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Rummage Sale Salutations, People... Yep, today & tomorrow is the long-awaited Awana Rummage Sale, benefitting kids going to camp. Come on down and find that screaming deal. There's a lot of decent stuff here: tools, furniture, toys, kitchen items, books, clothes and more. Grab while the grabbing's good! In my morning times, I've been going thru the psalms, one at a time. This stood out to me recently: "Show me the wonders of your great love... Keep me as the apple of your eye

Salutations, Saints! Bloomsday has come and gone and the Awana Rummage Sale is next week. Graduation is around the corner. Once again, time flies. Before you know it, we'll be launched into summer and we'll be begging for a few cool days. But not yet! Enjoy May while we have it. This past Thursday was the National Day of Prayer. Amazingly, NEXT Sunday, May 17, there will be a rededication of our country to God with prayers and worship in DC (and a lot of high officials parti

Greetings, People of God! Do you ever struggle with temptation? (Is the Pope Catholic?) This morning I was mulling this over in Hebrews: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Heb. 4:15. Whatever that thing is that has you sweating temptation bullets, Jesus can empathize. He can help. He was tempted in all the ways you and I are... but he didn't giv

Salutations, Saints. I was chewing on Matthew 11 this morning, specifically this verse: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (verse 29). Of course, there's more to that passage on rest, and it's a good one, but I was focusing on the idea of being in the yoke with Jesus and learning from him. I imagined learning to go at Jesus' pace, responding to people like he would and being led to be involve

Spring Greetings, Saints! Enjoy the warmer weather. It's so cool to see the trees blossoming and the leaves budding. I know it happens all the time but I see the process as miraculous... or at least springing from the mind of an amazing Creator. What a great season. No, I don't own any interest in Chick-fil-a, but I read something that made me want to eat there. Roughly 200 of the stores in the US are offering free ice cream to families who put their cell phones away while th

Greetings, People loved by God. I love it when I hear about young people heading off to serve folk in other countries. Our own Jesse S will be in the Dominican Republic from April 3 to the 12th (he's leaving next Friday!). He's going with others thru Students International, and they'll be doing a variety of projects. Primarily, he wants prayer for safe and effective service: put him on your prayer list. He's also collecting supplies to be brought: 80 grit sandpaper, carbon

Official Spring Greetings! That's right—today's the day. As of 7:46 this morning (according to the pros) the vernal equinox has passed. That is, it's officially spring. Tuck that snow shovel away! Plant those starter seeds! Visit a gardening center! It will be a wrestling match for a while, but the warmer temps and sunshine will outpace the cooler. You can say with impunity—"It's spring!" Enjoy it. My old standby scripture did it again for me this week. Sometimes I feel just

Saint Patrick's Day Greetings! I know that holiday is a few days ahead, but happy St Paddy's Day anyway (that guy's cousin is Paddy O' Furniture...) . I'm sure you'll see lots of green this weekend. They still dye the Chicago River green every March 17 (eco-friendly dye, we are assured). There'll be corned beef on sale. Like many holidays, folks have commercialized or taken any original meaning out of the day (green beer??) . Saint Patrick was a missionary who brought the goo

Almost-Spring Greetings, Saints. I got a wonderful call from Karen B this week. She had fallen on her shoulder and was unable to use her arm for a while. She reported to me that she thinks we have the most kindest, caring church they've ever been in (and they've been going to church for a while). People have called, stopped in and brought meals. Way to go, Church! Thanks for being the hands and feet of Jesus for one another. What's Goin' On... *TONIGHT! Friday night Sing and

Almost March Greetings, Saints! Thanks to Jason P for last week's Blast and to Chase A for speaking last Sunday. Deb and I had a get-away to warmer climes, seeing some friends and sights in Arizona. It was a great time. Initially, the weather was cooler than we'd like (50s mostly) but that was ideal for walking around and looking at the red rock and historical sites in Northern Arizona. We saw a couple places where tribes from (roughly) 800 to 1400AD had built stone lodging i

Greetings Chattaroy Community Church Family, Over the past couple of weeks God has been placing the subject of prayer squarely in the center of my studies. With the youth in AFC, our most recent lesson was on prayer, what it is and what it does. In our home group, we have been discussing the prayer life of Nehemiah and his long-term dedication to prayer regarding one particular subject. Then in the sermon series on Daniel, Pastor Rob has highlighted the importance of prayer i

Mid-February Greetings, People. We're heading into Valentine's Day (tomorrow!). I hope you know how much God loves you whether you get a card or not. He pursued us while we were still stinking from sin. He came after us when we had no thought of him. One day we'll be able to take that all in. This is one reason Paul prays for that very thing: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide

February Greetings, Saints. Or should I say Super greetings? This is the weekend of the Super Bowl. Will you watch? Our state's Seahawks are in it again after a little over 10 years. I'll watch for both the game and the ads so I'll have to get snacks during the halftime... but even then, we'll probably tune in to TPUSA's halftime show, which will probably be a bit better than the one planned. With over 100 million watching, many advertisers pay big bucks to reach that many pe

'One Month Down' Greetings, People! January is almost in the books. Aren't you glad that you don't live in the Midwest or the southeast? (at least at this time). A pastor friend told me it was 4 degrees in Iowa the other morning. I'm grateful for more seasonal temps around here. I'm still plugging away in Leviticus. This past week my reading was in chapter 26 where God is giving them the consequences of long-term disobedience: being taken into captivity. He says this: You

Winter Stagnation Salutations, Saints. Man, this weather pattern is just hanging around, eh? Same ol' same ol'. I'd love even some of the rain we got last Nov & Dec. Unlike some, I think, 'At least it's not three feet of snow!' In my reasoning, I'd rather have stagnation than shoveling. What are ya gonna do? It's the weather; all we can do about it is talk. But here's something we can do that's really productive. Back in WWII when London was getting bombed regularly, someone

Mid-winter Greetings, People. I was reading in Leviticus this past week and something caught my attention. After a long list of sexual sins to avoid, God says this: "'Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws... And if you defile the land, it w

Brand New Year Greetings, folks! 2026... My my, the years fly don't they? Now I really sound old... but the older I get, the more they seem to race by. All this talk of a 'new year' seems to be sleight of hand. Yes, the calendar flips and one tax year is done... But it's the same old winter, same responsibilities. Does it make more sense to call September the start of the year? Those in school just might agree. Regardless, welcome to January. I'm pretty happy the winter's bee

Happy New Year, People! I trust you're recovering from all the festivities... or lack thereof. I identify with the image below. This time of year especially, I'm full of cheese. It's fortunate I'm not lactose intolerant, 'cause I do like cheese. We have some great technology for you: it's the Instant Church Directory app. The icon is pale green/yellow in color with a church image on it. Download that app, and if your email address is in the directory, you can access it. N

Boxing Day Salutations, Saints! It sounds like me & my brothers when we were younger and had too much time on our hands. It was boxing day and someone usually got hurt. But this is a real holiday in Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand now associated with shopping and sports but was possibly once for employers to give boxes of gifts to their employees the day after Christmas. I'd always thought it was for boxing up decorations or all the left over crumpled wrapping pape

Christmas Greetings, Ye Loved by God! Christmases in the Sheild home seems to have gotten easier in these later years. We used to draw names for the adults: our kids and their spouses, AND get presents for all the grandkids. Now it's rare when Deb & I get a present for each other. The adults don't exchange; we just get gifts for the grandkids. Our emphasis is more on a family gathering, which is a pretty good gift. We're thankful that three of our four kids live nearby. I ho