From the Financial Officer – August Offerings Received

Undesignated offering

$6,700.00 (under $967 needed)

Designated offerings

$40.00 to the mortgage reduction fund (Happy Hearts – Hopeful Future)

$250.00 to the Food Pantry

$425.00 to the Royal Ball Run for Autism

Mortgage balance as of August 31, 2021

$126,722.84

From the Pastor – October Newsletter Article

The fields around the Quad Cities have lost their green color and crops are ready for harvest. A sure sign that fall has arrived.

Many people enjoy the fall season with the cooler temperatures and the bright color of autumn leaves. When my daughters were in college, I often visited them in New England and took trips into the countryside just to see the beauty of the Berkshire Mountains in fall.

But time passes quickly. My daughters graduated from college many years ago. I haven’t visited New England in some time. They are now middle aged. Hard to believe.

Change keeps happening no matter what we say or do. We get carried along with it in the aging process. Our hair turns grey. We put on weight. We grow forgetful and those are the minor changes we must adjust to.

The other day I read a biography of Queen Elizabeth I of England who died in about 1603. Her last years were depressing, as she lost many of her friends. Finally, she just went to bed and stayed there until she died. She could command almost anything, but she couldn’t prevent herself from aging.

I have six grandchildren now. My son added a little boy to his family five months ago. I wonder what those children will be like as adults. They are all growing quickly. I have watched my new grandson closely the last five months. I can’t believe how much he has changed in a very short time.

I used to think, as I got older, time would slow down, but it hasn’t. The days pass even more quickly now. It seems like yesterday was the beginning of September, but here it is almost October. Hy-Vee will have Christmas decoration and candy out before we can blink an eye. Soon snow will fall and we will be shoveling sidewalks. I don’t look forward to that at all. I often say shoveling snow and mowing grass are my least desirable jobs.

In the midst of change we must be adapting to new circumstances. We can’t get stuck in the past. Everyday new and wonderful things are happening. Change, of course, can be both good and bad. Reinhold Niebuhr, the theologian, once said our capacity for good and evil grow together. History has proven his observation correct.

Time is carrying you forward. Change is inevitable. Let Christ reveal the future he has in store for you. Go forward in faith.