Peninsula Clarion | Friday, June 28, 2019 | A7

Religion

Divine interruptions V oices of F aith R ick C upp

So how is today’s schedule working for you? Have you been doing what you want, when you want, and how you want? Are you meeting your deadlines? If so, you likely consider this a good day. Conversely, a bad day would be one filled with interruptions and things that weren’t even considered for the calendar. And yet, some of God’s and life’s most wonderful gifts to us are the surprises

that crop up in the day like an unexpected wildflower. Consider what happened on the Apollo 8 mission. You probably know Apollo 11. On July 20, 1969, 50 years ago, one small step for man and a giant leap for mankind happened. Armstrong became the first man to step on to the surface of the moon. But I want to direct your attention to Apollo 8. You may not remember the mission, but I guarantee you remember the photo. On Christmas Eve, 1968, just a few months earlier, astronauts circled the moon with one main

Church Briefs KP Young Adult Ministry KP Young Adult Ministry is available at Ammo Can Coffee Thursday nights at 7 p.m. KP Young Adult Ministry is geared toward fostering the healthy Christian Community for young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. For more information contact us through our Facebook Page KP Young Adult Ministry.

Clothes Quarters open weekly Clothes Quarters at Our Lady of the Angels is open every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the first Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 907-283-4555.

Kasilof Community Church Food Pantry Kasilof Community Church Food Pantry starts Wednesday, June 5 and every Wednesday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for residents in the community who are experiencing food shortages. The pantry is located in the church office building next to the Kasilof Mercantile, about mile 109 on the Sterling Highway. All are welcome. Non perishable food items may be dropped at this same location Monday thru Thursday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Contact the church office for more information at 262-7512.

Soldotna Food Pantry open weekly The Soldotna Food Pantry is open every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for residents in the community who are experiencing food shortages. The Food Pantry is located at the Soldotna United Methodist Church at 158 South Binkley Street, and all are welcome. Non-perishable food items or monetary donations may be dropped off at

mission carved into their brains: take pictures of the moon. They circled the moon the first time, snapping away with the camera. They went around a second and third time. On the fourth time around, voice recorders captured the conversation as the astronauts suddenly sounded like tourists. Here’s their words as they look up from the moon. “Oh, my —-,” says Borman, “look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth comin’ up. Wow, that is pretty!” “Hey, don’t take that,” says Anders, “it’s not scheduled.”

Borman laughs. “You got a color film, Jim?” Anders suddenly changes. “Hand me that roll of color quick, will you?” “Oh, man, that’s great,” marvels Lovell, looking out the window. “Hurry, quick,” says Anders. “Take several of them! Here, give it to me,” says Lovell. “Calm down, Lovell,” says Commander Borman, clearly finding the whole thing humorous. And then they take a picture, one of the most famous photographs in the world. They capture the

the church on Tuesday from 10a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on Sunday from 9 a.m. until noon. For more information call 262-4657.

United Methodist Church Food Pantry The Kenai United Methodist Church provides a food pantry for those in need every Monday from 12:30-3 p.m. The Methodist Church is located on the Kenai Spur Highway next to the Boys and Girls Club. The entrance to the Food Pantry is through the side door. The Pantry closes for holidays. For more information contact the church at 907-283-7868.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help sets place at table A Place at the Table, a new outreach ministry of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Soldotna continues to offer a hot meal and fellowship and blood pressure checks to anyone interested. The meal is the second, third and fourth Sunday of each month, from 4-6 p.m. at Fireweed Hall, located on campus at 222 West Redoubt Avenue, Soldotna. The Abundant Life Assembly of God church, Sterling, will be joining us in this ministry and providing a hot meal on the second Sunday of the month at 4-6 p.m. at Fireweed Hall. The Soldotna Church of the Nazarene will offer the meal on the third Sunday of each month. Our Lady of Perpetual Help will offer on the fourth Sunday of each month. Our Lady of Perpetual Help would like to invite other churches who would like to join this ministry to perhaps pick up one of the other Sunday evenings in the month. Call 262-5542. Submit announcements to news@peninsulaclarion.com. Submissions are due the Wednesday prior to publication. For moreinformation, call 907-2837551.

crescent earth rising over the surface of the moon. I know you’ve seen it. I won’t bore you with the details, but philosophers and sociologists and historians write how that one picture changed so many things about how we view ourselves. The poet Archibald MacLeish: “To see Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence as it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in that eternal cold.” It took four trips around the moon before the earth was seen. For one brief

moment an astronaut even argues they shouldn’t take the picture because it wasn’t planned. But they did. And everyone has benefited and been able to share the awe. Don’t get me wrong. Schedules are good. Planning is important. But never be too busy to see the beauty and the opportunities God places in your path. Rick Cupp is minister at Kenai Fellowship. Sunday Bible classes for all ages are held at 10 a.m. Worship is held at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday meal is held at 6:15 p.m. Worship and classes are at 7 p.m.

Evangelical group to spend $50M on get-out-the-vote efforts WASHINGTON — Veteran conservative activist Ralph Reed said Wednesday that the faith-based group he leads plans to spend at least $50 million on get-out-the-vote efforts in 2020. It’s part of a large-scale marshaling of evangelical resources that’s poised to benefit President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. After Trump spoke to an annual conference hosted by Reed’s group, the Faith & Freedom Coalition, the longtime GOP strategist previewed a voter outreach plan for 2020 that he said would include significant investment in Latino voters of faith. Of the $50 million the group has set aside to spend on communicating with voters, Reed said $4 million would go toward contacting socially conservative and religious Latino voters in swing states that include Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. “We will do our job. We will turn out our vote,” Reed told reporters. The Faith & Freedom Coalition’s work on turning out voters, particularly Latinos, who support socially conservative issues such as abortion restrictions, will help bolster the Republican Party’s efforts to deliver Trump a second term. Vice President Mike Pence visited Florida on Tuesday for a “Latinos for Trump” event in Miami ahead of the Democrats’ first presidential primary debate, a sign that the GOP’s courtship of that voting bloc is already intensifying. The eight-figure spending plan by Reed’s group is also expected to include 500 paid staff members and 5,000 volunteers, according to the Faith & Freedom Coalition. In addition to evangelical Protestant voters, the group’s voter contacts will include Roman Catholic voters. — The Associated Press