Do YA's Like to Garden? Are YA's Green?

If you enjoy the outdoors, and want to be more environmentally aware, or think the community should be too - Check in with RPC YA Elizabeth V . and the community outreach she's heading up - RPCG - Roxborough Presbyterian Community Garden. Elizabeth has been working hard planning, laying out and gathering support and sponsors for the Garden. The Garden is located at the corner of the church property at Port Royal and Ridge Avenues. Last night together we built a small bridge over the swale that runs along the driveway to the Annex and storage shed. This Saturday April 25th, she'll be working with volunteers to install the first example plot. Upcoming activities include building rain barrels to conserve water, compost bins to recycle and reuse, and a "Rock-the-Garden" event to  sign-up and build; plus  plan and plant together.  Help RPC help our surrounding community. For more info on upcoming opportunities to be involved, or if you would like to reserve a plot, please contact Elizabeth or myself .

 

Hope to see YAs Out!

Mike K. 

And, in Other News....

Even Satire can make ya think....How would RPC react?

I copied and pasted....found some of Onion's Wording in their Ads not up to  my standard.

God Makes Surprise Visit To Local Church

APRIL 21, 2009 | ISSUE 45•17

FAYETTEVILLE, NC—Parishioners at the First Presbyterian Church were left stunned and in awe of His glory Sunday, when the Lord God Almighty dropped by their 11 a.m. service unannounced.

ENLARGE IMAGE

Our Father, the Almighty God, popped His all-powerful head into First Presbyterian Church Sunday.

Interrupting Pastor Terry Pridgen's sermon on His unending mercy, God appeared suddenly before His flock as an intense beam of white light, instantly dispersing the earthly forms of those seated in the first two pews. Sources said the remaining congregants had to avert their eyes from their Creator, whose booming celestial voice overwhelmed their worldly senses and humbled their hearts as He politely apologized for not calling first.

"I AM the God of Abraham, the LORD MOST HIGH, who brought you forth from the bondage of Egypt," God said unto church members, many of whom cowered in reverent fear of Him. "Thought I'd just pop in and see how things were going. Please, pretend like I'm not even here."

The Supreme Being then thanked the choir for its "lovely introduction" and took a seat to the right of the altar.

According to wholly repentant witnesses, who were scarcely able to look upon the Alpha and Omega, much less conceive of the enormity of His Might, God did not speak again for the entirety of the service, but was seen nodding approvingly during the Nicene Creed.

Attendees reportedly did not ask the One Who Made Them Flesh why He had chosen to visit their small parish, though some suspected the church's new electric organ might have had something to do with it.

"I don't think anyone knew He was coming," said churchgoer Ron Stiehl, adding that, for once, he was happy his wife dragged him to church. "At least it seemed that way when He started walking toward us and everyone was yelling their heads off like it was Judgment Day."

"Turns out the King of Kings was just making the rounds," Stiehl continued. "I thought He'd be taller."

While God did not reveal unto man a reason for His visit—nor did He, in His great wisdom, offer to pay for the six stained-glass windows that shattered from the awesome power of His presence—the Almighty sat among His followers for the last 35 minutes of the Sunday service, as well as the free coffee and pastries that followed.

Sources said that Our Father sat alone eating two cinnamon-sugar doughnuts, and was approached only once, when 5-year-old Jeremy Pacheco tried to hug the omnipotent deity. The boy's parents immediately yanked him away.

The other 112 church members avoided God entirely, and reacted to His continued stay with a mix of astonishment, confusion, fearful reverence, and the sublime inner peace that comes with the knowledge of a power greater than oneself.

"I wanted to ask the Lord what heaven is like, and if my mother is there, but I wasn't sure if it's still considered taking His name in vain when you address Him directly," Wendy Alston said. "And I didn't dare draw attention to myself with two teenagers wearing blue jeans to church. I could barely look at Him, I was so ashamed."

"Oh dear God," said 72-year-old church volunteer Michael Sharpe, completely enraptured by the materialization of the One True Creator before his very eyes. "Oh, dear God in heaven."

Since the Almighty's decision to stop by the First Presbyterian Church, the theological world has been thrown into chaos. Presbyterian leaders said God's appearance was indisputable proof that their denomination is the one true faith, but afternoon sightings of the Lord at two other Fayetteville churches, as well as one synagogue, have cast doubt on that theory.

"God said He just wanted to see what we were up to," Pastor Pridgen said. "This is His house, after all. He can drop in whenever He wants."

"Although, you'd think an all-knowing deity unbound by time and space would be able to give us some warning so we could at least put a bulletin in the church newsletter," the pastor added. "Not that I'm complaining or anything. All praise be to God. Is He still hanging around the parking lot?"

It's the Small Stuff that Kills Us...

  

The greatest fear that miners experience is the fear of "pneumoultramicroscopicsiliconvolcaniconiosis". In Japanese it is simply "haijinbyo". It is more commonly called black lung. Miners inhale tiny carbon molecules and fine coal dust into their lungs and finally the stuff accumulates so much that it suffocates them.

Yep  - The Small Stuff.

Most of us would agree that part of our biggest problems is the little things in life that get us down. Have you ever had "One Of Those Days"?  Fifteen minor problems equal one bad attitude. They just all add up. It gets to you. The frustrations.

So I guess the real test of your Christianity is how you handle the little things in life. That's the bottom line. How you handle the little, insignificant irritations, interruptions and frustrations of life. In Philippians 2  it speaks to what makes Christians different from anybody else is attitude. Your attitude toward the little things in life. Philippians 2:14-15 "Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe."

So how do you handle frustration?

According to the Bible, you don't get mad and blow off. You don't hold it in and blame everybody else. You don't become an Eyore in a world of gloom. What can you do?

You bring it into focus. 

You keep it in a right perspective.

You treat it for what it is, simply a minor irritation. It's no big deal. 

It's not worth getting mad about. See it as it really is. 

It's not the end of the world; it's simply a temporary setback. 

So you reduce it down to size.

The only way you can treat all stuff as small stuff is to see it from God's perspective. If I look at it, it may seem like a major crisis, everything's falling apart. But when you see it from God's point of view, His perspective, then it comes into focus. Wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view.

Five practical steps on how to handle the frustrations of life.

 Here are five simple steps on dealing with the little things in life:

1. Ask yourself, "Did I cause it?" When you've got an irritation, when you're facing a frustration, ask yourself, "Did I bring this on myself? Why am I frustrated? Did I cause it?" The Bible says in Galatians, "You will reap what you sow." Many times in life we are frustrated simply because we brought them on ourselves. We don't have anybody else to blame. We're reaping what we've sown. You have to be honest.

You are frustrated because you procrastinated! You knew 6 months ago that the term paper was due but you waited till the night before. You run out of gas. But who's to blame? You simply didn't prepare. You didn't stop to get gas. So you don't blame anybody else, you're reaping what you've sown.

2. Ask yourself, "What can I learn from it? How would Jesus respond to it?" Use the irritation as an opportunity to grow in character. Use the frustration as an opportunity to be more like Christ. Use it, don't just endure it. How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives? Usually He places us in the complete opposite situation. If God wants to teach you love, He will put you around unlovely people. It's easy to love people who are lovely. If God wants to teach you joy, He will allow you times of sorrow where you can learn inner joy. If God wants to teach you peace, He will allow you in a situation which is total chaos so you can have inner peace. If God wants to teach you patience, He knows you will learn it best in long slow-moving lines or in rush hour traffic. We learn the fruit of the Spirit by being placed in the opposite situation.

If we don't learn it in a little trial, God will give us another one. The next time, it will be bigger. Obviously, the little trial didn't work. So if I have a problem with anger, and God allows an irritation in my life to teach me how to overcome anger, but instead of learning from it, I blow up, instead of giving it to God, I blame God, instead of saying, "God, help!", I say, "God, why?" God says, "You didn't learn, so we'll just allow another situation in your life." So then He allows another irritation but this time the irritation is bigger because the little one didn't work. If you blow up there and don't learn the lesson, He'll allow it again; an even bigger one. Until finally you come to a nuclear bomb size irritation and you say, "God, Help!" and then He has your attention. Then you learn. Once you've learned that spiritual quality, He's going to start working on another quality.

3. Thank God in the situation. You say, "But you don't know my problems!" The two hardest verses in the Bible to obey are Philippians 4:6 "Worry about nothing" and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks." It does not say, "For everything give thanks." It says "In everything give thanks." You don't have to be thankful for a bad situation. But you can be thankful in a bad situation. If somebody gets into an accident, you don't say, "Thank You, God, for this accident!" or a loved one dies, "Thank You, God, that they died." But you can thank God in the situation. Because you know that He can take the negative and, if you give it to Him, somehow and someway, at some time, He can bring good out of it -- turn a crucifixion into a resurrection.

On top of that, you thank God in the situation because that frustration, that irritation, that inconvenience, that interruption, may be a blessing in disguise. Opportunities love to come to us disguised as irritations or inconveniences. They don't wear a sandwich sign that says, "I am a blessing. Notice me. I am a tremendous opportunity. Take advantage of me." In retrospect you say, "Now I see what God was trying to do!" or if you responded correctly you say, "Now I know why God allowed it."

In Japanese, the symbol for the word "crisis" (kiki), is made up of two words -- "danger" (kiken) and "opportunity" (kikai). You put them together and you get "crisis". In every crisis there is both danger and opportunity. In every frustration, there is irritation and opportunity.

4. Learn to laugh in adversity. The Bible says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." The Bible says that we are to "Rejoice in the Lord always." Laughter is the shock absorber of life. It lightens the load, it makes life more manageable. A sense of humor is God's prescription for anger and frustration. You cannot laugh at a frustration and blow up at the same time. Learn to laugh at them.

If you want strength for the frustrations, the irritations, the interruptions, the inconveniences of life, learn to laugh again. Don't sweat the small stuff and realize it's all small stuff from God's viewpoint.

5. Ask God to fill you with His love. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 13 says "Love is never irritable." Love is never self serving. We get irritated, frustrated, mad, up-tight because we think everyone and everything has to revolve around us. When it doesn't, we get irritated. It's an ego problem. We think everyone else's schedule, everyone else's time, everyone else's energy revolve around our schedule. So when someone interrupts it, we're offended -- "How dare you interrupt my life!"

Love concentrates on the other person. A loving person would realize that the clerk has probably had a tough day. The reason we get uptight is we want to be the center and we think everything has to revolve around us.

When you are filled with love, absolutely nothing can irritate you. But when you're filled with anger, absolutely anything can irritate you. The difference is what's inside of you. That's what makes the difference, not the situation. The difference is how you choose to respond.

When the world puts the squeeze on you, what comes out of your life? When you get in a squeeze, when you get under pressure and everything is not going as planned, what comes out of your life? If you are filled with resentment, if you are filled with rebellion, if you are filled with an ego attitude, those things are going to come out. And you're going to blow up, resist, resent. But if you're filled with Christ's love, when the world puts pressure on you, His love is going to come out.

The above is paraphrased from an online sermon I happened upon, because I was feeling "frustrated". Hope this gives you some perspective for your week. To Read the Sermon in it's entirety ....Go Here...

If you have any questions, or need a "stepping stone" let us know!

May you find the Blessings in your Frustrations,

Love YA!

Mike & Amy K

RPC YAs

ya.at.rpc@gmail.com

ya-at-rpc.blogspot.com

The Best is Yet to Come

Hope you all had a great Weekend!, know I did! It was filled with Egg hunts, Road Trips, and the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem - why we celebrate Palm Sunday.

We had a great time with those that were able to make it out to Zern's on Saturday. Congrats to the competitive winners of "RoadAbode Bingo" and Zern's Scavenger Hunt.

Still to Come This Week:

• Come partake of Communion on Maundy Thursday 7:30pm, and witness a "Living Last Supper"
  
• Sunday Sunrise Service will be held at Gorgas Park at 7am - with a breakfast after at Leverington Presbyterian
  
• RPC's Easter Service Celebration will be held at 10:30am, with coffee and goodies time after in the Welcome Center
  

What's our Next RoadTrip or Discussion Group Topic? Give some Suggestions! 

We've got a "Guy's RoadTrip" in the works - a trip to get some "Po-Boys", or some "Dirty Rice" or maybe even some Catfish Fingers". Yup, we're lookin' to do some eatin' at Cajun Kate's at the Booth's Corner Farmers Market down in Boothwyn PA. if you're interested - send Mike a note with the best Saturday that would work for you. Looking to go in May or June..... 

Easter Blessings - 

Hope to see YA soon!

Mike and Amy K. 

for the RPC YA Group

ya.at.rpc@gmail.com

ya-at-rpc.blogspot.com

Hot Off The Press!

Howdy RPC YAs!

If you want to read the April Lamplighter - RPC's Newsletter - before anyone else, then go to www.rpcnet.org and select the "Current Lamplighter" link. It is a PDF Document, and should open automatically using that.

Any questions, let us know!

Mike & Amy K.

ya.at.rpc@gmail.com

ya-at-rpc.blogspot.com

Pastor Bronc's Beard Reveals Image!

While stopping by the Church to handle signing some paperwork, I saw a congregation member intently staring at Pastor Bronc's picture in the Welcome Center. As I approached, they were so taken they did not even hear me. I stood behind, and cleared my throat. This person, a member of many years was finally startled out of her trance-like state."Oh hi there," she said, still in a partial daze, "sorry, didn't hear you come in." "No worries" I replied. "What you looking at there?" I asked. "Well, my eyes maybe failing me, but I think I see something in Pastor Bronc's beard - though I can't make it out." I started to look over her shoulder, as she said, "Well, I need to be going, enjoy your evening!" I too stared at Pastor Bronc's beard. And sure enough, saw something. I took a picture with my camera phone of the photograph, and emailed it to myself for further analysis. Below are my findings.

This Photo shows the original photograph. on Pastor Bronc's left cheek seems to be hairs groomed a certain way. Do you see?















Below I marked the area so it is able to be make out more easily. There did seem to be something there.















Using some of the software tools I have available I magnified and enlarged the area. Looks like a ...picture of some sort.....















I then un-pixileated and enhanced the lines and colors. What I found is pictured below.















A Picture of Jesus! Yup, Our Lord and Savior's image appears to be in Pastor Bronc's Beard! Next time you see him, go up, say hello, and stare intently to find the image. I'm sure Pastor Bronc won't mind.
Of course, to have Jesus in your life, just accept Him as your Lord and Savior. You can talk about that with Pastor Bronc too!
(Or me, if I'm around - though I don't have a cool, Jesus image beard!)