Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Harry Houdini, who won fame as an escape artist early in the twentieth century, issued a challenge wherever he went. He claimed that he could be locked in any jail cell in the country and set himself free within minutes. He had a long track and record of accomplishing that as well! One time, however, something seemed to go wrong. Harry entered a jail cell in his street clothes. The heavy door clanged behind him with a metal thud, and he took from his belt a concealed piece of strong and flexible metal. He set to work on the lock, but soon realized that something was different about this lock. For thirty minutes (a long time compared to his other escapes), Harry worked on the lock. An hour passed, and he began to sweat and pant in exasperation. Still, he could not pick the lock. Finally, after two hours, Harry gave up. In a sense of frustration and defeat, he leaned against the door. To his surprise, the door swung open. It had not even been locked in the first place!

Harry had wasted so much time and energy on unlocking the door that he could have just pushed open to begin with.

As a church, there are times that we find challenges in front of us. Many times, these challenges may seem really hard or even impossible, but only because we THINK they are. When we realize that Christ is the one leading us as a church, then the impossible suddenly becomes the easily achievable. There are a few challenges that we have ahead of us, but as a group, centered around our faith in God, these challenges can become much easier. As many of you saw in the paper a few weeks ago, Philippians 4:13 is my favorite Bible verse. I even have it printed on some golf balls (although if you were to watch me play, I am not sure God helps me with my game!) As I mentioned in that article in the paper, this verse puts everything into perspective for me, reminding me that without faith in Christ, I would be lost. It is also a reminder that as a church, there are things that we as a group can accomplish that an individual cannot.

There are many challenges ahead of us, and I hope that we can look to this verse as a sort of motto for anything and everything that we do.

As a reminder, I will be at Rostered Leader’s convocation this week. I will be available via cell phone if needed, at 580-9800.

God's Peace,

 Pastor Judson