The Messenger

NEWS & NOTES

• Sunday, December 19: Connect from 5:30-7:30PM: Dinner provided and around 6:30ish we are going to go look at Christmas lights!
• December 22, 26, & 29: No Park Avenue youth events.
• January 14-16:  Winterfest - sign up as soon as possible!

Mike Hardy, Jesse Sims, Kim Pendergrass, Linda Bell
 
Ongoing Needs
Shawn Landrum, Larry Long,  Jim Scroggins, Corky Armstrong, Dewey Martin, Sandra Aynes, Bobby & Peggy Slaughter, Kaile Williams (Norris), Roy Galyon, Vicki Ard, Judy Odom, Mike Foltermann
 
Homebound
Ray & Marsha Jones, Chris Keene, JD Huffman
 
Expectant Mothers
Alissa Cope, Abigail Brooks, Jordan Honeycutt, Gabby Waller
 
Missions
Hammer & Dela Afakule (Togo), Mario “Pepe” Torre (Monterrey, Mexico), Jimenez family (Cartagena, Colombia)
 
Friends of Park Avenue
Rebekah Taylor (great niece of the Russell’s), Becky Sanchez (wife of Gil Sanchez, Director of orphanage in Mexico), Kathy Hill (friend of Chris & Candsis Slaughter), Maxine Fulenchek (mother of Joe Fulenchek), Jane Bearden (sister of June Washburn), Jackie Cline (friend of Joyce Merworth), Karen Brode (former member), Minnie Gonzalez (friend of PACOC)


TODD'S TAKE
Several years ago, my family and I were at a family reunion at a lakeside resort in central Texas. Included in the resort were all kinds of activities. One was canoeing. The six of us (my wife, four kids, and me) decided to give it a try – three in one canoe, three in another with my wife and I serving as “captains” of our respective boats. We were a little nervous. The kids were young and neither of us were canoeing experts, but the attendant assured us that this type of canoe was nearly impossible to tip over. Well, you can guess what happened.

The canoe my wife was in tipped over. The water was only waist deep and I sensed no imminent danger, so I yelled out to my drenched wife and kids, “Swim for the shore.” Maybe I should have jumped in (there was no maybe about it in my wife’s mind). But I thought there was no sense me getting all wet as well. Needless to say, it was not one of my proudest moments.

While I was shouting this helpful advice I spotted out of the corner of my eye that the attendant had taken notice. He ripped off his shirt, threw off his shoes and dove into the lake, and before you knew it he was there to help my family get safely back to shore.

I shouted advice. The attendant jumped in.
And that is what Christmas is really all about. God jumped in to save us.
No good advice could help us.
No encouragement could get us to shore.
No effort on our part could save us.

Our only hope was that God, in His mercy and grace, would appear in flesh and blood and carry us safely to shore.

Christmas is the celebration that He did just that. Far away and long-ago God became man in a humble manger in the humble town of Bethlehem. He jumped into our messy world. And we are saved.