Hello,
My name is Jim Pascasio. I am one of the drummers for the Crossroads praise team (the one with the shaved head).
On Sunday January 30th, Pastor Glen's message was about "An Unshakable Faith in the face of Illness". In light of Glen's message, I would like to share how real that message is to me.
I've been a diabetic for many years. One of the possible effects of this disease is that it can damage one's kidneys. That is exactly what this disease is doing to my body. Currently I find myself facing life with failing kidneys. matter of fact, recently my doctor told me that I am in need of a transplant.
At this point, the best possible outcome is for God to put it on someone's heart to share one of their kidneys. Know this is a long shot, I daily find myself asking God to help my family and me to face this illness with an unshakable faith. As such, I ask each of you to pray for us. Pray specifically that this illness would not progress to the point of having to undergo dialysis prior to finding a donor. Pray that God would give my family and me an unshakable faith as we face this disease and the journey of finding a donor. Lastly, please pray for a donor. Pray that either a donor is found or that God touches someone's heart to volunteer to be a donor.
I am certain that with God's help, my family and I will conquer this huge challenge.
Jim Pascasio
Two weeks ago it was announced that we have broken through the halfway mark in our fund raising campaign!
“Thank you” to our Lord and “Thank you” to each of you.
By now, if you have spent any time around Crossroads you know that we do not believe in “guilting” people into giving. Why? Because we believe it is unbiblical. On the other hand, Crossroads believes giving should always be done out of gratitude. With that said, if you have decided to share a gift to help build the educational wing addition, please complete and turn in your pledge card by this Sunday. While we certainly will accept pledge cards after that date, turning in your card by February 5th helps the Deacons assess how the campaign is going in reaching the goal of $130,000.00.
By the way, I want to also thank our Crossroads Kids for their involvement in our building campaign. They are collecting pennies and other loose change to help fund the addition. As it is a boy vs. girl competition, I’m obviously pulling for the boys. However, I am a little worried after today. I just lifted the boy’s penny container and then lifted the girl’s container. Knowing the penny collection ends February 5th… let’s just say I scrounged around my desk finding some spare change and added to the boy’s container. No matter who wins, I am extremely proud of both the girls and boys for your sacrifice.
This past Sunday we announced two new avenues for folks to get involved in the building campaign. Both offer the opportunity for people to use their gifts of creativity. Starting Feb.12th, we will hold a bake sale and basket auction at Crossroads. Show off your baking skills or make a unique basket while helping us reach our $130,000 goal. For instance, we already have a “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” basket that will be auctioned off. All contributions go to our building addition. This all happens just in time for you to purchase something special for your special Valentine. Questions? Please visit the information table in the lobby or contact Nicole Forget nicoleforget16@yahoo.com or Abby Laman abbyandmark@hotmail.com.
Many Blessings,
Pastor Glen
Other than death (and the obligatory taxes) there is one other certainty that every individual on this planet will experience: failure. And no matter how you look at it, whether it’s your own personal failure, the observation of another’s failure, or the collective experience of a society’s failure – it’s always messy, uncomfortable, annoying, heartbreaking, stressful and worst of all, unavoidable.
Failure messes up your day, it affects relationships, jobs, self-perception and can completely change life’s trajectory. It makes you feel inadequate. It humiliates you. It discourages you. It can disappoint you, crushing whatever dreams you may have ever had. Failure is the scowling, muscly, very intimidating figure hunched in the corner of life’s boxing ring perversely eager to punch your lights out.
Some try to make the case that failure can actually be humorous. Entire comedic industries have been developed because some poor shmuck did something stupid while a friend, family member or observant bystander caught it on tape. But that’s not really failure as much as it is (hilarious) idiocy. There is a line between the two, however fine it may be.
No, real failure does not make one smile. It makes one cringe. I imagine this is one of the reasons why none of us like to admit our failures. We have become quite adept at not only covering up our botches and fiascos but also pinpointing and broadcasting others’ – which is sad, indeed.
To make matters worse – we are born failures. From the moment we exit that womb, it’s really only a matter of time. Those are harsh words; appalling really. They may be enough to make one harrumph the whole thing, mentally crush this into a tight ball and throw it away. I know, I don’t like reading it either. But truly, look at yourself and look around you because it doesn’t matter if you grow up to be president, an Academy Award winning actress, a stay at home mom, a CPA, a hobo or the Pope. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got tons of money, if you’re dirt poor, if you’ve got multiple sclerosis or Down’s Syndrome. It doesn’t matter if you worship Buddha, God, Allah or nothing at all – you will absolutely, definitely, certainly screw up many, many times.
So, what now? What are 6.9 billion failures to do? What hope, if any at all, is there for us? Thomas Edison said, “If I find 10,000 ways something doesn’t work, I have not failed…because every wrong attempt…is another step forward.” Oh, please Thomas! I doubt after that 10,000th failure your outlook was so rosy. It’s much easier to say things like that after you’ve invented the light bulb. However, old Tom does have a point. It was those 10,000 failures that led to the one, life changing success.
Whether you have recently experienced a failure, or whether you’re in the midst of one right now – here’s something we can all appreciate: it doesn’t last. Oh, it’s perpetual, of course, but one of the unique characteristics of failure is that it’s also opportunistic. Failure opens doors. Sounds like an oxymoron, I know. Seems counterintuitive, right? I can hear you man: “My marriage failed. What part of that is an open door?” “I failed to get that job… again. What part of that is an open door?” “No matter how hard I try, I just keep failing to kick the addiction. What part of that is an open door?”
Let’s look at a particular point in the lives of a few guys named Simon, James and John. They were fisherman by trade who eventually became Jesus’ close friends and disciples. These guys, one morning, before they ever really knew Jesus, are exhausted, frustrated and probably more than a little ticked after a long night of not catching a thing. Not one single fish. Needless to say, they had failed miserably. This was the only livelihood they ever knew – their proverbial bread and butter – and they botched it. Dejected, they come ashore and notice a crowd has gathered to hear from Jesus. They can tell right away that he’s overwhelmed by the massive crowd. So Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and asks him “to put out a little from the land. And [Jesus] sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’” Hm. What an odd request. Simon had just cleaned everything up and put it all away and now Jesus wants him to unpack it all again? Plus there was no way they would be able to catch any fish during this time of the day in that depth of water. Fish only came to the surface at night to feed and during the day they would most likely be in the warmer shallows. Simon says “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” He could have stopped everything right there and let this door of opportunity remain shut, but instead of refusing Jesus’ request, he chooses to trust him and continues, “But at your word I will let down the nets.” No sooner had the nets hit the water then the fishy floodgates opened and swarms of fins and scales filled them up. The nets got so full they began to break. Simon had to get a second boat to help him. And if this wasn’t enough, when they finally hauled in the catch, the load was so heavy both the boats began to sink. Simon is genuinely freaked out – this Jesus is clearly more than any man, he is the Lord. Then Jesus drops one of his most famous, inspiring, enduring lines, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be fishers of men.” And that sealed the deal for Simon, James and John because as the story goes, “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:1-11)
Hear Simon after an exhausting failure; he sounds a lot like us: “Fishing is the only livelihood I’ve ever known. This is what I do, and I’ve failed at it! Where is the open door in that?” And now listen to Jesus who comes along and responds quite calmly, “Me. I am the open door. I’m your best hope, and I can prove it to you if you choose to trust me.”
Now, trusting in Jesus does not mean that you will never again experience failure. You will. Talk to any honest Christian and they will tell you that although their heart belongs to the Savior, their feet are still on this earth and every day there is something to stumble over. The only difference is that they are no longer a slave to their failures. It is not their screw ups that define them, but the God who says, “I love you anyway. I find you worthy to be loved, no matter what.”
And really, it’s not about needing Jesus to get us through our failures (although that is a legitimate need) because plenty of people have gotten though them without ever having believed in him. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Everyday failures, everyday sins, whether they’re one in the same or not at all connected – the root of the matter is trust; entrusting your failures into the hands of a trustworthy God. It’s about finding freedom from our failures through faith in Jesus. This opens the door to much greater callings and more meaningful successes than we could ever hope for ourselves – things we will never deserve but are graciously given.
So look at it this way brothers and sisters, in the boxing ring of life, you can stare down that sweaty, growling, glaring figure opposite you with a measure of confidence because hope, powered by faith, has a mean left hook and a jab that ain’t too shabby.