Thank you for another week of Flag Football fun, exercise, education, and ministry! This is a very special week as we celebrate our nation on Wednesday, the 4th of July. I hope everyone has a blessed and safe day in celebration and remembrance. Please remember to tell all of your families to be at the 2018 CSports Flag Football Celebration THIS COMING SUNDAY AT 3:00PM IN OUR GYM! They will want to get here about 10 minutes before so that they will have time to fill out their response cards and find a seat before the lights go out for the program. Teams should be finishing the Celebration Banners which each team will hold up as they parade across the stage during the celebration to thank their coaches and team parents for the season. I have received a few notices of Team Service Projects being completed so far. It is warming to see how our teams can do so much to help our community and the people who need a hand!
Our main purpose in the Children’s Sports component of our Recreation Ministry is expressed not only in our podium verse, Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”, but in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 which says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” It goes on from there, but you get the idea of what we are trying to do. We teach a lot of things from forward passes, to double plays, to in-bounds passes, to layups, but the main and most consistent thing we want each child (and family for that matter) to go home with each week is the knowledge of how much Jesus loves them and what He wants them to be. We have been blessed to be called into this ministry and we plan to be faithful in all we do. Thank you all for the part you play in this vital process.
Here, as we approach the 4th of July, we should remember that our patriotism, just as our faith, is modeled through our words and actions. Let us be re-energized in our efforts to teach love for our brother/sister, love for our nation, as well as love for our creating and saving God. Make a “mid-year resolution” to increase your Bible study, and maybe even do some reading about this country’s history, the good and the bad, and be agents of peace and unity in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, and here on the ball fields!
Years ago in my other career with the Juvenile Court I served for a while as a “Loaned Executive” with The United Way. The phrase we often used was, “Thanks to you, it’s working!” I believe strongly that the phrase is appropriate for my message to you today. Thank you all for what you do to make this ministry all that the Spirit ordained it to be! Keep up the good work!
In His Service,
Steve Ellisor, Recreation Minister
Christ United Methodist Church
251-706-3326
“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:6