Spirituality
www.GilbertSunNews.com
October 2015
Delight in God with ‘DIG’ A new community learning and enrichment opportunity with something for everyone is coming to the Southeast Regional Library, 775 N. Greenfield Rd. Come to Living Water United Methodist on Thursdays at the library from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Oct. 8 to Nov. 19 for a family meal during The DIG—Delight in God. Then stay from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. for family-style Bible study, followed by a short worship service. Kids are an important part of the family but they learn in a much more interactive way with time for silliness and fun. That’s why they’re invited to join in for enrichment activities including a storytime and crafts. The church recognizes that tween and teens have heavy school demands, so it has planned a homework help center for anyone who pre-registers. They’ll also be able to choose between the Bible study and fellowship in the teen center or attend the adult Bible study with their parents. The adult Bible study will begin with “Money Matters: Financial Freedom for all God’s Children.” Imagine feeling free
A Time to Act BY DR. MARC DRAKE, SENIOR PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF SUN LAKES
The story is told of a farmer whose old shed was struck by lightning. He wasn’t too concerned and, in fact, said it relieved him of having to tear it down. Then the rain washed off his car and saved him from that chore as well. When asked what he was doing now, he replied, “Waiting for an earthquake to shake the potatoes out of the ground.” Well, there is a time to wait. But there’s also a time to act! If you are waiting for a perfect or ideal situation, you will miss some great opportunities like the young man who vowed never to marry until he found the ideal woman. Unfortunately, when he found her she was waiting for the ideal man! A failure to act can be illustrated with the little story of three turtles who went on a Sunday afternoon picnic. One carried the basket of food, one carried a jug of Turtleade, and the third turtle carried nothing. They set up for the picnic, but then felt raindrops. The two turtles that carried the food agreed that the one who carried nothing should go back and get the
be our guest this Sunday! from debt in control of your finances. Together participants will find out how to do God’s math based on spiritual principles found in Scripture. According to the 2014 Barna Group’s tracking data, a large percentage of people find their spiritual needs are not fulfilled at church. Teens as well as adults want to find fulfillment and meaning. They want to learn about God in a nontraditional church setting where doubts have a place and questions can be answered. To register, visit www.livingwaterum. org/register-for-the-dig.
Desert Gateway Baptist Church 2175 S. Gilbert Rd. Gilbert, AZ 85295 480.857.0455 visit mydgbc.org Sundays 10am & 6pm Wednesdays 7pm
Spiritual Reflections umbrella. But he didn’t want to do that for fear that they would eat all the turtle food and drink all the Turtleade while he was gone. Finally, however, they prevailed upon him to go back and get the umbrella. Well, several hours went by with no sign of him. Then days went by...then two weeks...No sign. One of the turtles said, “Well, I guess we can eat the turtle food and drink the Turtleade because he’s not coming back.” At that point they heard a voice over in the bushes say, “If you do, I won’t go.” I’m afraid that too many times we are like that turtle. We don’t want to miss the picnic, so we take no risks and refuse to move forward. For those who know Jesus, there is certainly a time to wait on the Lord (see Isaiah 40:31) but there also comes a time to move forward with courage and faith, pursuing the direction God has made clear. In the Bible we see people who, at God’s command, did things that completely defied human logic: Noah built a ship on dry land, Abraham was willing to offer up his only son, Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt to identify with God’s people, and Joshua besieged Jericho for seven days—depending on God alone to give the victory. Furthermore, there are countless others (in the Bible and down
through history) who trusted in the Lord with all their heart and immediately moved forward at His direction. Are there areas in life where God is asking you to do that? We don’t have to be afraid we’ll miss the picnic by moving forward! We only miss it when we hold back and “play it safe.”
Share your spiritual reflections The spiritual leaders of Gilbert-area churches, temples, mosques and other religious and spiritual gathering places are invited to contribute their Spiritual Reflections in essay format by sending their thoughts, enlightening insights and other writings of a spiritual nature to news@gilbertsunnews.com. Be certain to put “Spiritual Reflections submission” in the subject line. Include your first and last name, title and facility name, address, phone number and website. Spiritual Reflections are printed on a space-available basis, and submission does not guarantee print. The opinions represented in this column are those of the author and not that of the Gilbert Sun News.
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