"Farewells" "Welcomes" and "In Rememberance"

Isabelle Lukacsic

What a privilege to take part in our rememberance of our dear sister Isabelle, today at Osoyoos Christian Centre. I can honestly say this was the most beautiful and "real" memorial service I've ever been part of.

Thank you to Nathan and Leila Freeman who had a very special bond with Isabelle. Leila knew Isabelle from the time she was 11 years old (Leila, not Isabelle) lots of history there! Later on, during a "challenge" with the youth group in our church, Leila chose Isabelle's name to be paired with - each teen pairing with a senior, to develop a relationship. Later on, Leila and Nathan married and together they both continued to invest in Isabelle's life. Thursdays were "Family Day" for Nathan, Leila and Isabelle no matter what. Today, Leila and Nathan contributed their insight and used their gifts to help us all honour the memory of Isabelle. Nathan played several songs with themes that Isabelle would have loved to have heard and Leila delivered an eloquent eulogy - she captured the true essence of Isabelle.

Thank you to Pastor Ralph Hargrave for Officiating and to Krista Hargrave, Betty Henniger, Dale and Florence Archibald for all their hard work to put together the luncheon afterward. Thank you to The Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 173 for representing Isabelle as well.

Thank you to Pastor Don Schneider and wife Shirley for being here, it was wonderful to see you at OCC again.

First, a few facts about Isabelle. Isabelle celebrated her 80th birthday this past January. She was with our church for MANY years - 40 plus years!

Isabelle must have observed so much over her faithful years to our congregation - our family. Everyone who attended today knew Isabelle as part of the church, she clung on through all the ups and downs and changes over time, some of those times must have been discouraging but she never wavered. This quality about her has been a true ministry to each of us women in our body.

There was a time of open sharing from the gathering and here were some of the words and thoughts shared - the more personal touches that we each enjoyed about Isabelle - the things that made her ... HER!

Isabelle often had "words" from the Lord. She always shared whenever she did - and many people concur that these words were "right on"

Isabelle loved to share scripture, and really dwelt in the Psalms. Again, when she shared it more than likely "fit" with the message spoken by our Pastor(s)

Isabelle was a dear friend to the widows!

She shared 40 years of sweet friendship with Kaye Harkness - thats a tremendous amount of time.

Isabelle was a prayer "warrior" She was not afraid to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, whether she was in church or on the street.

She was an encouragement to others and to other ministries in our community.

Isabelle was completely unique - forthright, she "spoke the truth"

She was faithful.

She had a great sense of humour.

She was independant.

She was "gruff" on the outside at times, but if you worked to get to know her you discovered a beautiful, warm, and very very generous person waiting to share friendship with you.

She was "proud" in that she did not want to be a burden on anyone.

She loved to join in church activities and you could count on her to be there.

She loved to open her home for church activities.

She was a good cook.

Isabelle was this, and so much more. We will miss Isabelle so very much but we celebrate that we can be confident that Isabelle is with her Lord and savior today. Thank you to Isabelle's family for sharing her with us over the years.

*****

Ralph and Krista Hargrave

We welcome Pastor Ralph Hargrave and Krista to our ministry. Ralph and Krista are also long-time members of OCC over the years with a small gap the past few years when they were away due to ministering to the needs of family members. We are so glad to have you back, and back on board! Ralph and Krista will be taking responsibility for home visitations and are also will be leading worship services at Mariposa Gardens, bringing ministry to the seniors.

*****

Farewell for a season to Dale and Florence Archibald who are vital, well respected and much loved in our OCC family. Dale has preached over the year - faithfully shared God's Good Word with us and we have benefitted from His obedience and annointing. Dale and Florence took ownership of the Mariposa Gardens ministry to date before passing the torch to Ralph and Krista. Besides these essential contributions, both Dale and Florence have provided so much more service to our church. They are always "helping hands" with all events. They are the first faces you will see when an event happens - I'm talking they are there when things need to be set up, and I've worked side by side with Dale, his shirt sleeves rolled right up, doing dishes! Florence is like a hummingbird in the background, swiftly and efficiently taking care of all things in the way of setting up and dishing out the food and taking the laundry home as well. And I've not even mentioned her Operation Shoeboxes ministry she is faithful to each year.

Dale and Florence will now follow the Canadian Geese south where they will pour their blessings into the ministry they've built up "across the line" in the warmer climes. They've grown quite an impressive little "RV ministry" and seen much fruit from this. We will truly miss you both. Thank you for everything you do, so selflessly. We will pray for your safe journey. We love you! Please send home reports 'from the road' for us to share here!

*****

REMINDERS!

Farewell Luncheon for Dale and Florence

Sunday, November 14th

Following morning services

Where: OCC

No need to bring anything but a hearty appetite! Come say goodbye to Dale and Florence for this season.

Work Bee
Saturday, November 2o 10:30 a.m.
Where: OCC

Don't wear your new clothes. Do bring a good attitude and elbow grease.

Prayer at Kaye's
EVERY Thursday morning 10:00 a.m.

Come, bring a prayer requests!

Upcoming Events

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Memorial for Isabelle Lukacsik

Date: Saturday, November 13th
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Where: Osoyoos Christian Centre, 42 Finch Crescent, Osoyoos
Phone: 250-495-2550
Info: There will be an informal luncheon following the service - welcome to bring a dish along!

Shoebox Deadline

All shoeboxes should be submitted this Sunday for Operation Shoebox. Please be sure to include the form and monies for each.

Date: Sunday, November 14th.

Church Work-Bee

This will be a time of prepping our Church and yard for the winter months. Bring Elbow-Grease!

Date: Saturday, November 20th @ 10:30 a.m.
Where: Osoyoos Christian Centre

There is Hope

credit:

created by Barb Derksen

one of the picture layers from a phtograph by mancity@sxc

Have you ever watched a ray of light break through dark clouds in the sky? Ever wondered what this phenomenon is called? I did, so I looked it up - there's an actual name for these rays. They are called Crepascular Rays. They stream through gaps in the clouds or between objects. Dark cloud areas seperate the bars of light between. The name Crepascular refers to the TIME these occur, a time called Crepascular hours - the time between around dawn and dusk, when the light/dark contrast is the highest. I am always drawn to these rays, pausing whenever I see them.

I think what thought forms in my mind is that the reason the rays make such a visual impact is that because the rest of the sky is dark and forboding, the small slivers of light which pour through and illuminate appear brilliant! Though they take up the least amount of the vista, they draw our full attention. They make me think of HOPE.

No matter how dark the world seems, no matter how alone you feel, Jesus is there - even when we cannot see him. When the clouds block out His light - but never forever. The goodness and light is merely biding its time. Sometimes, for me, a small ray of hope does more for me than an entire sky of sunshine.

Here's a small poem which I found in Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Chas E. Cowman, which is a good reminder for us:

God is above the clouds! - the darkest; most depressing;

The clouds of disappointment, burden, anguish, pain;

The clouds of long suspense; of tidings most distressing;

God is above the clouds! - and skies will smile again.

-by J. Danson Smith (from "Thou Remainest," London, England.) 

Welcome!

Our church warmly welcomes Joseph Fernandez as our official Pastor! Keep watching here for updates.

“The Word” for Sunday, August 1, 2010

I apologise for posts to our blog to be brief during these summer months – I hope to bring you more content in Autumn! A special thank you to Pastor Joseph Fernandes who shared an inspiring message this past weekend. Joseph comes to us from Cheers Church, located in Penticton. You may click the graphic above to visit the Cheers website. Please forgive me if the following recording may not be of the highest quality, or may even have a piece missing or repeated as I had to cobble it together from a recording made on my iphone when the battery in my audio recorder failed. Click on the player to hear this week’s message.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

 

Pastor Joseph will be leading us this coming Sunday as well – service at 10:30 (though we encourage you to drop in for pre-service prayer at 9:30)

*****
THANKS

Thank you to Pastor Don Schneider of Bethel Church in Penticton for speaking at the service of Richard Allen last week and also our sincere appreciation for the Osoyoos Baptist Church women for coming alongside and providing food and help with the following tea.

*****

EVENTS

Women’s Prayer
Every Thursday at Kaye’s Place 7806 Gravenstein @ 10:30 a.m.

The Soaking Well
A time of open worship – bring a friend!
Each Friday at OCC, 42 Finch Crescent @ 7:00 p.m.

Week of July 25th

This has been a particularly poignant and difficult week for our congregation with a loss of two of our church family.  The Johnson family grieves the loss of their Father, Dallas but celebrates knowing he is HOME with the Lord.  Richard Allen as well, leaves behind his wife Zdena.  Details of their services follow this week’s message. 

I was not there to hear the word as it was delivered today by Betty – but I had my husband record it so I could post it here to share with you, and I have just listened to it now.  I’ve been struggling lately and there seems to be so many things going on and constantly changing and I feel like I’m in water over my head some days – but I’ve found such love and support exactly through this time.  I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me and I wish I could put my finger on it, that it was something “tangible” that I could just deal with, but then the enemy works just in this way – in the background, insidiously, just tainting everything we see and do so that we doubt, second guess and are robbed of “The Joy of the Lord”  I’m so grateful for today’s message all the more for it speaks right into the situation.  Perhaps it will do the same for you.  Just click the “Play” button to enjoy!

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Events:

The Johnson family are holding a memorial for Dallas on Tuesday, July 27th in their home at 18 Larkspur Place starting at 2 in the afternoon and running into the early evening.  This will be an informal time of celebrating the life of Dallas.   Please call Al Johnson at 250-495-5133 if you should need  more information.

There will be a service for Richard Allen held at the Osoyoos Christian Centre on Friday, July 30th at 1:00.  250-495-2550

Last week of June

Its hard to believe June is coming to a close, soon the children will be out for summer vacation. 

How I remember those happy childhood times, looking forward to vacation and a seemingly endless summer stretched out before me.  Now as an adult the days seem to whiz by like calendar pages whipping off in a gale.  This is because I am busy, of course, as so many of you are.  But what about those who are suffering or not well?  Time is elastic for them, a painful process of just getting through the days.  Like our good sister Isabelle who is in hospital at the moment.  May our hearts have sympathy, may our thoughts turn to them with our prayers and certainly if we find time out of our busy schedules to brighten up their days would make the clocks tick faster for them.  God created us to fellowship, after all. 

God bless all sick folk everywhere,

And all who suffer pain,

All invalids, all crippled folk,

And all who long have lain

In bed by day and night, and know

How wearily the hours go.

__________

 

THE MESSAGE:

In case you were unable to attend this past Sunday, here is the Word for Sunday, June 27th delivered by Pastor Jussi.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

__________

 

ACTIVITY:

Did you notice (and duh, I should have taken a photo!)  Our church is looking all bright and fresh with the new painting that Pastor Jussi has done.  What a welcome upgrade to our building.  Did you have a difficult time getting into our parking lot this past Sunday?  The grounds have been disrupted as the town is putting in new sidewalks and a retaining wall along the bank at the side of the highway.  What welcome improvements!  However, the road was closed off on Sunday with no clear instructions on how to get around it all.  It will be wonderful when all the work is done.  

 

The friday night “Soaking Well” ministry is enjoying a great beginning.  This past Friday was the third “soak” and the people who “came to the well” received answers to their individual needs.  Praise God! 

Sunday school turned out to be a good time this weekend, even as I re…luct…ly dragged my feet downstairs to do it.  For some reason I fear that I won’t be able to bless the children – I’m always afraid I won’t be able to give value to them in the way of Bible learning.  But whenever I follow God’s nudge on my heart the children minister to ME and it works out.  I was very grateful Florence asked to help – things just flowed. 

We decided to simply let the Spirit show us what to do and it only took a few moments for us to discern the children were quite happy drawing and colouring.  One boy, Steven, was an absolute EXPERT on all things airplane related so we went along with him.  Florence even knew a lovely song called “Jesus is my Pilot” so we learned the song as we all drew pictures and flew paper airplanes.  We talked about relying on faith along the same lines as a pilot relies on “auto pilot”  These children were QUICK and drew the connecting thoughts right away.  With no further ado, here is the song and some of the wonderful pictures and airplanes we got to see!

Thank you to Steven, Lauren, Hail and Autumn for your help with these wonderful pictures and the song.

 

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

 

When my Pilot comes I’ll take my aeroplane ride,

Won’t that just be grand with Jesus by my side,

Higher than the sun, the moon, the stars above – we’ll fly,

When my Pilot comes I’ll take my aeroplane ride!

 

Operation Shoebox Challenge

As you know our church participates in Operation Christmas Child – a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse and so we have put out a “shoebox a month” challenge.  May’s challenge was a COLOR theme, June’s an ART theme – the box above a collaboration between myself and Melanie Olsen.  We have come up with a new theme for July – it will be a “HANDY MAN” theme.  So why not fill a box with some good tools and useful things to help a “Dad’s little helper” box, if you would like to do for a younger child – or a Carpenter box for an older child.  (don’t forget to pray for the child who receives it as well!) Who knows, this might be something that will allow a child to develop the skills for a career in life!  These shoebox gifts are sometimes the ONLY present a child in the third world might receive.  What a great opportunity. 

If you don’t have the way to shop for a box but would like to “sponsor” one, we figure it costs between $15 - $20 to nicely fill one.  We will gladly “SHOP and PACK” for you if you would like!  Just contact Florence if you are interested to do this. 

To learn more about Operation Christmas Child and the good work of Samaritan’s Purse, just click on the photo of the shoebox above!

__________

 

 

 

EVENTS:

Kaye’s Power Prayer

Be prepared to spend a good hour of DEEP prayer. Kaye has hosted Prayer, Thursday mornings for over 30 years!

Kaye Harkness

10:30 a.m.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

7806 Gravenstein Drive

 

The Soaking Well

A time to soak up the presence of the King!  An unstructured time of worship and praise where we wait on Jesus to meet in prayer and fellowship.

7:00 p.m.

Friday, June 18, 2010

42 Finch Crescent

Phone: 250-495-2550