Summer Camp

Good Monday Morning To You!!!

Hello to you. Welcome to the blog. Whether you are a new reader, or have been reading for a while, I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me.

Sitting on my desk is a photo sent to me by my friend of the past 55 years, John Miller. It is so hard to call him John; to me he has always been Johnny. The picture is of him, the others in our cabin, and me at Camp Meachem in Mentor, Kentucky. I’ll never forget that summer. It was 1964, and I was 10 years old. Johnny went to camp every year, but I’d never been. In order to go, you had to be a member of the YMCA. I remember dad taking me to the Powell Crosley Jr. YMCA on Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati. As I recall, the building was brand new, so they had a special deal on memberships. Dad signed me up, and I was going to camp. I couldn’t wait! Every year Johnny would come back and tell me all about his experiences. I wanted in on all that fun. The day soon came and dad drove me to Mentor, which sits right on the Ohio River. It seemed like a long way from home, but in reality it was not too far from Cincinnati.

When we drove into the camp, I was so excited about baseball, crafts, movies, and hiking the mountains. Actually they were hills, but to a ten year old, they were mountains. Some of the “veteran” campers warned us to not let our leaders take us on an overnight camp out. They said that way back in those hills was “Headless Hattie.” Headless Hattie was a lady who had been killed by a camper and she was out for revenge against the one who had killed her by chopping off her head. Since she was headless, she could not tell one kid from another, so she struck at random. I didn’t believe the story, but still enough doubt was in my mind that I didn’t want any part of hiking those mountains. I figured daytime wasn’t safe either since Hattie was headless and wouldn’t know the difference. As it turned out it rained quite a bit that week, so there was no hiking. I was fine by that!

My favorite camp experience was getting off by myself and walking the banks of the river. As I looked across the river into Ohio, everything I could see was natural. There was nothing man made in sight. I remember wondering if this was what it looked like to the Indians, and the early explorers. Surely it must have been. Even at age ten, I felt connected to the past. I was seeing what those historical people saw as they saw it. As I looked, I wondered what thoughts must have gone through their minds.

I don’t know if Camp Meachem exists any longer. I wonder if you can still look across that river and see only God’s handiwork, without any man made distractions. In any event, I look at that picture often, and my mind goes back to those care free days of my youth where your only worries were being axed to death by a headless old woman. Long live the memories!

Yesterday was an absolutely fantastic day at Friendship Harmony. The service was good, and we were honored to have a new family in attendance who had just bought a house across the street from the church. They are from Pennsylvania, and were on their way back to take care of personal business before coming to Pine Island permanently. It spoke volumes about the Christian character of these people who, before leaving on their trip, made time to attend services.

Following the service was our monthly fellowship dinner. This month featured Mexican dishes. In the past we have featured Italian, and it was wonderful. I was impressed how well our ladies did with Mexican. Maybe in the future we can feature Chinese. On second thought ---- naw!

The message was titled, “Death, What Meaneth Thou.” The notes are below and the brief video will be available Tuesday morning. To see the video go to www.facebook.com/friendshipharmony. Scroll until you find the video. You do not have to have a Facebook account to watch the video. Now, here are those notes.

Death, What Meaneth Thou?©
John 11: selected
1 in a series of 2 By Victor Cooper
05/17/14

Intro: For a believer in Jesus, Death does not claim the victory, but rather is the victory!

I. The pain of separation. Verses 17-21
A. In Scriptures death means separation, not cessation.
B. Death hurts? Paul said it had a sting.
1 Cor. 15:55a O death, where is thy sting?
C. Separation brings sorrow. v19
1. Mary, Martha, and their friends felt it albeit differently.
2. Jesus also felt the sorrow. V 35 Jesus wept.

II. The hope of expectation. Verse 22
A. Martha’s statement was not one of faith, but of cultural teaching.
B. Verse 39 shows that Martha’s statement to Jesus was not one of faith.
C. Verses 40-43 allows for hope.
1. Christ calls on the Father as Martha had suggested in
verse 22.
D. Christ was confident.
E. Mary and Martha had hope because of Jesus’ confidence.

III. The joy of jubilation. Verses 43-45
A. Sadness turned to joy.
B. Joy became faith.
C. Faith produces more joy.
D. Sorrow is temporary, but joy is eternal because Christ is eternal. Cf Psalm 30:5, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

PRAYER REQUEST AND UPDATE:
1. I heard fom a mother of two sons in Wisconsin who is struggling with some painful issues. Please pray for Karen and her boys.
2. My wife, Miss Bessie, is doing some better, but is still having pain from her broken ribs, and punctured lung. The doctors tell us that it will take time for her to heal, but in the meantime she is to take it easy and not exert too much. When our doctor told us that, I thought, “This is going to be interesting.” Trying to keep Miss Bessie down is as easy as putting a racehorse in the gate, starting the race, while telling the horse, “Stay, don’t run!”

If you have a prayer request please send it to us at fhbcsjc@gmail.com. I will not reveal your full name and excact location, but please let people pray for you. The blog is now reaching over twenty six thousand readers world wide, so you’ll have lots of people bombarding Heaven with your need.

Have a good week. I’ll see you tomorrow (Tuesday) on the video, and again next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!