I’m hungry! I’ve opened the refrigerator three times and unthinkingly reached for snacks twice and it’s not even 10:30. Today is a day of fasting here at Bethany as we prepare to kick off our search for a new discipleship pastor. As elders, we recognize the need to be prayer dependent. In fact, prayer is one of our church values. Prayer Dependent: Every idea, effort, and decision is dependent upon God, as expressed in humble, reliant prayer. So many times,…
I woke up this morning at 3:30 AM. I’ve been doing that a bit lately, I’m not sure why. Usually I fall right back off to sleep. But this morning, I thought about passion week. “I wonder what Jesus was doing right now.” And it occurred to me, as it has many times in the past, that Good Friday was not so good for Jesus. This year, passion week has had a deeper impact on me than usual since it’s…
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ― Winston S. Churchill This year I’m listen through the Bible using the YouVersion Bible App. It’s really cool. Anytime I’m traveling or have a bit of down time, I can take out my phone and have the Bible read to me like an audio book. I’m listening to “The Message”, which isn’t actually a Bible translation at all, but a paraphrase in contemporary language. …
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion….” Acts 10:1 (by Pam Benedict) One of my favorite places to visit when we were in Israel was Caesarea Maritima, a coastal city two hours southwest of the Sea of Galilee. Herod the Great, the wicked ruler at Jesus’ birth, built massive stone palaces and fortresses for himself throughout the land of Israel. And in order to make his own name great, and to win favor of Caesar, he ordered…
Saturday, I had a terrible mishap. I dropped my iPhone into a bucket of paint. Yep, like a well thrown bean bag in a championship cornhole tournament… plop. Right in the hole. Nothing but net. I was painting Amanda’s room and having a pretty good day. She’s coming home for a full week in April after a very busy time of nursing in Richmond and I wanted things to look fresh for her. I like painting; I’m pretty good at…
(by Pam Benedict) As many of you are aware, Steve & I just returned from an 11-day Holy Land tour with pastor and author Max Lucado. Boating on the Sea of Galilee, overlooking Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, taking a dip in the Dead Sea; It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience and a great celebration of 30 years of marriage. One of the many highlights of the trip was walking the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem….
Greetings from Israel! I hear you’ve been having snow in Pennsylvania today. Over here we’ve been sunny and in the mid 60’s… winter in Israel can be quite mild. Please make sure things warm up before Pam and I get home. Ok? What a wonderful experience it’s been walking where Jesus walked. We’ve visited Nazareth, Capernaum, sailed on the Sea of Galilee, walked the Via Dolorosa, visited the Garden of Gethsemane, walked the road of the Triumphal Entry and so…
Atrophy- at·ro·phy | \ ˈa-trə-fē: a wasting away or progressive decline, decrease or decline from disuse This past President’s Day my son Justin and I had a bachelor weekend. Justin’s 19, works full time at Shady Maple Farmers Market and will be going to university in the fall, so I really treasure any time we can spend together. Pam and Katelyn took advantage of the 3-day weekend by visiting some friends in Virginia, so we pretty much had the run…
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 Waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be. – John Ortberg Yesterday and today (February 9-10) is the culmination of 18 months of work and waiting. After a year and a half, 2nd Mennonite Church in Philadelphia is finally getting a new roof. And it has been so worth…
I think I can honestly say that yesterday (February 1, 2022) was the most unusual day I’ve had in 30+ years of pastoral ministry. And that’s saying a lot! It all started around 7:30 AM when our staff text group started buzzing. I was brushing my teeth preparing to leave for the church when my phone exploded with multiple text notifications… ding, ding, ding…. Gwen, our children’s ministry director and Diane our bookkeeper were trying to get to the church,…