FReeper Canteen ~ Sunday Chapel ~ Golden Moments ~ 18 April 2021

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

 

GOLDEN MOMENTS

Once upon a time, there was a little boy from "the wrong side of the tracks" who grew up admiring a beautiful house high on the hill overlooking his town. Fortunately, he never lacked for any of the necessities of life, but he hated being "poor." He noticed that people treated him differently, and it pained him to see his parents work so hard just to make ends meet. It just didn't seem right that some should be so favored and others should have so little. But his parents has instilled some rather clear "core values" in their son so that he grew up honest, persistent and a hard worker.

All the while, the boy kept looking up at that big old house on the hill. He noticed that, when the sun came up each morning, the windows seemed to turn to gold. And after a while, that house came to symbolize all that he had missed by growing up a "disadvantaged child." (He heard his counselor at school describe him that way once.) So, year after year, he grew more and more determined. Someday, he resolved, he would own that house with windows of shining gold! And life would be good.

After a while people began to take notice that the young man worked hard, learned quickly, and could be trusted with responsibility. They nodded their heads in approval, and reckoned that he would go far. Meanwhile, he just kept working... and looking up the hill.

Years passed. The boy grew to be a man. And those painful lessons of his youth, learned through years of sacrifice and self-denial, served him well. He developed a keen sense for business. And a heart of compassion for those less fortunate. He seized each new opportunity for advancement, saved his profits, and invested wisely. Before long, his ventures began to succeed beyond even his wildest imagination. And so it was that he finally realized his dream. He bought that house high on the hill. The one with the windows of shining gold he had admired so long.

But a strange thing happened as he walked through his new home that first time. Oh, he wasn't disappointed. It was a beautiful house...perhaps even more than he had realized. The rooms were large, the furnishings he had chosen were magnificent, and the view was spectacular. But as he looked down the hill toward the town, it was late afternoon, and the sun had begun to set in the west. Suddenly he spotted his boyhood home. And every window was gleaming like the brightest gold!

Can the destination be reached without the journey? Could this man have fully appreciated his status without the struggle? Or was that struggle really a "gift" in disguise, as much as health or opportunity or natural ability? Were there blessings he could have enjoyed all along? You decide.

And what about our journey...yours and mine? What struggles have stimulated our growth and development? How has pain and hardship been part of a process to make us stronger or better or more open to God? Could that be part of the reason the Bible tells us to "give thanks in all things"?

In his book, Invisible Lines of Connection, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner writes that, "The closer we are to what is happening, the more we believe we are in complete control. The farther away we get, the more we are willing to acknowledge the participation of something greater." May God guide us as we ponder, and discover His leading in our lives, and give thanks."

CAPT J. David Atwater, CHC, USN

 

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

April 18

Hard Ground and Tender Mercy

Bible in a Year:

• 2 Samuel 3–5
• Luke 14:25–35

Praise be to the Lord.

Ruth 4:14

When James was just six years old, his older brother David died tragically in an ice-skating accident. It was the day before David’s fourteenth birthday. In the years that followed, James tried his best to console his mother, Margaret, who in her deep grief sometimes reminded herself that her elder son would never have to face the challenges of growing up. In James Barrie’s fertile imagination, decades later that same idea would burgeon into inspiration for a much-loved children’s story character who never aged: Peter Pan. Like a flower pushing its way through pavement, good emerged even from the hard ground of unthinkable heartache.

How comforting is the thought that God, in an infinitely more creative way, is able to bring good out of our most difficult circumstances. A beautiful illustration of this occurs in the Old Testament story of Ruth. Naomi lost her two sons, leaving her without means or support. Her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth chose to remain with Naomi to help provide for her and to serve her God (Ruth 1:16). In the end, God’s provision brought them unexpected joy. Ruth remarried and had a child, “and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David” (4:17). He would also be listed among the ancestors of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).

God’s tender mercy reaches beyond our ability to fathom and meets us in surprising places. Keep looking! Perhaps you’ll see it today.

Reflect & Pray

When have you seen God bring unexpected good out of difficult circumstances in your life? How can you share what He’s done with others?

Loving God, I thank You that one day You’ll wipe every tear from my eyes because You’re greater than every heartache or difficulty I’ll ever face.

[lightman]

Keep the Lord’s Day in the Lord’s way.

A blessed Third Sunday of Easter (Western)/Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt (Orthodox) to all!

[lightman]

The Life of St. Mary of Egpyt is an amazing story of repentance; long but worth the read:

https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/284

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and a Blessed Lord’s Day to you and yours.

Thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Hope resting has gone well today.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, lightman, and a Blessed Lord’s Day and Blessed Third Sunday of Easter (Western)/Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt (Orthodox) to you and yours.

Is spring in full swing? It’s looking like spring has finally sprung here.

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!

(((HUGS)))

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!

(((HUGS)))

[Kathy in Alaska]

Please join us for Sunday Chapel ~ GOLDEN MOMENTS, and Liberty

Lt. Charles F. Suver, CHC, USN, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division
"Mass at Iwo Jima"

Please stop in and say a prayer of protection for the military.
Prayers from all denominations are needed.




Sunday Liberty starts after the Guest Military Chaplain's Service!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...and a Blessed Lord’s Day and Shavua Tov to you and yours.

Hope you and Blue got some together time today. And Penny ventured off her porch for a nice walk.

We made it into the 50s today...MELTING!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hello Veterans, wherever you are!!

A Blessed Lord's Day and Shavua Tov to you.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Shavua Tov.
Wishing all our Jewish troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
a peaceful and prosperous week.

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

THANK YOU
for your service!

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

Did you get to sleep LATE today? Have a little “you” time for a change?

We finally had the workday at the museum and got almost everything done. If it works out, we’ll be back up there next weekend and can open the following one.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Prayers for our troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
for a safe and peaceful week ahead.

[Kathy in Alaska]

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our G-d from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May HASHEM cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your G-d, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

G-d bless and keep your children safe, Alouette.

[luvie]

St. Olaf Choir~When Peace Like A River

Aron Wright~Surrender

Providence~Sweet Beulah Land

Casting Crowns~Thrive

Glen Campbell~Amazing Grace [Live & Playing Bagpipes]

Passion~In Christ Alone

Newsboys~We Believe

God Bless You All....

[luvie]

Hey there, radu!

Good to see you. Hope you’re having a good weekend. Chilly here. Our HIGH today was 47. LOL!

[radu]

Howdy, luvie.

How are things down your way this weekend? Still enjoying cooler temps? Still cool here and will be for a while, it appears.

[radu]

YIKES!! Only 47????? That’s about what our low will be tonight.
We’re still having 60s for highs. It was gloomy when I went to the MUSEUM this morning but sunny when I came home late this afternoon.