E-Flash From Dan, November 8, 2010

Dear E-Flash Friends;

I was having a conversation recently…

“Tom and his troops really have a need for certain items,” Grace told me.

Grace is Marine Lieutenant Tom Schueman’s mom.  Tom is a young man from our church who is currently stationed in a dangerous location in Afghanistan.  (That's Tom in the photo above.)

I said, “Grace, if we would make those needs known to the church, I believe people would respond.  I believe they would want to help Tom and the guys who are serving with him.  Would you send us a list of the items that they need?”

Grace said, “Yes, I can do that.”  And she added, ““If we collect some of these items at the church, I will make sure that they are boxed up and sent to Tom and his team.”

I said, “Good.  Let’s do that.”

Grace said, “Alright, I will get a couple of boxes and put them in lobby.”

I thought to myself, “Yes, I’m sure people will respond and fill up a couple of boxes.  I really believe that the folks in the church want to help when genuine needs like this are made known.”

Last Sunday—a week ago—the announcement was made to the church that there is a need.  And a list of items was provided on an insert in the weekly bulletin.  And two boxes were placed in the lobby along with pictures of Tom and some of his guys.

Yesterday, after the 11 o’clock service, I was thrilled to see the two boxes filled to overflowing along with additional bags of the requested items surrounding the floor space next to the boxes.  It’s a great response.  THANK YOU!  Your response is a blessing and it’s an extension of God’s love to those who can really use it.

We will continue to collect goods for a couple more weeks and then we will ship your gifts of help and support and encouragement to these terrific young men and women who are serving us valiantly.  And let’s continue to pray for Tom and for all of the young men and women who are serving us in the military.  We have several others from our church who are serving, as well.  Please include them in your prayers.

By the way, speaking of “serving us valiantly”, Thursday of this week is Veterans Day.  We know that all the good things in our lives are gifts to us from God and we thank Him for that.  However, we also know that God works through people.  We enjoy the incredible freedom and opportunities of our country because people have served—many of them even giving their lives—to make these wonderful gifts possible.  Let’s try to offer a word of gratitude and appreciation to our veterans.

We are very blessed!  I hope we will all have a genuine sense of that truth.

Love and blessings,

Dan