we’ve shared in the past from For King and Country … interesting now especially when watching the video and message portrayed and comparing it to the endless newsfeeds on coronavirus. When listening, replace each reference to “joy” with “God” and the parts where they repeat “let it move you” to “let Him move you.” I think it adds an even deeper level of appreciation and meaning.
This song I just saw today for the first time on my YouTube feed … but it actually was published a year ago. Sorry I missed it, because I really like it. What do you think?
