What an awesome honor to be apart of this event.  You could hear the roar of hundreds of bikers from miles away as they headed for the "Cross at Jumonville Sunday June 14, 2009.  The theme was to honor the life of Jim "Bender" Bendishaw while seeking the Lord's blessings for another year of riding. 

This reflection is directed to the believers of Jesus Christ.  Can you remember the last time you received a gift that changed the way you live?   Perhaps it was the day you got married.  Your bride or groom was the gift you received from God that altered your life forever.  Someone to love and to cherish, to be your best friend for the rest of your life here on earth.   Maybe it was the first time you held your first born and realized that this too was a gift from God.  Lets face it a lot of responsibility comes with getting married and having children, but the gifts are worth the work, struggles and the give and take to have these life changing relationships. 

Wouldn’t you agree that these examples are definitely life altering and come with a cost, but there is another gift that I am thinking about that surpasses all.  It is the gift of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, given out of love to all of humanity.  For those of you that have chosen to accept this gift, and have been enlightened by His grace, and received God’s Holy Spirit then  I have a caution for you today.  You see like being a good husband, wife, father or mother there is a great responsibility that comes along with receiving this free  gift from God.  To have Christ in your heart is wonderful, life changing and eternal.   Jesus released you from sin, it is gone and forgotten by God.  I know, we still maintain our sin nature that we were born with, but we now have the conviction of the Holy Spirit to guide us daily, to keep us one with God.

As a result of having Christ within us, we are obligated to live our lives producing an abundance of fruit.  This is Christ’ will for each of us as we strive to become better disciples.  The fruit that I am referring to is to live a lifestyle of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23), a life that is separate from the ways of the world.
 
How are you doing as a recipient of the gift of Christ?  Do you desire to become closer and closer to God through Jesus, or have you fallen short of His glory?.  Are you entertaining a sin that is bringing you down, separating you from God, robbing you of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?  I hope not, and if you are, I hope it is not to late for you to be restored back to the graces of God during your life time.  You see in the book of Hebrews Chapter 6:4-7 we learn that it is impossible for those that have been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit to renew themselves to repentance, once they fall and refuse to repent of their sin.  As long as a person finds themselves in this kind of situation then they find themselves outside of the blessings of God, and subject to the ways of this world. 

It is not to late for you!  We are in a “Lenten Season” which is a time to reflect on our mortality and a time to come before God repenting of our sins.  I invite you to ask Christ to renew your heart once again as you repent of any sin the Holy Spirit convicts you of right now and become one with God again as we prepare to celebrate the upcoming Easter Season.  Jesus died to gift us with eternal life, praise God and may God bless you all.  

Pastor Terry

    The author of 1 Timothy 2:8 writes that the Lord wants “men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer”. What do you think the writer is pointing out to us? How many people really pray like this? Another thought that comes to mind is why pray at all if not like Paul mentions above?

     We can conclude that a lot of people make silent prayers because religious tradition teaches us to do so, or we learned it from our parents, Sunday school teachers or our religious friends but are we truly connecting with God on a personal level when we pray? E.M. Bounds in his book “Prayer” writes that God does not hear our prayers if they are lukewarm or mechanical. He explains that God wants us to seek him out passionately, constantly. 

     How many of us really do this?  When was the last time you lifted up your hands to the heavens above or knelt before God as you talked intimately, reverently with holy passion in your heart knowing that the Creator of the world desires this from us and answers our prayers when we seek Him with our whole heart. 

     My hope and prayer is that you become closer to the Lord as you reflect on the way you pray. We are taught In the  1st Epistle of Thessalonians Chapter 5: 16-18 to “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus“.

     Allow me to suggest a good starting point for this kind of passionate prayer.
Kneel down before God at bedtime, extend your hands out with your palms up and reflect on your day. Start your prayer by thanking God for His love, blessings and mercy that He placed upon you for the day. Do this every night before you go to bed. Who knows you just might find yourself lifting up your hands to the Lord in love, joy and thanksgiving as you continue to pray this way.

Have a great Christmas!
Pastor Terry

I love to share stories that will encourage and give people hope.  Several weeks ago a young high school student by the name of Malorie was playing soccer for Uniontown High School when she got kicked and lost her sight in one eye.  After seeking medical help and working with five doctors their diagnosis was traumatic for Malorie.  She had permanent damage and loss of sight in the eye that was kicked with no hope of ever recovering. 

Malorie shared with her parents and doctors that she would not give up hope.  Her friends invited her to a Christian healing service at Chalk Hill UMC that took place on November 3rd, 2008 and she accepted.  The congregation prayed for a miracle to take place for her and many others that Sunday morning.

When she left the church, she still did not have her sight restored but did not give up hope feeling certain God heard the prayers and would give her sight back. 

On Saturday afternoon November 22nd, 2008 she was waiting to line up with her high school band to perform in a local Thanksgiving parade when she suddenly felt lightheaded.  Malorie said she thought she was going to pass out.  To her dismay she lost total sight in both eyes and became very frightened as her friends and family prepared to take her to the emergency room.   While all of this chaos was going on she started to cry with joy telling everyone that her eyesight came back perfect.  That is right, total eyesight in both eyes. 

After testing, all the doctor could say is that there is no medical explanation that she should be able to see out of that eye.  He was baffled. 

Malorie is still praising God knowing that nothing is impossible for our Lord Jesus Christ, and He hears and answers our prayers.   We had a great celebration at Chalk Hill UMC this past Sunday (Nov.23rd, 2008) and share this story with you to give you hope and encourage you to place your burdens upon the Master Physician, Jesus the Messiah of world. 

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and we encourage you to share your comments with us concerning this miracle.

May God bless you,

Pastor Terry

Here is something to reflect on today.  Are you a complainer?  Do you find yourself depressed most of the day because nothing seems to be right including your job, your spouse or your friends?  Do you find fault with everything?  I hope not but if this strikes a cord lets look to the Scriptures for some help.

In Philippians Chapter 4 reading verse 14-16 we learn that we are to do all things without complaining and disputing so that we may become blameless and harmless in this perverted generation. 

If we really think about it, complaining or fighting all the time to get our way will just suck the life out of a person.  A suggestion would be to consider optimism in this imperfect world striving to make a difference.  I believe that this outlook will relieve a lot of stress upon a person and place a smile back on our faces and hearts opening us up to God’s peace and joy. 

I would love to hear any comments on this reflection.

Pastor Terry