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Vol. 47,
No.20 SOUTHSIDE ORACLE
July 16, 2004
The Bulletin
Board
Baptized – We rejoice in the baptism of Juan Medina on Monday at the
middle session of camp. He was baptized by Tim Williams. We wish Juan
God’s blessings as he begins his Christian walk.
The Youth Service Trip
to Menominee, MI last week was a great success. Daryl Miller reports
that our young people did a great job. The major thrust of the church
there is in a splendid program that is directed to youth. Southside
assists in the support of Tyrren Yates who preaches for the congregation.
Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp – Our campers at middle camp will be
coming home Saturday and the intermediates will be leaving for two weeks
on Sunday. Campers from Southside will be Molly Giombi, Jennifer Giemza,
Arielle Hanyard, Adam Nichols, Ian Ribar, and Maggie Stankowski. Laurie
Giombi and Leonard Ditsworth will be serving on the staff.
The Sick – Roger Young was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital Sunday morning
after the second service after he nearly passed out. He has been
undergoing tests and expects to go home shortly…. Elfriede Wandsnider is
scheduled to have surgery Thursday at West Allis Hospital….Martha
Sepulveda had a mild heart attack on June 29th an was
hospitalized for a week. She is now home.
The Lake Geneva Family Encampment will be at Williams Bay August 9
– 13. This is open to families or individuals. Bobby Valentine will be
one of the speakers. If you are interested in attending, see the brochure
on the bulletin board.
Blood Drive – There will be a blood drive on July 24th at Southside
similar to the one we had in January. If you would like to donate blood,
see the sign-up sheet in the foyer or contact Trevona Parker for
information. The same day our tweens will have a car wash at the church
building. The car washes are all free.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago Last
year Last week Goal
Bible classes
117 150
103 170
Morning worship
213 230 *202 250
Evening
worship 43 42
67 80
Contribution $4038.68
$4153.23 $4255.17 $4500.00
Calendar of Events
July 4-17 – Middle camp session, Wisconsin Christian
Youth Camp
July 18-31 – Intermediate camp session, Wisconsin
Christian Youth Camp
July 24 – Blood Drive at Southside
July 24 – Youth car wash at church building
July 26 – Assemble Wisconsin Challenge for mailing,
7:00 p.m.
August 1-14 – Senior camp session, Wisconsin
Christian Youth Camp
August 9-13
– Lake Geneva Family Encampment, Williams Bay
Good Luck?
It
seems that someone wishes me good luck nearly every day. I appreciate the
kind thoughts, but I wish folks could find a way of expressing their
sentiments in a way that’s more consistent with Scripture.
The concept of luck suggests that some undefined force is out there
controlling the destiny of man. Nobody wants to call that force “God”.
Still, people cling to the notion that our lives are being influenced by
some kind of power beyond the control of man called “luck”.
The Bible disagrees with the luck theory on two counts. In the first
place, it teaches that God not only created the world, but that He
maintains it and never lets it slip beyond His control. Paul writes, “He
is before all things and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). In
the second place, God has given people are large amount of freedom to
control the events of their lives. In the creation narrative the first
man and woman were told to “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the
earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). The fulfillment of those commands
required a response from the human will. Luck had nothing to do with the
outcome.
In
the realm of personal salvation we are dependent on God for providing
atonement for sin through Christ (Romans 5:7), but acceptance of God’s
free gift of salvation is a matter of personal choice. The water of life
is for “whoever wishes” the free gift of life (Rev. 22:17). Calling and
election are determined by what a person does with his life (2 Peter
1:10,11). Nobody is going to luck his way into heaven.
Certainly there are variables in life that we can’t predict. We can’t
predict illness, the time of our death, or the way people respond to us,
but neither are these things determined by the luck of the draw or the
bounce of the ball. It’s quite irresponsible to excuse one’s self from
mature behavior because “good fortune just wasn’t in the cards for me.” We
may not have control over what other people do, but we do control our own
reaction to life and we have God’s Spirit to help us maintain the
standards of righteousness if we choose to live for Jesus.
__Norman Bales
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