by Nancy Unks “How will I ever repay all the people who have helped me?” The question came from my newly widowed friend. Her husband had been the ultimate do-it-yourselfer. In 50 years of marriage, they had never hired a repairman for anything. When he died suddenly, she didn’t even have the number of a...
Category: New Life Notes
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Seeing Beyond the Milky Way
by Ward Shope Last Wednesday night just before we went to bed, we stepped out onto the porch at the back of the place we were staying. I was awestruck. Looking up into the night sky there were so many stars with the Milky Way haze behind it that we actually could not readily identify...
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We Miss You
by Ward Shope Last week, I ran across the name of a long-time church member that I probably hadn’t seen or talked to since the pandemic began. Knowing that he lives in a small household where he is a caregiver, and that he lives at some distance to the church, I felt an inner prompting...
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The Mysteries in Grieving
by Ward Shope We, as a church in this last year, have been grieving the loss of those we love. The most public of those deaths have been people that we’ve known corporately. We’ve experienced them as leaders, teachers, examples and personal friends together. But apart from these, many individuals within the church have also...
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Enduring the Weeds
by Ward Shope I grew up on a farm where it took 8 hours to mow the grass on a tractor and then another 3 hours to trim. Needless to say, it didn’t get done in a day – but it was beautiful when it was done for the week. The soil was rich in...
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Graduation – One Step in Series
by Ward Shope Reflections on Philippians 3:4-16 In the next week or two, a number of our high school and college students will graduate from their course of study. For some students, it is a time to recognize a lot of blood, sweat and tears and may be accompanied by various levels of relief. For...
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If Only God Made Things Easy
By Todd Hill Anthony recently sent out a video to the church discussing how we can know the difference between issues that are Conviction level (things to die for), Persuasion level (things to divide for), and Opinion level (things to debate and decide on). You can find the video here. As we wrestled as a...
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Two Sons and a Home Group
By Ward Shope Recently our home group gathered outside for a pandemic style meeting. It was a nice evening and we spent some time catching up with one another, laughing at the funny episodes of our weeks, and sharing some of the more serious sides of life. When everyone was there, we began to discuss...
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“How Long, O Lord, How Long?”
By Nancy Unks Back to normal. Have you been talking about it? Wishing for it? Looking forward to it? Trying to remember it? I read an article about how we will know when the pandemic ends. Its conclusion: we won’t. And it won’t. Not in a Hollywood cinema sort of way where we triumphantly throw...
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More Than a Mulligan
By Ward Shope I’m not much of a golfer. My dad played a lot over the years and once in a while he would ask me to join in an all-expenses-paid afternoon of recreation. I loved the beauty of Lancaster Country Club, but the first 9 holes were always pure torture. From the first tee,...
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Words from the Heart
By Ward Shope As a family that lived in the Netherlands for four years, there were certain treats that we not only liked then, but now have nostalgic value to us. The other day, Debbie and I sat down to our daily late afternoon tea time and munched on a Dutch cracker that I particularly...
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The Bond Beyond Our Differences
By Todd Hill I am not a true Phillies fan. In fact, I probably have only watched a handful of games since 2010. However, in the run to their World Series win in 2008, I was a die-hard fan. I watched every game and knew every player I will always remember that, due to the...