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The Kingdom of God has come near

Mark 1:14-20 The Kingdom of God has come near. That’s a message we all need to hear. The reign of God is near. No longer can we act as if God doesn’t matter in our world . . . No longer can we act as if justice and righteousness are irrelevant today . . . No longer can we act as if life has no meaning and that there is no hope. The Kingdom of God is nearer than it has ever been before. Did you know there are serious scientists who are saying to us that we are on the cusp of changes in our world that over the next three decades will render our world unrecognizable to ...

God should the focus of our worship

I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. — Jonah 1:9 In the last article, we looked at who God is, He is the great I Am. He said in John 8:58, “Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” When Hagar fled from Sarai, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water. The angel told her to return to her mistress and submit to her. Then she (Hagar) called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees. In the days of the wild west, here in America, many of the cowboys knew of Wyatt Earp. But many of them had to find ...

All you need is love

Romans 13:8-10 Bernard Bell wrote, “it is good that a man should think, but it is indispensable that he should love.” There are two commands in the Bible that I believe we would all agree with: We are to love one another and we are to obey God. But I also think we would agree that we all have difficulty keeping those two commands. We find loving others difficult and we find obeying God difficult, don’t we? There are those times we neither love nor obey. We are like a child who loves his parents, a child who knows his parents have his best interest at heart, but in spite of that we ...

Winter baking season is here in Bev’s Kitchen

Hello from the kitchen! Winter is here whether we like it or hate it. This too shall pass and before you know it, spring will be here with new smells, new growth and mud. And food. I’ve been enjoying the snow days since I can stay home and create meals and bake. Last week, I made fresh warm pretzel rolls and a few pies. The pretzel rolls make amazing sandwiches. I’ll share the pretzel roll recipe and my shoofly pie recipe. It’s an old recipe that’s been tweaked a time or two. I did some research on the name “Shoo fly pie” and found that it is a Pennsylvania-made pie but ...

Sometimes enough is enough

I do not make a habit of engaging with negative people on social media, even though I often want to, especially when they are saying derogatory things about our community. It is not because I believe they are right, nor is it because I am afraid of the negative comments I might receive if I voice my opinion. It is because a very insightful mentor once told me, “It is not wise to engage with a bully, they will beat you with experience!” Sage words that I attempt to live by. Isn’t that what they really are, bullies? According to Merriam-Webster, a bully is one who is habitually ...

A look back at Mifflin County Library’s 2023

Can you believe it is actually 2024 already? Where has 2023 gone? It seems to have flown by! I thought it would be great to reflect back on the year 2023 in library land. How do we do that? Well our Integrated Library System has a big brain, not only does it check books in and out, it also allows me to run reports containing all sorts of stats. I’m putting on my statistical hat and sharing with you the most checked out books of 2023 for the Mifflin County Library. Read along with me and see what your neighbors were reading last year. Top 5 fiction books • Before We Were ...