This is the final Newsletter before 2009. Therefore Linda and I would like to take this opportunity to ask the Lord to bless you with a wonderful Christmas season and another year of service to Him and to those to whom you are called to labor in His Name.
With two weeks left in the year, we keep receiving here at the church office requests from various worthy agencies asking for financial help. That’s understandable in today’s financial climate. CPC itself needs $132,000 over the next two weeks to make budget for 2008. In our twenty years we’ve never failed to make budget. But in our twenty years, we’ve never experienced a year like 2008.
As you’ve heard me say many times before, I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet — but I know who we are and Whose we are — and we will wait upon the Lord — eager to see what He will do in and through you, His people, to make His glory known, to provide for His ministry, to expand the borders of His Kingdom. As we wait upon Him, we will carry out faithfully the tasks He has given us to serve as beacons of light to those who live in darkness, gloom and distress.
This has been a year of transition. A number of our families have moved away to other locations. Others have left for various reasons. At the same time, God has given us many new members and families.
During 2008, CPC has experienced changes in its staff. Zack and Tennyson have followed the Lord’s leading to a new work. Chris and Reba have become a vital part of our ministry.
During this past year, He has chosen to use wonderfully the ministry of many of you to impact greatly the lives of others. You have served in various ways the people of our community. And some of you have been privileged to carry the good news of His Gospel, by your words and deeds, to people and communities of lands far removed from our shores.
What will the new year bring? As I have said, I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. But I will, along with many of you, put my shoulder to the plow, and wait to see how the Lord will bless us in the year ahead with encouragements and challenges.
I want to end the final Newsletter of 2008 with the words of Isaiah:
“For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. . . . He will be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brings us peace will be upon Him, and by His wounds we will be healed. . . . And after the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied.
“The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is the God of all the earth. . . . Therefore, enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtain wide, do not hold back; lengthen your stakes. . . . For in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths . . . in the light of the Lord.’ ” (Readings from Isa 9, 53, 54, 2).
Pastor Caines