Newsletter of Hamilton Bible Fellowship
September 2005
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
This time of year our community undergoes a process of changing from one form to another. June through August it is quiet, relaxed, underpopulated, even lazy and sleepy - with notable exceptions, like July 4th. By September 1st it has become a bustling University town, full of pre-adults with noticeably nicer cars. Like the seasons, the cycle provides a balance of opposites, combining the element of change and stability as the transition happens on schedule each year. I like both ends of the community spectrum.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on people.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of people;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing
better for people than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink
and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-13
There’s a part of me that’s sad to see the summer wind down. But I do look forward to the fall, with all the activity and beauty it brings - culminating in the holiday season. More than once during this unusually warm summer I commented that I don’t complain about heat; I just think of February cold. Then, however, I do find myself complaining, looking forward to leaves on trees and green grass on lawns. But if we had that all the time, we wouldn’t appreciate it as much. God knows what he’s doing.
Our lives are about seasons, cycles, and transitions. God has built into us a yearning for the eternal; but for now he provides many "pleasant inns" along the way. We labor; we do good; we enjoy the beauty around us as gifts from God. But life is often difficult; it can be sad, even ugly - and we can do bad as well as good. We can face these realities, knowing that our eternal destiny is secured and that the living God is sovereign.
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it
and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will revere him.
Ecclesiastes 3:14
This will be our last season as the old, migrant HBF. We will next year make a significant transition, as we process into our new building. But even that is another inn along the way. Let’s do our best, and enjoy life as a fellowship until then, and then until eternity.
NEWS AND PRAYER UPDATE:
We are exploring ways of helping in the relief efforts for victims of the Gulf Coast hurricane. For now, pray!
Pray for CCF and incoming students, and for Young Life as HCS begins next week. Pray also for Michelle, Jordan, Meghan, Meghan, Colleen and Spence a they begin or return to school.
Pray for health concerns: Don Cox (Putter’s uncle); Bruce Goodwin (Susan Nolen’s Dad).
Pray for final preparations for Geoff and Lori’s wedding.
THE QUOTE CORNER
I came from God, and I’m going back to God,
and I won’t have any gaps of death in the middle
of my life.
George Macdonald
COMING EVENTS CALENDAR:
HBF is scheduled to provide meals for the Lamb family the weekend of September 10 - 11. Watch for sign up.
Saturday Sept. 17th the PCD is sponsoring a daylong commemoration of Hamilton’s Great Chocolate Train Wreck. Watch the Mid-York for details.
We have tentatively scheduled our morning service on September 18th at the church site, with the fall picnic following. It will be a great time of celebrating what God has allowed to be accomplished thus far!
September birthdays: 2 Michael Babcock; 5 Colleen Schindler; 13 Patty Hodge; 20 Frank Deiter; 23 Geoff Cox; 29 Lauren Babcock