Wishing you a BLESSED CHRISTMAS!

We held our Christmas dinner yesterday and it was a very special time of celebration, connection and fellowship. Our service was held downstairs which was a great idea because generally whoever does the organizing of the food misses out on the message and music.

Nathan and Miles led us in song and chose a meaningful set which put our eyes on Jesus.

We were treated to beautiful decorations provided by Melanie Olsen who brought so many of her lovely items from her home collection. The tables were set complete at each place with full silver and even Christmas Crackers - something new to some of our congregation, like Julie and family who have only come to Canada from Jamaica last year!

And we were treated to delicious little boxed chocolates by some delightful little girls!

I was touched to have my Sister in Law arrive to join us for our dinner - all the way from Kamloops (a wonderful SURPRISE!) We had a full house, every single seat was filled. It was wonderful to see Helen's daughter and husband join in and I was treated to a surprise visit from our Sister in Law, niece and a friend who travelled all the way in from Kamloops. She drove all this way, shared dinner with us and turned around and headed back. How wonderful!

Almost all the entire Johnson family were here - thanks for all your help with the sound, food etc!

You can see all this and more by viewing this video I cobbled together.

*****

We look with great anticipation to the arrival of Pastor Jussi and wife Leena in the coming New Year. In the meantime they have prepared a word for us:

We want to wish everyone a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year!

We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for sending His Son Jesus Christ to be

The light of the world, that the glorious gospel would shine into the darkened

hearts of humanity, and that He would be revealed as Savior and Lord to the world.

The scripture for coming New Year is Deuteronomy 11: 13-14

13. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my Commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord Your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

14. That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

This is a wonderful conditional promise in the Word of God for us to lay a hold of. The promise is that there would be rain in the land, resulting in

Corn, which speaks to us of the blessing of the Word of God

Wine, which represents the joy of the Lord

Oil, which is the anointing of the Holy Spirit

The church in the book of Acts experienced these promises as told in Acts

6:7, that the Word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Later, in the book of Acts chapter 8:8, we are told that when

Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ under the anointing of

The Holy Spirit, the result was that there was great joy in the city.

This would be our heart felt prayer for the coming year that we would experience these blessings at Osoyoos Christian Centre.

Blessings!

Jussi

*****

ThI asked Kaye to share with us as well - for those of you who might not know Kaye she has been at our church for 33 years, has seen and heard it all and remains faithful. I thought it appropriate to see what wisdom she would share with us. I apologise for my little "hello hello hello" at the end of this clip, I did not have time to "trim" the audio.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

*****

An especial Merry Christmas going out to some of our Church Family who are away or in new homes. We miss you and love you!

Jim and Elaine - Congrats on your new grand-baby & glad all is well with you. We still feel your grace and goodness at home here.

Ralph and Krista - You ARE here with us, just not in body yet. We long to see your return. You are missed.

Dale and Florence - Thinking of you in the nice warm desert & lifting you up in your ministries there!

Ken and Marg - You are always in our thoughts and prayers.

Matt and Lillian - Across the miles - we love and miss you and wish you and your young family a special Christmas. (BIG hugs for you)

*****

I will be posting after the first week in the New Year. Thank you for all who have supported this blog, this meeting place and for your encouragement and comments.

This is a time of endings,

But of new beginnings too,

God sends us another year

And maketh all things new,

Another hope, another chance,

Another road to take,

Another star to follow,

And another start to make.

New beginnings, new adventures,

New heights to attain,

Golden opportunities

To work and build again.

New and higher aspirations,

For the future days,

Seeking, dreaming, moving on

Down bright and better ways.

~ Patience Strong

God Bless you all with good health and happiness in the year to come.

Barb Derksen

behalf Osoyoos Christian Centre

An ALWAYS is Heard an "Encouraging Word!"

Just another shortie post this week as this week is going to zoom right by! A warm HELLO out to all you of our church family who live away from Osoyoos ~ we will be thinking of you over the holiday. I will post one more blog entry next Sunday night, allowing you to (virtually) join in our Church Dinner and celebration which I hope to capture on video and audio and pictures. A veritable feast for the eyes and the ears you could say!

We welcomed Stacy from Park Drive church in Oliver to share a Word with us this past Sunday and I caught it on audio for those of you who were unable to attend - and those of you who live away at the moment. Stacy's message was encouraging and uplifting and I know that it truly blessed me and met me where I needed. Thank you for your ministering to us, Stacy, and for bringing your lovely family with you as well.

Stacy's message was one with HEART - and I know that your kind words made me stand a little straighter and taller and reminded me that God is in control. Click on the Play button to hear Stacy's message!

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

*****

EVENTS:

Our annual Church Christmas dinner will be held this coming Sunday - directly after our service. We look forward to seeing YOU! If you have a dish you would like to contribute please give me a call - 250-495-3516!

Stay tuned for the next blog post - will have hopefully pictures, audio AND perhaps even a video or two! :) A nice little wrap up to the year!

FREE RESOURCE:

There is a wonderful FREE bible study software available on the internet - comes with all sorts of study materials etc. Just click HERE to check it out!

Belated Post - Worth the Wait!

I'm sorry that this post is late - I'll embellish on this theme in my next post which will bump up pretty quickly to this one. The main point is that my computer simply did not want to load the following audio file despite my repeated attempts. Who am I to question - perhaps THIS is just the moment one of you reading this needs this message at this exact time.

Betty delivered last weeks WORD and her message had a great impact on all - several people expressed this to me. I thank Betty for allowing me to post it. We would love to have your feedback! I apologise for the low quality of the sound {its rather on the quiet side} but next time should be much better as my husband {the audio expert} has assured me he will run me through some ways to improve it.

With no further ado - here is Betty!

Betty is rather on the quieter side - so this was very nice of her to allow us to share. She's not a "grand-stander" at the best of times. Her message is around 30 minutes long. Just click the PLAY button to listen.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

*****

I thank all of you who have been sending me emails and inspiration. Each and every one is greatly appreciated.

I am going to keep this post short but the following one will be longer. Just a few things to mention here -

CONGRATS!

Nathan and Leila on their new "digs" - they've just moved into a sweet little place at an amazing location at the end of the lake. Just needs a little {well a LOT} of tlc to get it up to the love-nest they'd like to call home. Sooooo - let's mark off a few days in the doldrums of January to help slather on the paint 'n stuff - ok?

EVENTS:

Only thing on the agenda for the next days leading up Christmas {as of yet, anyhow} is our Church Christmas Dinner, being held on Sunday, December 20th following the morning service. I will be calling YOU to see what you might like to bring! If you have an idea of something you might like to share in the way of entertainment please let us know - we welcome all!

PRAYER:

Chuck, Angie and Family as they travel this weekend to spend time with family. Also for the ongoing negotiations with the school district regarding their bus stop.