Have you given any thought to the uncertainty of life? In fact, the one certain thing in life is it's uncertainty. Life is constantly subject to change.

We are going about living through the routine of life and illness, serious illness, comes to a family member and the life of the whole family begins to rotate around the ill member. It is then that we begin to understand fully what the Bible means when it talks about when one part of the body suffers, all parts of the body suffers too.

Life is going along fine when suddenly a family member or close friend dies. Our family and friendships are changed forever.

Life is going smooth, but then an accident happens and we are injured and find ourselves in the hospital recovering. This was not in THE PLAN, but it is what it IS.

Our children pass through childhood, the teenage years, into young adulthood and they leave home for a school, a job, military service and Mom and Dad are left alone with each other for the first time since they were young. NOW WHAT? Can they turn their attention to themselves or will they still need to meet the needs to those who have left the nest?

A husband and wife age and after the passage of time and are separated because of the angel of death's visitation. Now one goes on alone...now what?

A marriage fails and Mom and Dad stop living together and instead of pulling together and now pull apart and quarrel over EVERYTHING. This is not how it was to be!

A Church goes through either a period of growth or decline and because of these events changes. People come, people leave. The church is never the same again.

You get the point...life is always changing...it is always uncertain as to what will happen, what will develop in our way of life. How can we handle things that we cannot control? What does our faith have to do with the uncertainty of life? Re-read, if you will the quote on the top of the newsletter. "Thus far, the Lord has been with us." In other words, He will continue to be with us...

to the greatest life in a person during times of trouble. In times of sickness or accident, many persons will quickly turn to their faith and to prayer. It seems to be a part of human nature for us to neglect our faith when everything is going right for us. In fact, there are times when we seem to have completely forgotten that we have a faith in Christ...and yet, in spite of our neglect of faith, we find that it is still a part of us when we need it the most, and are able to turn to it for help and comfort.

In the gospels, we see the perfect example of how faith works, and how faith can be of great help in trying times. We see that even Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, would not face any kind of difficulty without first going to the Father in faith, seeking the strength that he needed. We all see this illustrated in the life of Paul the Apostle. His life involved suffering, pain, ridicule, and imprisonment. It was the faith of Paul that allowed the Church to grow. Out of his experience, Paul writes "I consider that we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us." He holds high the HOPE and the POWER of God.

November 15^th - "Our Christian Fellowship of Believers" - Psalm 138 I John 1: 1-10

The qualities that make a church a real company of the faithful, the qualities that made a Christian community a company together for compassion and companionship and counsel by their Christian belief-these are the qualities without which religious fulfillment isn't possible, and without which the Church is just kidding. The Church was invented-if I may use that word-to be this kind of a fellowship, and it is useless unless it has it.

The most precious thing in the world is the Christian community. We long for a friend to take matters in his own hands. You hope against hope that there will be someone-some Christ-like-character who will see fit to help you without the necessity for knowing that you "belong". The Christian community, for us to enjoy it, may be something for which we have forgotten to thank God. There is a healing and help for us in this Christian community that we so easily take for granted. The healing and help comes from our concern for each other. It is this that gives meaning, direction, guidance, and satisfaction to our lives.

On this Thanksgiving Sunday, many people who have work, who have not suffered the loss of a job in this hard economic time need to be grateful for the labor of their hands and minds. Sometimes we have to loose something in order to appreciate it. God presents Himself to us in a variety of ways and one way is through the work that He has given to us to do.

"Thank God It's Friday" is a sign that some people have in their offices or in the minds that makes them think that all they are doing is living for the weekend or their time off from their work. Work has a meaning in our lives. Certainly it provides a means of supporting ourselves and our families but it should be more than that. It should be a means of expressing our relationship with God.

Jesus bids us to follow Him...if we do this in our labor we will see how our daily work comes together I God's name. Be thankful for work!

When we start a journey, it is well to have a destination in mind. In life we need a long range goal, fulfillment, or purpose in life, the end to which life moves, and it is amazing that so many Christians live without any sense of direction, goal, or purpose without any real concept of the fulfillment which is to be the world's and ours if our faith is so.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God's purpose in life. As Christians we need to spread to the world that there is purpose in life. We need to get the word out and to do it joyously. It is the purpose that makes life worthwhile...so many people live without true meaning and are lost.

The MYF babysitting service is back on Saturday, December 5th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The babysitting will take place here at the church. Drop the kids off and enjoy yourself for the day! Save the date, use your imagination and support the church and youth group. Contact Alisa Heigl Jones for more information and to reserve your spot at 246-0958.

The Sunday School is sponsoring a toy booth at the church fair. Donations of used toys, games, puzzles and children's books would be appreciated. Items may be dropped off at any time before the fair and left in the large basement room. Children may volunteer to work in the booth either on Friday or Saturday.

We are collecting drawings from students to be used as possible covers for the church bulletins for November 22^nd and November 29^th. The topis is "Giving Thanks" - the children are asked to draw a picture of something that they are thankful for. Drawings not used for the bulletins will be displayed on the bulletin board.

The Christmas program will be held during the regular church service on December 13^th with a snow date of December 20^th.