After a three-year hiatus, God’s willing, this year we will have our Thanksgiving retreat again.  God’s willing, I am planning to give a series of messages based on the Book of Job.  I don’t know about you, but I used to find this book to be difficult to comprehend.  By the grace of God, I have now gained a better understanding of its message even though I must admit, it is still hard to swallow.  Pain and suffering are always a difficult topic to chew on.  But I hope that we will all come away from the retreat stronger and encouraged.

God’s willing, I will divide the series into four parts, based on the first four chapters of the book.  There are four figures in this book, so I will focus on each in each session.  I titled the first part, God: The Most Powerful and Perplexing Figure; the second part, Satan: The Most Devious and Evil Actor; the third part, Job: The Most Stubborn and Devastated Man; and the fourth part, Friends of Job: The Most Caring and Condemning Counselors. 

On a different note, I would like to let you know how happy I was to see you have a good time singing and dancing to celebrate Father’s Day last week.  While I was watching you dance and enjoying the music, one of you made a comment, “A happy church.”  I couldn’t agree more; you are a happy church!  And I’d like to add: You’re a healthy bunch! When I saw you—some are much older than I—sing and dance like you’re 21, I know I’m dealing with Benjamin Buttons. 

For those of you who haven’t seen this movie, this is about a man who suffers from a genetic condition called progeria which causes rapid aging.  But in this movie, Benjamin Button, who’s born old, experiences just the opposite, called reverse aging, after he reaches a certain age.  Instead of getting old, he’s getting younger.  Now you know what I was talking about when I called you Benjamin Buttons. 

Pastor Paul