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Monthly Archives: December 2015

Sunday was our Christmas service and truly beautiful!!!  Thank you to everybody who served on Sunday to make it magical all the way around!

We borrowed Prairie High School’s grand piano for worship and it was AMAZING!!!  Wasn’t that sound with Christmas carols about the most gorgeous thing ever?  I absolutely love the story of Christ’s birth and our Christian heritage.  I just cry at the idea that our KING started out as the most humble and innocent creature on the planet.

One of my most favorite aspects of the Christmas story is actually Mary.  I think all the time of the scrutiny she must have faced as an unmarried, pregnant woman and yet she carried out God’s plan with full submission to His will.  Following God is often a very difficult task and yet Mary did it with grace and peace.  A great testimony to all of us as Jesus asks the difficult tasks of obedience for us.

Thank you for those of you who gave us gifts.  We appreciate you thinking of us!  It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this church.  My heart is grateful for each of you!

The kid’s ministry all heard the message of Jesus.  Gina took Tiny Town and made sure our toddlers got understood the story of Jesus with crafts and lessons.  Thank you for loving our toddlers!  Andrea knocked it out of the park with our older kids as well!  They did a Christmas sock drive and are donating a big boxes of warm socks to a local homeless shelter for the cold months ahead.  Way to go, kids!!!

Every year our church takes the last Sunday off for a Sabbath rest, so we will not be having our regular service next week! This is a chance for our teams to take a break and rest in the finished work of Jesus. We invite you to take that Sunday, be with your family, read His Word and pray forGod’s will in your life.

All tax-deductible year end giving can be done by December 31 online at www.coffeechurch.com or mailed to North Creek Church, 13023 NE Hwy 99 Suite 7-17, Vancouver, WA 98685.  We need about $30,000 to cover all the costs through the end of the year without dipping into savings.  We would appreciate any last minute gifts you can send in as this is a reachable goal for us.  Thank you for support North Creek all year!

I hope you have a truly incredible Christmas.  It may or may not be filled with friends and family.  You may find yourself stressed or frustrated. You may not get the gifts you want.  You may struggle with the fact that you couldn’t financially give the gifts you want… But one thing that I pray for you is this:  I pray for a moment.  A moment when Christ captures your heart and you feel His incredible presence from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.  I pray He meets you and reminds you of His glory.  The rest is simply details.

He is an awe-inspiring Savior.  May that never be lost in our hearts.

Merry Christmas!

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This has easily been the most difficult year of my life. Every day seemed to bring about new challenges and each challenge seemed more daunting than the last. Weariness, depression and the desire to give up seemed at my heels each day. Perhaps you know the feeling.

I will also say that this year has been one of growth and dependence on Jesus that I wouldn’t trade for anything.  I feel like I learned to pray, learned to trust, and learned to worship on a level that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

This was the year that the Lord taught me that sometimes we just need to go home.  “Home” is often the place where we have felt the greatest peace, the most profound acceptance, and the least amount of strife in our hearts.  For me, home is a camp in Hungry Horse, Montana.

On a warm summer night in August 1986, I met Jesus at an altar at that camp.  I remember the preacher telling me about this Jesus and I remember my soul leaping at those words.  There was a Savior who wanted my heart.  The whole world disappeared as I listened to those words of hope.

I stood to my feet in the crowded room of people when he asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior.  I scooted down the aisle, bumping knees with my friends, and I found myself weeping on a dirty carpet at the front of a stage.  It was there that I gave Jesus my sins and He gave me eternal life.

I left the service that night all by myself.  As I walked out in the dark, my small frame stood among the large evergreen trees that surrounded the building.  My weakness stood among their enormous strength.  I bent my neck back to peer through a break in the trees at the navy blue sky dotted with a million stars.  If you ever want to see a glimpse of God, look into the Montana sky.  I felt in that moment so small, but it would also be the first moment that I would feel Him tug at my heart.  It was as if God was telling me that despite the largeness of this world or the enormity of the challenges I would face, He was there with me.

This summer I went home in August to visit my parents, but Mark wasn’t able to come due to the fact that we were in the middle of selling one of the church buildings.  It ended up being a terrible trip in my difficult year.  I had car problems on the way, alone with two children.  My brother came one day of my vacation to repair the car and when he finished, my dad told me to take a drive to make sure everything was good.  Where does one go?

You go home.

South Fork Flathead River below Hungry Horse Reservoir, Great Bear Wilderness, Montana

I rolled down the windows and set out for Hungry Horse, Montana.  It was the EXACT day of the anniversary of the day I met Jesus 29 years ago.

The hot air poured through my car as I wound through the mountains.  The river was rushing mercilessly on my left and with each mile, I could feel the presence of Jesus flood my car.  He had an agenda for me that day.

As I pulled into the empty camp, every memory flashed through my soul.

Here He met me.

Here He called me.

Here He sent me.

And here He would meet me once again.

I stepped out of my car onto the dry dirt of the parking lot.  There was no one there, so I crept up to the door of the chapel where Jesus first met me.  The same enormous trees surrounded me with their strength once again.

I laid my hands on the door in front of me with a posture of surrender and I began to sob uncontrollably.

The faces of those who played parts in my journey to Jesus came to mind one by one.  My tears surprised me because the source of them was not the pain that I carried with me due to a difficult year.

They were tears of immense gratitude.  Gratitude for the sacrifices of the people who came before me and lead me to this spot where my eternity was changed.  Although the journey had been long, I was so thankful that I had the privilege of being on it.

I drove away from that camp not truly understanding why God gave me that moment. And then the year continued to unload on my shoulders with a fierceness that I didn’t know what to do with.

Recently as I cried out to Jesus about our plight, He reminded me of that afternoon in Hungry Horse.

“Those people who gave up so much for you to meet Jesus…they felt like you at times.  Would you want them to do it all again if it was just for you?”

Hot tears stained my cheeks.

“Yes. Yes, Lord.  Even if it was all just for me.” I was overcome with such a selfish emotion, but my salvation is the most precious thing I have…I NEEDED them to go through all of those challenges, even if it really was just for me…

“Then you keep going for the ONE.”

Resolve poured down my back like a steel rod.  That was all He ever needed to say.  Greatness in the Bible was often seen as a man standing in a field with a shepherd’s staff, or a woman carrying a baby amidst the scrutiny of scandal, or seen in the eyes of an Egyptian slave.  When the outside world looked, they did not see what God knew to be true.  In His eyes, there before Him stood great leaders who said yes to the ONE time and time again.

My audience is Jesus and my mission is to do His will….come what may.

Come what may.

 

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God is good!  When the world is upside down, He is still our firm foundation.  He’s our rock.  He’s our peace.  He’s our hope.  If you feel anything less than that, it’s because you set your eyes on the wrong thing.  Turn your eyes to Jesus and watch Him change your perspective.

On that note, are you enjoying our series on Gratitude?  Such a solid topic on the lens that God wants us to have in this broken world.  Join us for two more weeks of this study and invite a friend!

I got SUPER sick on Saturday night with some odd virus that made my skin hurt, but by Sunday morning, I was able to make it!  I hate missing church and do anything in my power not to miss a Sunday.  It’s a discipline that I think is lacking in our society and I encourage you to try it!  When you go to church often, you have more friendships, your kids have more fun in classes, and you hear the entirety of messages and chapters in the Bible within their context.  I hear people talk all the time about finding God outside of the walls of church, but I still fall on the side of the fence that God designed this beautiful thing called the “church” for a reason.  And it only works well when we are ALL a part of it together.

Tonight is Simply Worship!  I can’t wait for a night of praise and worship with Jesus.  I need Him desperately and I have no doubt that He will show up in my heart.  You’re invited!!!

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We are looking for some key volunteers, so if you’re looking to get involved, here are some key options:

  • Trailer Pickup – Got a truck and would love to drop off a trailer at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning once a month at Prairie High School?
  • Security Team – We want some more strong people added to our team who will take one Sunday a month and walk the campus during service.  We want our environments secure and safe!
  • Hosting – We need greeters and ushers!

If you are interested in those or any of our other areas, go to www.coffeechurch.com and fill out a volunteer application.  Thanks so much for jumping in!

We are gearing up for a beautiful Christmas service on Sunday, December 20, so invite a friend.  It will be a wonderful pause in this busy season to honor Christ’s birth! Also, take note that we do not have service on December 27.  We take one Sunday a year off to reset for the new year!  We come back in January ready to change the world!

Two ways to give this week:

Our Kid’s Ministry is doing a sock drive for the homeless.  Bring some new, warm socks to share with those in need!

It’s our community’s Walk and Knock on Saturday.  North Creek usually does a food drive during the holidays, but without a facility this year, it makes that very heavy ministry a little more challenging.  Would you take advantage of this great charity and put out a bag of food on your porch by early Saturday morning?  If we all jump in to what our community is doing, we can make a difference!

 

I hope your week is full of warmth and Jesus! 😉  We love being your pastors and we look forward to the future!

Be blessed!