Church Attendance

[Edwin]

Here it is about 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and in the Philippines where many of you are it is 10 p.m., on a Sunday evening. You have already been to church this morning, and perhaps you have enjoyed a Sunday dinner as well as having a good afternoon rest and visit with your families, and now many of you are already in bed asleep, or you are headed to bed. I have been up for about an hour now, and I have shaved, showered, and I am ready for breakfast and ready to head down the hill to go to church, which I fully expect will happen this Sunday. I am trying to encourage our youngest daughter and her daughter to go with us to attend church, but our granddaughter tells me she doesn't think that will happen. She tells me that she would like to go to see her good friend who attends, but she said because of Uncle Carl she doesn't think they will. Uncle Carl is her grandmother's brother, and they are not on good terms, like almost enemies. Uncle Carl also attends the church where we go, and when our daughter and her daughters are there in attendance, he reports their every move, and they see it as a negative thing. I think she was critical to the younger granddaughter about what she was told from Uncle Carl. I would say, "Who cares," but they don't see it that way. So we will see them a little before church, hang out with them a little after church, and then we will try to get home before dark because Carol doesn't want to walk in from our gate/mailbox after dark!

[Edwin]

Yes, abienoona, we really miss church when we can't get there as well. We have a family situation that makes it difficult to get to church every other Sunday as we are required to be with our kids and because of the great uncle reporting they won't go to church. Our granddaughter would have gone with us this morning, but she had to wait for a load of wood to be delivered. We were so happy to be in church this morning! I hope, abienoona, that you will be able to attend church, so that you will feel loved and happy there with God's presence with you!

[Edwin]

Well, we did get to church Sunday, and it was wonderful to be with fellow Christians, and in the presence of the Lord! One thing that makes me feel really good is that our granddaughter who has refused to go to church with us because of her great uncle reporting on her to the enemy, would have gone with us if she would not have needed to have waited for a load of firewood to be delivered. It made me feel really good that she was willing to go inspite of this family problem that they have with her Dad's family who is at enmity with her, her mother, and actually with the daughter who lives with them as well. I think the way things are going and the feelings that are there it will not be long before she will move away from them and to her mother. She is only staying there because they are threatening her with all kinds of mean stuff, and she knows that if she makes the move they will extend a lot of hate towards her, but they are not treating her well at all, so she will leave them before long when she has had enough of their hate and cruelty.

[crisipicada]

Been so tired last Sunday and Saturday. Not able to go to church.

Please encourage me always. Thanks.

[Edwin]

Yes, Crisi, it is always good to go to church, but sometimes we get caught in situations where we can't make it there, and then we shouldn't feel badly about that, but just get there when we can. Carol went through a period of time when she just couldn't get out of bed in time for us the make it to church. For a while that happened every Sunday, but then after a while she was able to get up and go again, and that has been nice.

[Edwin]

Well, we are planning to go to church this morning! Our granddaughter is planning on going with us, and maybe our youngest daughter as well! It always feels so good to be in church, and you what they say about the water in the well? "You don't miss the water until the well runs dry! We missed so many times of attending church this last fall, and once we managed to get back to church, it was obvious then how much we missed it! We stayed up a little late last night as we were watching some movies that Carol wants to return today, so we were really late going to bed, and then I reformatted the harddrive on another computer, and I was busy getting the windows updates. I got up about an hour earlier than I needed to, but I am the type of guy who would rather be early than late. When I was young I used to run late a lot where ever I went except to work. I was never late getting to work, but I was late getting most everywhere else. In about an hour Carol will get out of bed, then we will eat something, walk the quarter of a mile out to our car, and then we will head down the hill!

[Edwin]

Our granddaughter did go with us to church. The parking lot of very slick, but none of us fell down. The church attendance numbers are down somewhat, but it was a very good service, and our pastor always has a good message as well as doing a nice job delivering it. At the end of the service Carol and our granddaughter asked me if I would drive the Van closer, so I after seeing someone else having trouble getting traction with their wheel on a slight hill by the church, I drove out on the main road, and there wasn't any traffic, so I was able to stop and get started again. We went to eat at KFC, afterwhich we went to Walmart to get a couple of things that we needed. I bought the last 3 dark, slightly sweetened chocolate bars that they had in the store!!!! Now what will I do? Then we went back to our youngest daughter's house, I slept for a little while afterwhich we headed home. We were able to drive all the way in to the house, and that was nice, because our youngest daughter gave us some wood, and it was easier just to drive it in, unload it, and drive the Van back out to the gate/mailbox. We are leaving it there so that we will not have it standed in here as it was a few weeks ago!

[Edwin]

Well, this is Sunday morning, and it is the Sunday that we are required to be present for the visits of our youngest daughter with her older sister and her mother. We heard rumors that they were going to go to church, and they were trying to encourage a friend to go with them, but I don't know whether or not that will happen. I am hoping, because they need to be in church, and we need to be in church as well, but our kids have had a problem with a relative that discourages them from attending, but who knows maybe they will over come that. We are hoping and praying, and God knows what is happening to us. The younger sister is threatening to move away from her Dad and back with her Mom, as her Dad is really not a very nice person, and if that happens that will change everything for the better, but it is up to her to do that, and if she does there will be reprecussions, because they are not very nice people.

[Edwin]

It is now almost 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning here where we live. Where many of you are in the Philippines it is 10:30 p.m., and you have finished your day with the strong possibility that you are already in bed, and maybe even asleep. I hope and pray that you all have sweet dreams through the night and good rest. On Sundays I get up earlier than I need to, but the alarms are set for about 5 a.m., and they are not easy to change. When they go off, they both play loud music. One is right by my head on the bed headboard shelf. The other is in the living room by the pellet stove. The music sounded terrible, but it got me out of bed, because I didn't want to listen to it any longer than necessary. I am now showered, cleaned up, shaved, and ready for the day, and Carol will get out of bed in about 30 minutes. Then we will eat breakfast, probably cooked oatmeal with raisins and milk, and then we will be on our way down the hill to town to be with our youngest daughter and her two daughters. We will no doubt return this evening after dark, about 10 p.m. or so, because the road is plowed out well enough that the walking is easy. I can walk it anytime, but Carol has a hard time walking if the snow is deep and drifted. If it was too unpleasant to walk I could drive in, or if we would have very much to bring to the house we could drive in, unload, then I would drive back out and park the Van by the gate/mailbox, so that our Van would not get stranded in case we would have another wind and snow storm. It is almost February now, and that usually brings an end to the severe snow and wind storms, although it can still happen even after that!

[Edwin]

It is now almost 3 p.m. on a Saturday, where we are on the west coast USA! Where many of you are in the Philippines it is 7 a.m., on a Sunday morning, and you are getting up, having breakfast, getting cleaned up, primped, and getting ready to go attend church! Tomorrow we have no obligations other than to try to get to church. I say try because many things can hinder us from actually getting there. But, with the weather more mild, and few other things that might stop us, I actually think we are going to be able to get to church, and that is a very good happy thought! We are hoping that our youngest daughter and her daughter, one or both will go with us and that will be a bonus! God always blesses you when you, "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, and so much the more as you see that day approaching!" We need to be in church!

I just finished playing a beautiful church song. It is "Only Jesus:"

"I've found a refuge from life's care in Jesus, I am hiding in His love divine; He fully understands my soul's deep longing, And He whispers softly "Thou are mine." Verse 2: "I've found a precious joy in knowing Jesus, Never dreamed of in this world of woe; No clouds, however dark, can dim the radiance Of the heav'n-ly light He doth bestow." Verse 3: "I've found a blessed hope divine in Jesus, "Tis a Day Star ever shining bright; It fills my earthly way with heav'n-ly glory, And it turns life's darkness into light." Chorus: "Only Jesus! Only Jesus! Only He can satisfy; Ev'ry burden becomes a blessing, When I know my Lord is night."

Don't you just love that song!