April 2026

Greetings, in the Name of our Risen Lord and Savior!

While I was visiting Heartstrings, our preschool, I noticed a "Puzzle" book in which some of the childern had been drawing, doing the puzzles. Remember "dot-to-dot" puzzles? By drawing lines from one number to the next, you wound up with a picture. It could be anything from Noah's Ark filled with animals to an airplane!

By itself, each line means very little. Even a large group of dots doesn't show the total picture. Only when every number is connected can you see the design the artist intented. We know that God has a plan for our lives. 

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11 Living Bible

We often cannot see, God's plan unfolding, the temple authorities had no idea, that after the crucifixtion of Jesus, that God would raise him from the dead three days later! We can't see the plan, however we are called in trust, to contribute in faith our time, our talent and our treasure. When each of us contributes, together, we can form a wonderful pattern, something the artist alone knew. Perhaps the "picture" is of people repairing a roof. Or, it may be one of someone driving a shut-in to worship, or of prayer beside a hospital bed, only the artist knows the picture. 

Leaving even one connection out of a dot-to-dot puzzle causes a gap, a missing piece to the picture. Although it may seem small, nevertheless, the picutre is incomplete without it. We must remember that while God gives the "numbers" it is our responsibility to finish the pattern with our time, our talent and our treasure.

This "connection" is underscored in the Gospel of John (15: 1-8) in the story of the grapevine, the gardener, and the fruit!

Take care to live in me, and let me live in you. For a branch can't produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me." - John 15:4

When you grow a harvest of fruit, this will show that you are walking my read. You will then bring great honor to my father." - John 15:8 First Nations Version

Blessings....

Pastor Scott