Mark Beeson

Today's ELC Open House & GSM's Events are ON!

 

 

The snow stopped.

It's cold. In fact, it's below zero. But the blowing, drifting whiteouts have moved out of our area so I have great news!

The ELC Open House is on!
It'll happen today from 3:00 to 5:00. You can tour the space, learn about GCC's preschool, meet some of our leaders and teachers and talk with other parents-of-preschoolers. This is your opportunity.

And...

GSM is on!
Our Granger Student Ministries will be in full swing this afternoon and this evening.

Parents! Drive your kids to GSM and we'll partner with you to help your teens navigate their unique challenges... with faith in JESUS, encouraging friends and high-integrity leaders they can trust (and you can too). 

Our Granger Student Ministry events are "on" today at the Granger Campus and the Elkhart Campus.

This beautiful day is GOD's gift to you.
What you and your kids do with it is your gift to GOD. 

 

 

Ephesians 5:16a  -  Make the most of every opportunity. 

 

 

Great Bear Rain Forest / Kermode Spirit Bear

 

 

Sheila was with me in The Great Bear Rain Forest when I saw this white Kermode bear walking downstream toward us. It was preoccupied with fishing as it came our direction so I slid down the steep bank to the waters edge.

Sheila stayed up above and watched. 

I aimed the camera at the bear and waited. 

It kept coming.

I took this photo when it paused a few feet away in a patch of light.

  

2 Kings 2:23-24  -  Elisha left Jericho and went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys from the town began mocking and making fun of him. “Go away, baldy!” they chanted. “Go away, baldy!” Elisha turned around and looked at them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them.

 

(Apparently, neither prophets nor bears are to be trifled with.)

 

 

What Does Commitment Look Like?

 

 

I watched Josh King make videos yesterday. He talked about the value of living "on purpose." With stories from his life, illustrations from the Bible and clear evidence that good decisions increase the likelihood of good outcomes, Josh asked everyone to group-up and help each other.

He asked us to be committed to each other so we can follow Jesus... together. 

Of course, that means we'll be following Jesus with real people, not ideal people. It means loving imperfect people... just as GOD does. It means accepting GOD's invitation to be part of GOD's family - which continues throughout eternity. It means devotion. It means commitment. It means following Jesus with other followers of Jesus. 

It means giving yourself to the LORD then giving yourself to other Christians.

By GOD's grace, hundreds at GCC recently said, "YES" to Jesus and turned from death to life. More than 450 actually got out of their seats and walked across a bridge to indicate they were choosing life and giving themselves to Jesus. This weekend we'll watch a video recap of their walk across that bridge. And we'll see what the Bible says about taking our next steps toward Christ... together. 

Commit to your family. Commit to your friends.

Bring them to worship with you and sign-up to group-up here.

Let's do this. 

 

2 Corinthians 8:5  -  First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well.

 

 

Cooper's Hawk / Accipiter cooperii (020215)

  

 

After the blizzard, this Cooper's Hawk decided the little birds enjoying our bird feeders were table fare.

It perched up high and watched for prey.  
I watched the carnage. 

Cooper's Hawks are incredibly fast and agile in flight, but more often than not, this hawk was unsuccessful in its pursuits. When it failed to catch a bird, it varied its tactics, making each subsequent maneuver faster, trickier and riskier. Sometimes it would drop low to the ground, hidden from its prey as it raced toward a snow-covered bush before suddenly darting up and over to surprise a little bird on the other side. At other times it would thread its way through a maze of tree branches at top speed, grab a bird in its talons, and fly away. 

Cooper's Hawks are skillful fliers that tear through cluttered tree canopies at high speed in pursuit of other birds... but dashing though the forest's tangled branches is dangerous. I found a Cornell University study of 300 Cooper's Hawk skeletons, reporting 23 percent showed healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or Wish Bone. 

Now I'm wondering how fast I can go without breaking bones, breaking relationships or breaking my own soul. I wish I could speed up and cover more ground in less time, packing more life into the days GOD gives me... but it's not lost on me that the Wish Bone is often the one that gets broken by flying too fast.

If I could break a Wish Bone and make a wish, I'd wish I could go faster because faster is better... unless it's not. 

Sometimes I need to slow down. Goals are good, and it's good to go after them, but how we pursue our goals is important too. How we dash through the dangerous tangles of life is important, so we're "Grouping-up" to work on how to love, help, live on mission, add value, face our limitations, grow and succeed.

Do you wish you could live your fast-paced life... and live it well?  Sign up here and let's do this.

 

Job 12:13  -  True wisdom and real power belong to God; from HIM we learn how to live, and also what to live for.