Christianity

DALE

/ joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

I received word at 4:35 A.M. this morning that my mother-in-law, Dale Stevens, went home to be with Jesus.

I cannot say she passed away, because for Dale, while death was a moment of weakness,I know it was also the moment that led to her greatest strength. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body..’ Death has been swallowed up in victory.‘.” 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 54

I have to say, Dale was a wonderful mother-in-law. She cared for her family with an indefatigable passion and a living faith and she accepted me into her family and cared for me as a member of that family. Even after my wife and I divorced Dale never cut me out. She always left a door open for me and kept relationship with me even across the miles. I will always be thankful for her love and care. I am praying now for my ex wife, her sisters and all their husbands, their children and my children and all that extended family as they mourn this foundational loss.

Tina (my ex wife) called from South Carolina, the other day and asked if I would sing over Dale in her hospice bed. I had the opportunity to sing over her twice and each time I sang songs of our hope in Heaven. As I sang, I was reminded that we may be parted for some moments now, but soon we shall all be reunited around the throne of the Living God.

OF MEN AND SERVICES AND BOARDS

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I am sitting in the cafe at church right now on my writing day (that would be Monday). This is the day I write my sermon, pre-write a few blogs, create the worship services I am going to sing for the week, and layout plans for my upcoming weekly meetings. It’s a busy administrative/creative day which always finishes up with three hours of prayer at The Worship Room House of Prayer in downtown Winchendon

I started this morning by driving to our church treasurer’s house to get some checks signed so we could pay our contractor for a plumbing project slated to begin at the church in a few weeks. I met the contractor at the church handed him the check and after he went on to another project I sat down to finish the sermon for next Sunday.

We are in a series now entitled THE DLT REFRESHER.

Next Sunday I will be preaching on Meeting Needs which is one of five pillars in our Doing Life Together ethos. Doing Life Together has become our church’s mantra over the course of the last five years. It encapsulates the purpose for which we do everything we do.

Ministry here at Cornerstone is based around the idea of of doing life TOGETHER. This last weekend, for instance, the men off Cornerstone and several from other churches met together for a day of AWAKENING. That was the theme of our men’s conference this Spring.During the course of the day,on Saturday, we shared two meals together and talked in large and small groups about what it means to AWAKEN: AWAKEN TO THE CHERISH/ AWAKEN TO THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS/ AWAKEN TO THE BATTLE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD/ AND AWAKEN TO YOUR CONNECTION WITH GOD. It was an awesome day!

Then yesterday we had church service. You can watch the service below

SERVICE HERE

After service we went into our quarterly church board meeting. Lunch was served by

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18MbT4j7PM

While having lunch together we went through deacon nominations and a discussion about a proposed solar field on the church property. Then, we chatted about spiritual matters regarding discipleship and church growth. We planned and updated over several building projects for the church and finished up in a conversation about community involvement.

The weekend was very full. Monday has been very full. But I have gotten to spend these last days with some wonderful people accomplishing some amazing things.

HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND?