Thanksgiving and Grace

Hola Jonah Lovers, 

I know that you are all distraught because there was no blog last week, but it is ok because here it comes again. There was a little hiatus due to the wonderful thanksgiving holiday. I hope that you all took the opportunity to thank our living God for His grace, evident in every blessing we experience in life from breathing to health, but ultimately seen in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on our behalf, using His death as a substitute for our own.

Here at Jonah, the Duke family had quite a thanksgiving holiday with over 60 people and a feast to accommodate them. Thank God for family and food. Personally, I am a huge fan of Thanksgiving and love to be with family during such a great holiday. I had the blessing of visiting much of my family up north in Port Orchard. It was truly a great thing to just be with family during a time designated for giving thanks.

I also was given the opportunity to lead musical worship for my Grandparent’s church. I sang six songs all about Jesus and, while explaining the true beauty of the grace that God gives people completely deserving hell, I found myself being brought close to tears to realize yet again how incredibly blessed I am to have so many things I do not deserve. God, instead of sending me straight to Hell which I completely deserve, instead chose to sacrifice His own Son to atone for my sins. This truth is completely absurd and something I am thankful for beyond words and can grasp barely any comprehension. Each and every one of you deserves hell (Rom. 3:23), but God in His magnificent love and grace chose to give His son to appease His good wrath and satisfy justice (Is. 53:10). God is a good God, He alone is good. I pray that if some of you do not know God in a saving way that you will repent of your sins and give them to Jesus who died for them. Give your life to Christ that you may have a new life because of His death. To top it all off, Jesus rose from the dead and God gave Him the name that is above all names (Phil. 2:9). So worship God with all of your life because we have life only in Christ.

In other news, Christmas is coming up which marks the beautiful event of God coming to earth first as a little baby that would grow to be a man that would die for the sins of the world, but more on that later. During the Trout Lake Holiday Market, it is community thing for the holidays, there will be an Open House Christmas Party here at Jonah. I would like you all to come out for the party it will be December 6^th from 9am – 4pm. You can come and as you would like because it is an open house kind of thing. There will be cookies, drawings, tours, and the chance to sign up for summer camps with added savings.

Well, I hope to see many of you at the Christmas Party, though admittedly I do not know how many read this blog so I do not know how many is “many”. But I want to see a lot of people regardless.

I pray that the beginning of the holiday season will be the beginning of constant reminders that God has given us grace through His Son when we deserved nothing but death.

Proud to do Kingdom Work,

Soka