Mark Beeson

2015 Food Drop Flashback

 

We launched into our annual Food Drop one week ago, today.
It was our largest Food Drop ever. We decorated boxes, filled them with food and delivered them across Michiana. It was one of the most glorious days in GCC's history.

  

 

 

 

 

My deepest gratitude to IRBN Foodservice Sales & Distribution. They supplied drivers, trucks and overwhelming logistical support for the past 4months that totaled over 200 man hours… for free!  They stored, organized and delivered all of the food. (Did I mention… for free?)  Dane and Jesse Vida, a father and son team, are dedicated to sourcing non-profits with better products for a lower price (so agencies can help more people). They've been tremendous Food Drop partners for the past 3 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm grateful to Martin’s Supermarket. They supplied, at a radically reduced rate, all the donuts we enjoyed Saturday morning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so grateful for the Northern Indiana Food Bank, which provided the food we purchased (at two to three times lower than retail prices). They also provide food to our Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3) Food Pantry throughout the year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm grateful to American Containers. They provided all the boxes for the Food Drop at a reduced rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm proud of Jeanna Tarwacki. She has strategized, shaped, developed and facilitated our Food Drop experience, year-after-year-after year-after year. We surprised her when John Meiser (GCC's Director of Life Mission) called her to the platform so we could honor her. It was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thankful for Stanz Foodservice. They not only allow us to store the food for the MC3 Food Pantry at their location, but they also deliver the food to MC3 throughout the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 58:10-11

Feed the hungry,
    and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
    and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually,
    giving you water when you are dry
    and restoring your strength.

 

 

Eyes For Her Daddy

 

My granddaughter, celebrating her father's love for her, on her 5^th birthday.

 

Generation-to-generation, the impact a man has on his daughter is so profound it's impossible to calculate on this side of heaven. As a daughter perceives her worth to her father, she believes her worth to be. And she lives accordingly, unless a life-interrupting, foundation-shaking, Worldview-altering experience changes her life... and she accepts the change.

The image a little girl stamps on her life is the image she gleans from her father. It may not be the image he has for her, but as surely as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a daughter's opinion of her beauty is formed in the reflection she sees in her father's eyes.

Don't miss this Dads; Step-dads and Grand-dads too, your kids need what you are uniquely positioned to give. 

• They need protection and, at the same time, opportunity to try new things.
  
  
• They need affirmation and correction.
  
  
• They need grace as much as they need discipline.
  
  
• The need rules, expectations and consequences, as surely as they need mercy, forgiveness and second-chances... especially when they don't deserve mercy, forgiveness and second-chances. 
  
  
• They need a father who can still say, "No" when their kid has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. 
  
  
• They must learn to respect others while negotiating for change... especially when they are negotiating with their mother.
  
  
• Our children need a thousand demonstrations that trust is earned over time, and being "loved" isn't the same as being "trusted."
  What are we to say when they whine, "Don't you trust me?" 
  How about saying this? "Of course not. You're 14 years old."
  
  
• "Pretty is, is pretty does," must be said... but so does, "If I could line up all the children in the world and pick one to be my child, I'd choose you."

We are all chosen.

We're called together, and as we grasp our worth to our Heavenly Father, our lives are stamped with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Men, let's be good fathers and bless our kids after the manner of our Father in Heaven. Generation-to-generation, our children will stamp sacred, treasured and loved on their lives, because they know their worth to us... and they'll live accordingly.

 

Colossians 3:12-17  -  God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So you should always clothe yourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body to have peace. Always be thankful. Let the teaching of Christ live in you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and instruct each other by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

 

Holy Communion During a Flu Epidemic?

 

 

Whatever the weather may be, this weekend we'll worship together for the first time in 2015. And we'll share Holy Communion. 

I know it's the height of Flu season. I know it's labeled "epidemic" and some of you will be happy to learn how we're participating in the Lord's Supper this weekend. (You may even want to text a few friends to let them know this news.)

Everyone will receive a personal package of bread and juice when we enter the auditorium. We'll stay seated as we share the meal together. Everyone will participate in the holy experience at the appropriate time, in prayer and unity. It will be absolutely wonderful. And all of the doctors in our congregation will be pleased.

Come early. Come ready to live the days of 2015 with wisdom.

I'll see you at the Granger campus and Gene will be with you in Elkhart.

 

Psalm 90:12  -  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.