Grace In Action, a reflection by John Hayes

Posted on October 27, 2018 | Posted by Mary Stoneback

We continue to preach the gracious love of God for people. Transformed by this gracious love, we strive to serve the least ones in our community and across the world. Thank you for your continued financial and volunteer support. Remember to fill out your Estimate of Giving forms by SUNDAY OCTOBER 28. Follow this link to the online form: http://www.ascensioncos.org/give/2019-estimate-of-giving/

The following is a reflection from member, John Hayes, on what it means to him to be Blessed to be a Blessing.

Peace Be With You!

Last week Pastor Dan reminded us that we are richly blessed – materially and spiritually.  I totally agree!  When I go to sleep at night, I start my prayer by thanking God for the day I enjoyed.  I thank him for my wife and family.  I thank him for my church family – our pastors, our leaders, our congregation, and our facilities.  And I thank him for sending his Son into our world to show us the way to eternal life.

I believe the biggest gift we have is God’s grace.  We didn’t earn it, but yet we have it.  I believe we have God’s grace so we don’t have to worry about trying to earn our way to heaven.  Because we don’t have this worry, we can focus on the three things I believe God wants us to do here on earth – praise Him, bring people to Him, and take care of the people God has put on our earth.

Each of these tasks takes a commitment from us with our time, our talents, and our money.  Ascension is blessed with all three.  We are truly a Community of Grace called to serve.

When I think about my blessings and how they all stem from God, it is easy for me to make a strong commitment to our ministries.

2019 is going to be a challenge for our church because we lost some important members of our congregation in 2018 who were very generous contributors to our missions.  That means it is our time to step up and increase our support to Ascension’s ministries.

Last week Pastor Dan challenged us to increase our giving by 10%.  I believe we can do even better than this.

Thank you for this opportunity to share with you!