Church Attendance

[Edwin]

Yes, Red, sometimes the kids have their own ideas about what they want. Sometimes what is going on is not at the right level for the kids. Then if there is a language barrier that does not help either. Sometimes they just do not like to mix with the other kids that well. Our twins were like that. Candy at the nearby store would definately be a distraction!

[Edwin]

Well, it is 1:22 p.m. Sunday in the Philippines, so most of you in the Philippines are out of church, on your way home, or already eating your Sunday dinner! It is 10:22 p.m. Saturday evening here at our place on the West Coast USA. We are planning to attend church tomorrow with our youngest daughter and her two daughters. They are having a finger food potluck after the church service, so that will be interesting to see just what kind of finger foods they will have. Our sister-in-law gave Carol a recipe how to make bran muffins out of raisin bran cold cereal. We ate some and they are really good. Carol will take some of them tomorrow!

[Edwin]

Well, it is 11:11 p.m. Saturday night, and it is 2:12 p.m. Sunday afternoon where you are who live in the Philippines. We are planning to go down the hill in the morning to attend church, hopefully with our youngest daughter and granddaughter! Carol traded easy chairs with her, so we brought her's home with us last Sunday, and now we are taking the one Carol is giving her tomorrow. We are also taking a light to her that we took out of our living room ceiling. She sent one with a fan home with us, so we could have the ceiling fan, but she only cares to have a light, so we are taking the one down that we took out to put in the ceiling fan. We are hoping a praying it will be a great day tomorrow, and we hope and pray you all are having a very nice Sunday afternoon!

[Edwin]

We did make it down the hill and to church! Our youngest daughter did make it to go to church with us, which made us very happy! Her daughter stayed up too late, so she didn't go to church, but God will work with her, and she will go. There was no piano playing, only the guitars and drums, but we did sing several old hymns which made me very happy! The preacher had a very good sermon about "Why was the good shepherd good." The Youth Pastor and some of the young people are going on a missions trip to Nerobi, Africa soon, so as part of the send off we have been singing an African chorus, in both English, and I think it is Shwheeli sp?.

[Edwin]

We have friends that we have know for over 40 years, and for the last several years they have lived in Texas and they operate a world missions organization. They made a trip to Alaska, and they are coming back through our area. We will attend a little church in the wheat country so that we can see them as that is where they are going to be. The pastor of this church was a little boy in a church I pastored many years ago, so we will reconnect with people from our past!

[Edwin]

It is now Saturday afternoon, almost 2 p.m.! Where you are in the Philippines it is almost 5 a.m. Sunday morning! So you will be heading to attend church before long, but for us it will be tomorrow morning. We are really looking forward to attending. We missed our own church last Sunday as we went to a church where we had friends from Texas near Fort Worth, that we had not seen in a long time, probably 10 years or so! The Youth Pastor and some of his young people are now in Africa on a short missions trip, so it will be fun to hear how they are doing. Then we hope that our youngest daughter and granddaughter will be attending church with us! They go with us most of the time, except for a few times that they have not slept well, and don't get out of bed! Two weeks ago our daughter went with us, but our granddaughter stayed up too late the night before, so she didn't get up to attend church! We need to change that! Anyway we are looking forward to attending church!

[Edwin]

Our youngest daughter did go to church with us, and I am thankful each time she comes with us, because the Lord will help her there as she is in His presence! We had no piano playing again, but we did have a guy playing the mandolin, and that sounded really wonderful. We barely knew the choruses they were singing. There were no hymns that were sung. I received a letter from the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God organization. He expressed concern that he hoped that the choruses being sung in the church would first appeal to the young people, because we need young people. He also expressed concern that there would be substance to the choruses that were being sung. That is my concern also. The older choruses that we used to sing, and the church songs/hymns that we sang had real meaning. They said something. They had substance. I am sorry if I sound critical, but some of what is being sung now does not have much meaning at all. I would like to see a return to meaningful singing, about the "blood of Jesus" for instance, and about the moving of the Holy Spirit of God. I would like to see singing about God's work in us, and singing that brings out the gospel.

[Edwin]

Well, in the Philippines it is 2 p.m. on a Sunday. Most of you who attend church have gotten home, had Sunday dinner, and you are having a nice afternoon visit, or rest. I trust church was wonderful for you this morning! When I was a little boy we always went to church in the morning, came home, had our Sunday dinner, and Mom and Dad had a nice afternoon sleep. We kids amused ourselves on our own for the afternoon however our fancy suited us. When I was little our church also had a Sunday evening church service, so off to church we went again. We had a good time meeting with our other little friends at church also. We would play with them before and after church. We definately did no work on Sunday, unless there was some kind of great emergency, and it had to be almost life or death before we would work on Sunday. My parents believe in that from the command of the Bible. My Dad also believed that we and any of our animals that we worked needed a break once a week to recuperate, so that we could all be refreshed and ready to work for another week. My Dad worked horses when I was little and before I was born, and he said that if you didn't give them a day off once a week, eventually they would get so they couldn't work. They had to have that day of rest, and it is important for all of us. It is important to obey God's command of keeping God's Day, but also to have a day of rest. While I was digging in my cellar, I was so happy to have Sunday to be able to attend church, and rest for the day! There was no way I was going to dig on Sunday so that I could get finished sooner!

[Edwin]

It is 11:21 p.m., now on Saturday, and we will be attending church in the morning. There is always a chance that something may interfere with our plans and we might not get there, but I am hoping that we will be attending church. Our daughter from out of town will be meeting us at church, so she will be there. Our youngest daughter has been going with us, so I think that will happen again. Her eighteen year old daughter has missed a few times, but I hope she will come tomorrow. It feels really good when everyone cooperates and we all get to church!

[Edwin]

Yes, something did interfer with our attending church last Sunday. We have a family situation where a relative reports every time he sees our grandaughters which are his great neices in our church. It makes our granddaughters angry, and they don't want to attend, so when they are with us that makes it so we can't go to church either. The devil does not want any of us going to chruch. Please pray for us that we can all get to church. When we don't have the youngest granddaugher, our daughter will go to church with us, and the 18 year old will stay home, because she doesn't want to be reported either, but when we have the youngest then none of us can go. We don't have her tomorrow, our Sunday, but we do have her all day long from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Labor Day which is Monday.

It is 3:30 p.m. about on Saturday here. Where you are in the Philippines it is about 6:30 a.m., and no doubt many of you are getting ready to go to church. May you all have a blessed day in church this morning!