You gotta laugh at God’s timing. Just five days ago I preached about the importance of taking one day a week in order to rest, to reflect, to remember, and to be refreshed.  It touched a nerve with quite a few people.   

And if you wondered how you would ever find time for such a crazy idea…well God’s bringing the answer.

It’s called a blizzard!

I mean, you and I will have no choice but to stop going, going, going.  It’s quite likely we’ll be socked in our homes for days.  Resting.  Reflecting.  Remembering.  And hopefully being refreshed.  To help you make the most of this unique opportunity, I’ve collected some links and ideas at the bottom of this blog post.

But first, a couple of important updates.

You’re probably wondering if we’re cancelling our Sunday gatherings this week.  The answer is…we’ll let you know no later than Noon on Saturday.  (When in doubt, you can always check our website, www.senecacreek.org for late breaking updates.)  We’ll also notify everyone by email.  Stay tuned. And be prepared!

Second, I simply MUST give you some updates on the MLK Day of Service from earlier this week.  It was a tremendous experience for everyone involved!

Over 400 community members came out to serve, including families, scout troops and church groups.  Together they prepared:

• 200 breakfasts and 240 lunches were prepared for the men’s shelter on Gude Drive
• 1000 personal Hygiene kits were packed for various homeless shelters
• 52 Move-In kit baskets were assembled for people moving out of homelessness
• 700 Dental kits were for children moving into foster care
• 22 super hero capes for children in the hospital facing serious illness

We partnered with City of Gaithersburg for the first time, and is was a great success.  The Mayor and a couple councilmembers were able to join us, as well as a county official.

Special shout out to the following people:

• 52 people who donated blood.
• The parking team who stepped up at last minute to do a necessary but cold
  

  Parking Team

  job!

• Our first “Entertainment Team” who added that special touch of music, song, poetry reading and story telling.
• Our awesome leadership team, comprised of Sooky McFadden, Jennifer Hurt, and Melissa Widenhofer. These ladies went above and beyond, truly modeling the value of serving.

Thank you to each of you who made it an awesome experience!

Part of the Entertainment

Now about the resources I mentioned…

MUSIC: (to encourage you to reflect and remember)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HSrcTvMqU (Naturally 7)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmUMyz66zFY (Jeremy Camp)

VIDEO: (to help you think about why a stop-day is worth it)

https://vimeo.com/9542922

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu5HZL7Vo9U

BOOKS: (because, well, I love books!)

Sabbath Keeping, by Lynne Baab (probably the best I’ve ever read on this topic)

24/6, by Matthew Sleeth (a unique perspective from the life of a physician)

Crazy Busy, by Kevin DeYoung (a wildly practical book by a busy husband/father)

If you have other resources/ideas, feel free to add them in the comment section below.  And if you’re wondering what all this talk is about “stop-days” then check out last week’s podcast here.  I mean, you have time now, right? 🙂

-Pastor Mark

P.S. If you didn’t see it in the all church email, be sure to take note of two important events coming up.

• The Father-Daughter Dance, on Feb. 6^th   Dads, don’t let this opportunity slip away.  You’ll never regret spending an evening with your daughter(s).
• Financial Peace University – a proven way to bring God’s peace into this turbulent part of your life. Sign up today if you’ve never experienced this.