EASTERN EUROPEAN MISSIONS:   Thank you to everyone for making our part of The Million Dollar Sunday successful. We received $8516 to help send Bibles and materials to Russia and Ukraine. If you still want to make a contribution, please give it to an elder today.

MISSION TRIP TO NICARAGUA:   For those who are going on the mission trip to Nicaragua, there will be meeting briefly after worship this morning to go over a few items. We will meet in the front of the auditorium by the baptistery.

MNFTM:   Monday, November 8 will be the last Monday Night for The Master for the fall session. We will begin the spring session on January 31.

CANCER SUPPORT GROUP:   There will be a meeting on Monday , November 8 at 7PM in the GO Center if you are interested in working with a support group for cancer patients and their caregivers. If you need more information, contact Sharon Patterson.

GUEST SPEAKER:   At the evening service on Sunday, November 14, Shhun Hun will be talking about his life in Christ and more about his upcoming mission trip to Cambodia. As a young Christian, we want to keep encouraging him to grow deeper in his faith. This will be a great evening of encouragement, so make plans to attend.

GROUP MEETINGS:   The 39ers will meet in the GO Center on Thursday , November 18 at 6PM. That is a change from the normal meeting time.

CHANGE FOR CHILDREN:   Please join us for The Arms of Hope “Change for Children” Campaign! Everyone’s loose change will make a difference in children’s lives. Please pick up a change can in the foyer.

BIBLE HOUR:   We need volunteers for Bible Hour teachers and helpers. Teachers are needed to work only one Sunday every other month. Please let Donna Vidacovich know if you are willing to help.

THANKSGIVING MEAL:   Everyone is invited to the building for the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, November 25 at 12PM. Be sure to sign-up on the sheet in the foyer and include what you will bring, and how many in your family will attend.

AREA EVENTS:   November Job Fair “Celebrating Veterans Day” will be held on Wednesday, November 10 from 8:30AM – 12:00PM at 4100 Troup Hwy in  Tyler. For more details, see the bulletin board.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Nov. 8 – Last MNFTM                                                Nov. 8 – Cancer Support Group Meeting

Nov. 17 – Ladies’ Bible Class Luncheon                       Nov. 18 – 39ers Meeting                    

Nov. 25 – Thanksgiving Meal                                       Dec. 4 – Auditorium Class Christmas Party

Dec. 9 – 39ers Christmas Party                                    Dec. 10 – Card Party

Dec. 11 – Breakfast with Santa                                    Dec. 16 – Caroling

Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve Party                                 Jan. 7- 15 – Nicaragua Mission Trip

WORLD SERIES VICTORY

     On my recent trip to Colorado, I was waiting for my daughter’s car to be serviced and picked up a copy of the Denver Post.  In it was a sports commentary by Mark Kiszla who, at the time, was in Arlington watching the fourth game of the World Series.  He commented on the loss of the Rangers, Cowboys, and the University of Texas by saying, “The only Big D around here is depression.  Take heart, all you dejected Broncomaniacs. It stinks even worse to be a sports fan in Dallas right now.”  He went on to say, “There's nothing more miserable than a sports fan with nothing to cheer.”

      The Texas Rangers beat out 28 other teams to make it to the World Series for the first time in their history.  When it is all said and done, they came in second.  But they had an experience that none of us ever had and few ever will: They played baseball and they played it in the biggest games of the year.  They did lose.  They are disappointed.  But they did play.  I can easily say that I am a bigger Ranger fan than ever before and I am not disappointed that my (American League) team was in the World Series, even if they lost.

      There is no doubt that what is lacking in sports is Godly thinking.  I do love it when a player makes a great play and then points to heaven.  Or you hear about players who gather before and after a game for prayer, even players from opposing teams.  But Paul writes in Romans 12:15,”Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  It would be great if everyone could always be a winner.  But that is not how life works.  Sometimes we set out in a game knowing someone is going to win and someone has to lose.  There is always a part in us that does not want to celebrate when someone else is the winner. 

     Somewhere along the way, someone changed Alfred Lord Tennyson's, “'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” to “ 'It is better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all'?  Both are true but it is also true that we should never just sit back because we are afraid of failure.  Instead, we need to do all that we can to make sure that each member of the Body of Christ succeeds, if not in this life then in the life to come.

      Jesus focused on those that everyone else said was a loser: The woman at the well, the ten lepers, the blind and the mute, the demon possessed and those thought to be possessed by demons.  Even the Apostles were thought to be losers.  We now see that all of those followers of Jesus had victory in Jesus.  Come to think of it, many of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day thought He was a loser!  Even the cross was not seen as a sign of victory but as the greatest loss of their day.  We now see the cross as the greatest victory of all eternity. 

      We are all going to win at times and we are going to lose at other times.  Some people focus on the wins and feel good about themselves.  Some focus on the failures and fail even more.  As the Body of Christ, we need to look around and find ways that we can make everybody feel like a winner in Christ, because we are!  There are no losers within the body.  But that requires us to be aware of those who need encouragement. Paul said, “But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:24-26).

      Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7 that he continued to fight to good fight, that he finished the race and most important, that he kept the faith.  He never says that he came in first.  It never says that he always won the battles.  But he did fight.  He did finish.  He did stay faithful.  So, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who long for His appearing.”

O victory in Jesus, My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me, With His redeeming blood;
 He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.

Chris Vidacovich

chrisv@cscoc.com