Almost 4 p.m. on this windy New Hampshire day. I had my granddaughter over Sunday night, and side-tracked myself yesterday afternoon, otherwise I would have been on about 26 hrs. ago. Oh well, at least I'm here now. I actually got back from Wal-Mart about 3:15. I received one of those refund checks from Prime Video and this was the first chance I had to go up and cash it.

After Church on Sunday, I tried to get new boots for my parents, because, APPARENTLY, neither one fit!! Why my mother didn't say anything when she first tried hers on, or why my father didn't bother to try his until either Friday or Saturday, is beyond comprehension. Anyway, it's a whole thing because now, even though I had found and set aside 2 MORE pairs, neither of those fit either. IDK... but I will do something more about it IF they ask. Of course, the longer they wait, the less likely they are to find anything. But that's on them at this point.

Meanwhile, Mike has told me that his daughter, Arianna, might be looking into a program that could help her to get her son, Takoda, back. It's a 30 day thing that she's not allowed to leave; so that means her boyfriend, Tayler, won't be going back and forth to Brattleboro every weekend. That means another month, potentially, that Mike and I don't get to be together. BUT, if she does this, it will be better for everyone in the long run. Pray that it works out.

I have found out that my uncle is home from the hospital, so at least that's good news. For now, at least.

Nothing new from Andrea and Matt, so just keep praying for Matt's continued recovery.

Jeremy is struggling again with a woman at one of his jobs. I told him to keep Ephesians 6 in mind. Next time I talk to him, I'm thinking of telling him about the Bible Study I did once on the Armor of God. It's technically a Women's Study, but it could work for anyone, really.

Today's Message Intro actually involves what was happening the morning of September 28, when this service was going on. It turns out that there was a small(ish) power outage that morning that only affected an area of a few blocks. One of which included CenterPoint. When I walked into the parking lot and saw chairs being set up, I initially thought that they were doing something after Church, or with the kids. Then I found out we were having Church outside!! Well, THAT'S fun!! 🥳 The Worship Team was adjusting for acoustic, and Pastor Joe abridged his message* to make it easier on people, some of whom chose to stand around at the back or beside the building. Clearly, 300 people were NOT going to fit in a lot that only accommodates 16 cars, or something like that. Anyway, the relevance to the title I've chosen here is this -- shortly after we had started the improvised service, several Unitil trucks drove by, having restored the power to the area. We all paused, stood up, and applauded them!! You could see the smiles and waves as they appreciated our gesture of gratitude.

Like these men who fixed the problem of power to the neighborhood that morning, Jesus has fixed the problem of our sin.

Let's turn to Psalm 77 -- I know, this breaks the pattern of going through Mark, but don't worry, we get right back to it with the next message.

New International Version

Psalm 77^[a]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ I cried out to God for help;    I cried out to God to hear me.² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;    at night I stretched out untiring hands,    and I would not be comforted.

³ I remembered you, God, and I groaned;    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^[b]4 You kept my eyes from closing;    I was too troubled to speak.⁵ I thought about the former days,    the years of long ago;⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?    Will he never show his favor again?⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?    Has his promise failed for all time?⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

¹⁰ Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.¹² I will consider all your works    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.    What god is as great as our God?¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;    you display your power among the peoples.¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

¹⁶ The waters saw you, God,    the waters saw you and writhed;    the very depths were convulsed.¹⁷ The clouds poured down water,    the heavens resounded with thunder;    your arrows flashed back and forth.¹⁸ Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,    your lightning lit up the world;    the earth trembled and quaked.¹⁹ Your path led through the sea,    your way through the mighty waters,    though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰ You led your people like a flock    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

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As we read through our passage today, we see that Asaph was deeply distressed about his situation. He honestly wondered if God had abandoned him in his time of greatest need. This encompasses the first 9 verses. But then something happens. He starts recalling God's help to Israel in generations past. Verses 10-20 recount these events in direct relation to the Exodus.

The encouragement of the 2nd half of this psalm is still relevant for us today. In our case, the events that anchor the faith of all who profess Christ as Savior are His life, death, and resurrection.*

At this point, Pastor Joe shared two experiences he was going through that were having opposite effects. He and his wife have 4 boys under 8. The older two are in sports. While one boy's coach is great, and understands the balance of discipline and fun, the other is one of "those" coaches. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. The one who cares about nothing but winning. Now, many of this son's teammates know that Joe is a pastor. Because of this, they see him as a natural leader. He was getting bombarded with calls and texts saying that he should "do something" about this coach. As a "typical man", he was extremely tempted to call this guy up and try to fix things. Due to the way most men have been brought up, they just want the problem to be over and done. They don't want to have to deal with it any longer than necessary. But, for Joe, things work a bit differently. Because he IS a pastor, he decided to pray about the situation rather than just being reactive. Within a few days, the coach was fired without Joe's having to do anything. I don't remember just how it happened, but sometimes, when we wait and pray, the problem sorts itself out. The temptation to jump in and fix things is not always the best idea. Prayer and trusting in God for a good outcome is going to be better in the long run. Rather than abusing his power as a local pastor, and using that to get this guy out, he used the love of God, and the man left quietly, realizing that he really wasn't the best man for the job.

The key lies in giving God the freedom to work rather than trying to fix things ourselves. Do we recognize these moments in our lives and lean in with love, peace, and grace?? Or do we simply react, making a bad situation worse?? We need to remember that we're not alone. We not only have each other, but we have God.

In what Pastor Matt and Heidi THOUGHT was the closing, Communion was served. As it turned out, September 25th of 2015 was their first Sunday Morning as the new Lead Pastoral couple of CenterPoint. Before the ACTUAL ending of the service, the Staff and Elders presented them with a bouquet of flowers, and a few other small gifts. The Elders then prayed over them in celebration of their 10 years of service with us.* There was a large sheet cake served with iced teas or lemonades afterward.

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. For the full sermon, feel free to visit centerpointnh.org and click "Watch or Listen". There's both video and audio only options. At the same time, remember to look for the "Diving in With Matt and Joe" podcast wherever you care to tune in.

2. The idea of recalling the past in reference to God's faithfulness is first recorded in Genesis 28 when Jacob puts up a pillar in remembrance of God's help. Later, in 1 Samuel 7:12, Israel has just won a major military battle, and Samuel erected a stone to help later generations remember this moment. This is the first time we see this referred to as an "Ebenezer Stone". In Ancient Hebrew, the word meant, "stone of help". Since that time, Believers have used this term to recount the blessings of God in our own past, just as the Psalmist has done above. And these don't have to be "major victories", either, they can be whatever comes to mind when you think about God's goodness in your life.

Music -- No rights for these, either... I was just going to post the one the Worship Team did that morning; but I'll add a couple more just because...