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Church Notes
Church Notes
SPorter
FREE COMMUNITY MEAL. A free community meal will be available at Davis Memorial United Methodist Church, across from Atkins Elementary School, on Tuesday, April 21, from 6-7:30 p.m.
CHRISTIAN SKATING EVENTS. Let’s Roll, a free family skating event at Hall’s Skateland, 152 Adwolfe Road in Marion, will take place on Saturday, April 25, from 4-8 p.m. each day. The event will feature free food and drinks and skating. The program is hosted by The WAY (Who Are You) program, which strives to help youth recognize their need for Christ and upon receiving him, reinforce their identity in Christ.
GOD SO LOVED MUSICAL. An Easter season musical, God So Loved, will be presented on Saturday, April 25, at 6 p.m. at Marion Baptist Church. Marion Baptist and Joyful Noise choirs will present the cantata based on the biblical verse: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world, through him, might be saved.
FUMC FOOD PANTRY SCHEDULE: First United Methodist Church,115 S. Church St. in Marion, will hold its food pantry on the fourth Tuesday from 1-4 p.m. January through October and on the third Tuesday from 1-4 p.m. in November and December. Dates are April 28, May 26, June 23, July 28, August 25, September 22, October 27, November 17, and December 15. Visit marionfumc.org to check about schedule changes.
NATIONAL DAY OFPRAYER. A National Day of Prayer service will be held on Thursday, May 7, at noon at the flagpoles in front of Marion's Town Hall. All pastors are invited to join the gathering to offer a prayer in this service that will observe this 75th anniversary of the commemoration. This year's national theme is "Glorify God Among the Nations, Seeking Him in All Generations," following 1 Chronicles 16:24. The community is invited to take part.
Light One Candle
Dean Koontz on life’s beauty and meaning
Tony Rossi
Columnist
“Being less cynical ensures a happier life.”
Best-selling author Dean Koontz made that observation in an essay on his website, but it’s an idea that has long found its way into his novels because he has experienced its truth personally, despite being raised by a violent and abusive father.
His latest novel, “The Friend of the Family,” continues this tradition with its tale of Alida, a teenage girl with severe physical deformities who is the star attraction of a carnival freak show in the 1930s. Alida is dehumanized by both audiences and the freak show’s owner until the Fairchilds, a compassionate, wealthy couple, adopt her into their own family with three children.
Because Koontz is a master of suspense whose works have sold 500 million copies and been translated into 38 languages, danger is never too far away from Alida and the Fairchilds. Alida’s kindness, however, becomes the heart of the story because Koontz doesn’t dwell on her deformities, but rather on the beautiful person that she is.
Regarding his approach to beauty, Koontz said, “The world was made, really, for our delight. Now, if we don’t use it that way, if we bring the wrong attitude to it, that’s not [God’s] fault. It’s our fault. And so, I like to write about characters who, even if their lives might have periods of darkness in them, relate to the beauty of the world and all of its manifestations. Alida is particularly drawn, as I was as a kid, to novels, to books as a way of learning about the world beyond…the carnival…Through books, she begins to recognize the broader beauty and wonder of the world.”
Alida’s literary interests reflect the classic literature Koontz devoured as a youth, written by authors such as Jane Austen, H.G. Wells, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his favorite, Charles Dickens. Regarding the latter, Alida says, “Because of books, especially those written by the wonderful Mr. Dickens, I believed this was a made world with profound meaning. I kept faith that each of us has a purpose and that if we fulfill it, we will rise from even the lowest position as surely as a night mist rises from a lake in the morning sun.”
Alida also makes an observation about the lead character in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” noting, “[Gatsby] did not believe this was a made world with profound meaning or that he had a purpose greater than his own needs and desires. Had he believed as much, he would’ve understood that the only chance we have of being lifted ourselves is by lifting others.”
Once again, Alida is echoing Koontz’s real-life views. The author said, “I’m fascinated with people who think life has no meaning because I look around and say, there’s so much meaning in every little event of the day…But I have, even people who’ve been friends over the years, who adamantly refused to acknowledge that part of life….I sometimes say, ‘You don’t see it because it’s slapping you in the face—and because of the violence of the blows, you’re keeping your eyes shut. But it’s right there.’…And so part of what I always wanted to do in the writing is touch upon that, hopefully not in a preachy way, but through character that shows you how these characters function better in the world when they recognize that aspect of it…The more you open yourself to all the wonder in the world, the more exciting and beautiful life is.”
For free copies of the Christopher News Note Nurturing Seeds of Faith and Hope, write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, NY 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org.
Richland_clinch_valley
Text Message From God (copy) (copy)
Jim Talbert
Text-messaging has evolved since its inception in 1992 as a popular form of communication for both young and old alike. But for two central Pennsylvania friends it became a very expensive one. In March of 2009, they decided to spend the whole month attempting to break the world record, exchanging a thumbs-flying total of 217,000 text messages. For one of the two young men, that also meant an inches-thick itemized bill for $26,000!
Nick Andes, age 29, and Doug Klinger, age 30, were relying on their unlimited text messaging plans to help them break the record. But Andes panicked when he received his cell phone bill in a box so big that it cost $27.55 to send it to him. He immediately called T-Mobile, which credited his account and began investigating the charges.
The duo got the idea one day when Andes decided to Google the world’s record for text-messaging. The largest monthly text message total he could find posted online was 182,000 sent in 2005 by Deepak Sharma in India. So, he and Klinger set out to break the record.
Andes sent more than 140,000 messages, and Klinger sent more than 70,000 to end the month with a total of just over 217,000. Now that’s pretty impressive when you consider how cellphones have evolved in the last seventeen years. They didn’t have an iPhone 17 or the latest Samsung Galaxy phone to use in trying to break the record. (I can’t even remember what kind of cell phone I had back in 2009!)
In case you’re wanting to try and break the world record yourself, according to phonearena.com the record is currently held by Fred Lidgren with 566,607 text messages in one month. That comes out to 18,887 daily or 787 per hour or an amazing 13 texts sent each minute!
This incident reminds me of what Jesus taught about “counting the cost.” He said in Luke 14:28-30, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (NIV)
Nick Andes thought he had a great plan to beat the world text-messaging record but panicked when he got the bill. It would have been so much easier if he had just checked with his cell phone carrier in the beginning and alerted them to what he was doing.
Likewise, many people live their lives without checking with God first. They plan their future and totally leave Him out of it. Then, when things fall apart, panic sets in because they failed to count the cost.
Perhaps you are in that position today. You feel like everything is falling apart and there is no hope. I believe God wants to send you a text message: “Cl 2 me n I wl ansr n sho u gr8t n mit thngs.” Jer. 33:3
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