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Last Sunday, Ginger Yost from Solanco Neighborhood Ministries was with us to share about the ministry that we have supported for years.  I am pleased to serve on the Board of Solanco Neighborhood Ministries and volunteer monthly for pastor’s hours on the fourth Wednesday afternoon of the month.  We are helping the ministry with their backpack project and we have included a list of items we are collecting in the bulletin.  You may bring your donated items in and place on the table in the gathering area.

Ruth and I had a quieter week at home as last week Molly was with us for a few days and the week before her aunts spent much of the week with us.  We are in Harrisburg now and will be heading to Hidden Valley Campground in Union County, about an hour and half north of Harrisburg.  Our friends Joel and Tina Hale invited us to come about ten years ago now, each summer renting us a cabin for the weekend.  I then preach for the campground church at their Sunday morning worship service.  Ruth and I have enjoyed over the years being there, visiting with the Hales and just relaxing by the fire.  This year, if the weather cooperates, we will walk the trails and just enjoy a relaxing time away.  We are making this our last year to come to the campground as we would like to save our vacation Sundays for opportunities with our daughters.  It has been a great experience over the last decade and we are so grateful for Joel and Tina Hale inviting us back again year after year.

This was a reading and planning week for me.  I am trying to get ahead in sermons as I will be at Annual Conference in a few short weeks and before long FAM JAM will be here.  It is hard to believe that we are nearing the halfway point of June already.  The summer always seems to go quickly and we have a bridal shower next month and an October wedding that are coming quickly.  The good news is that our daughter Tessa and her fiancée Everett have been looking to buy a home for months with no luck.  Last weekend though they found a home that is going to work well for them and for the first time they were not outbid.  They will be settling on the home by the end of the month.  We are excited for them and will probably take some time the end of June to help them move in. 

This Sunday is Father’s Day and to all our Dads we wish you a blessed Father’s Day.  Last Sunday, my mother was away at a family reunion so I was blessed to spend a good bit of time with my father in the afternoon.  It was great to visit with him one on one.  His short term memory is bad but he can remember the past very well.  For the first time, he told me in detail about his mother’s passing in 1954 when he was just 22 and in the Army.  He described in detail about being called into his commander’s office at his base in Kentucky and receiving the news.  He was given money for bus fare and a buddy took him to the bus station and he caught a bus to North Carolina where he met his sister and father and where his mother was to be buried.  The details he remembered, down to even the name of the guy who drove him to the bus station, was amazing.  As my father ages and his memory declines, those conversations mean so much more to me. If you are blessed that your Dad is still alive, be sure to celebrate with him this Father’s Day.

Some reminders for next week include the Disaster Relief Picnic at the Platts from 4:00 – 7:00 pm on Thursday followed by the Women’s Ministry Summer Social at Vicki Kreider’s in the evening.  In addition, the Deacons will be meeting on Monday evening.  Our Wednesday evening Bible Study “Navigating Genesis” will continue at 6:30 pm in Room 14.  And we will be readying ourselves for the last Sunday of June with our baptism service after the 9:30 am worship service followed by the potluck meal.  We have Junior High Conference coming next weekend as well.  These last two weeks of June will certainly be busy.

I was reading this week in the Psalms and so many of them were just what I needed this week.  One day this week, Psalm 61, which is one of my favorite psalms, was in my devotional reading for the day.  That Psalm begins with these words:  “Hear my cry, O Lord, attend onto my prayer.  From the end of the earth, will I cry unto thee.  And when my heart is overwhelmed, please lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”  I love that Psalm particularly in the King James version.  What a wonderful promise to know that when our heart is overwhelmed, our gracious God draws us back to himself.  That was a powerful reminder that I needed this week.

Pastor Mary Etta will be bringing the message this Sunday.  We will recognize as well the men of our church as we observe Father’s Day.  As you worship the Lord together at Mechanic Grove, Ruth and I will worship the Lord with our friends at the campground.  Have a blessed Lord’s Day celebration and enjoy your Father’s Day weekend.  Remember, it is Friday…but Sunday’s coming!