Pastor's October Newsletter Article - Be a blessing to someone today!

Pastor's Ponderings – October 2018 Newsletter Article:

It's fast closing on the month of October, which is such a fun and beautiful month of the year.  It's a great time to enjoy the colors, sights, and scents of nature and towards that end, we've scheduled this year's “Hay-rack Ride” for October 21st.  We'll be leaving the Church at 2 pm on the hay-rack provided once again by Nick & Rita Burley. (Thank you, Nick & Rita!) Bring your jackets and a blanket or two, as it may well be chilly!  The annual hayrack ride is always a great time so please come on up and take part!  We'll have some hot-dogs and treats around the bonfire, there's not much better than hot-dogs cooked over a bonfire!  See you all there!

We also have the 2nd Annual “Baked Steak Dinner” coming up quickly.  This event will be Saturday, October 13th from 5-7 pm.  The meal includes a baked steak, a baked potato, veggies, a dinner roll, dessert, and a drink.  ALL OF THIS FOR JUST $10.00!!! What a deal!  I hope to see you all there!

Gail and I were away for a week this past month and had a great vacation, we truly appreciate all those who pitched in and helped, allowing us to get away and relax a bit.  Thank you to Bob Arnold who came in and preached for me and thank you to Bill Hungate for running the Thursday night service while I was traveling.  While we were traveling about in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa we saw a lot of beautiful country and met a lot of interesting people along the way.  We had one experience, in the small town of 'North Buena Vista, IA' though that really struck home to us and was a witness to both Gail and I about God's love and provision.  I'll let you hear the story from Gail first and then I'll comment a bit more:

This is the story as Gail told it on her FB page:
I want to share our experience today of God's grace and love, giving God all the glory for His blessings.
We stopped to look at a grotto in North Buena Vista, IA. When we started the car, it wouldn't go into gear. Roy walked down the road, a very small town, nothing there. We had no internet and no phone coverage. I sat and prayed for rescue. That God would provide help for us to get home. In only a few minutes, someone brought him back in their car. Turns out there was Sinclair station just a couple of blocks down. The guy did some jiggling and got it to go in reverse so Roy had to back down the road. The Sinclair station just happened to also be a car repair and the guy that picked up Roy was the owner and mechanic. He said it was just a cable connector that broke and he welded it together. The whole time I'm thinking we're going to have to replace the transmission or buy a new car to get home. He comes in from the shop saying it's done and only charges $25! Praise God. I didn't notice but Roy said the guy's car had a sticker that said: "pray the rosary every day."
Before we left the lot we said a prayer of thanks. I was so thankful, relieved and grateful I had to cry.
God is good, all the time.
The car seemed to be fine after that, but we're just a little anxious about tomorrow. I know we shouldn't be anxious, but we are a long way from home. So please pray a prayer of thanks for us tonight and continuing safe travel all the way home. 

As Gail said, we had traveled to North Buena Vista to see the little Grotto that they have there.  The Grotto was constructed in the late 30's and early 40's and one of my friends actually shared with me that his Grandfather had helped work on it when the Grandfather was still a young boy.  We parked on the hill slope leading into the Catholic Cemetery and I got out to take a few pictures and look around.  When we were ready to leave the car wouldn't go into gear.  My first response was to think 'great... we're here in the middle of no-where and the car is broken down'... (New Buena Vista is a town of 90 people!)  On top of that our cell phones were not picking up a signal, so I resorted back to doing things the old way and I told Gail I would hike back to the corner and see what I could find and to see if I could get a phone signal there.  Well, at the bottom of the hill I discovered a mechanics shop.  I walked up and talked to one of the guys and he yelled to another fellow who came over to talk to me.  I told him we were just passing through to see the Grotto and that we were having car trouble.  He said “let's go look at it”, and while walking up to his car I saw the bumper sticker that Gail mentioned, “Pray the Rosary every day”.  The gentleman was Al Breitbach, the owner of the garage and he was able to get the car into reverse, which was great... except that I had to back around the hill turn around (all the while in reverse) go back around the hill and then down the hill and back into the bay of the garage.  This was a time when my years of being a farm kid backing silage trucks across the field came in handy... at any rate... Al and his staff quickly figured out a way to get us back on the road by welding the piece that had broken and ultimately only charging us $25 for all their troubles.

The moral of the story is this... in life, there is going to trouble... God doesn't cause those troubles to happen, but what He can do (and most often will) is place us in a position where when those troubles arise that he has 'workers' there able and ready to rescue and assist us.  That part on our car was going to fail somewhere along the way... it could have happened at any time... but, where it finally failed, in that little town of 90 people was right where God had His servants waiting to come to our aid.

When things go wrong, when the wheels come off the bus so to say... we can be (and will be) frustrated that these events occur, but what we must do is to be aware that God will provide a way out of these difficulties... we just need to look and see where His servants are waiting to help us.  Often, perhaps always, these servants aren't even aware that they are there to serve.  But, God's people are everywhere... waiting to help... let us also be waiting to serve when God chooses to use us to be His Angels.

Be a blessing to someone today!!
In Christ, Pastor Roy