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Dear Sister,
No, I haven't abandoned this
newsletter, although it may seem so because of the
significant gap in time since the last one. What can I
use as an excuse? Hmm. How about "summer"? It's a
pretty lame alibi, but I guess I will stick by it.
Breathe-Free
Since the last Angel Co-op
newsletter, I have taken some time off from my job,
attended Camp Meeting, and have begun a serious personal
CHIP program of my own (i.e., Cynthia's Health
Improvement Project).
My husband and I were reminded on
Thursday evening of just what a magnificent blessing the
"Health Message" is in our lives, and in the lives of
those with whom we share it. Pearl McNevin, Saskatoon
Central's Personal Ministry's leader, had invited us to
participate in the final night of the current Breathe
Free Stop Smoking program. Ed and I each had a short
segment of the program to present.
Pearl was a little disappointed
with the response at the outset of the program,
anticipating that because Saskatoon went "smoke-free" on
July 1st, this would be an optimum time for smokers to
quit with support. Six smokers, all women, came to the
information night, and on each successive evening there
were between 1-5 women present.
Thursday night was to be
Graduation Night. One smoker of the five participants
was to receive her diploma. She called to say that her
car had broken down and she wouldn't be able to make
it. When we arrived, Pearl was putting a brave face on
the event, suggesting that perhaps we would need to
drink the juice and watch the video by ourselves.
Just as I was considering whether
I wanted to make a dash for it, having seen the blurry,
out-of-focus 60s motivational video before ("Pack Your
Own Chute"), down the hall came Frances, the ebullient
friend of one of our lovely Church members. Linda had
given me a head's-up about her dear friend Frances
coming to the BF sessions. She was the only person I
knew about in advance. I'm pretty sure this was one of
those God-appointed rendevous that we hear about in
others' anecdotes, but rarely are conscious of in
our own lives.
Frances looked around in good
humour at the four of us waiting to present to her and
charmed with a joke she had heard at a Hutterite wedding
where she and her partner were the only non-Hutterites
present.
When the young minister
arrived at the small country Church to preach his first
official sermon, he noticed it had snowed about three
feet deep just hours before Church was scheduled to
begin. Due to the snow, an elderly, white bearded farmer
was the only person to show up for the service.
The young minister looked at the
farmer and asked, "What do you think we should do?"
The farmer scratched his beard
thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know much about preaching,
but I do know about farming. If I went down to the
pasture with a load of hay to feed my cows and only one
cow showed up, I'd feed that cow."
The new minister said, "That's great!
You sit right there and I'll preach you a sermon."
After about ninety minutes of
preaching hellfire and brimstone, the pastor concluded
his sermon. Feeling pretty proud of his accomplishment,
the preacher turned to the farmer and asked, "Well, how
was it?"
The farmer scratched his beard
thoughtfully. "Like I said, I don't know much about
preaching, but I do know about farming. Like I told you,
if I went down to the field with a load of hay and only
one cow showed up, I'd feed that one cow. But, there's
just one thing."
"What's that?" the preacher asked.
The farmer replied, "I wouldn't feed
her the whole load."
Frances had not yet gone a full week without a
cigarette, but she was smoking much, much less, and
finding that she was going to bed earlier and getting
positive support from her non-smoking friends. We
encouraged her to think of herself as "a non-smoker".
Much of the time we had allotted to our formal
presentation was appropriately side-lined as Frances
asked us to share our individual quit-smoking stories.
Each of us had attempted to quit several times before
the actual "cessation"... I know that my final quitting
was an important crossroads on my spiritual journey.
Smoking was the one thing that continued to impede me in
my relationship with God. Like all addictions, smoking
was my god. I had gotten to the point where I
would sacrifice anything to that shrine: my health,
healthy relationships with my family, my own integrity
of character.
Frances was also interested in our experiences as
non-smokers.... did we feel any different? We agreed
that we had a whole number of positive health
experiences (sleeping better, etc.) and less anxiety,
guilt, and fear about dying.
The program script shared that Adventists have been
offering smoking cessation programs since 1960. Pearl
talked about how we have a commitment to sharing our
understanding of the importance of healthy lifestyle
choices in the overall divine plan.
The
next morning on our walk, Ed and I prayed for
Frances and the other participants. We also
prayed for Pearl, and thanked God for her dedication to
spreading the "health message".
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ASK A PASTOR:
For quite a while it has been the
desire at Angel Co-op to have a "spiritual advisor" on
board to round out our WM crew. I am so pleased to
announce that we now have a real live pastor available
on our very own
ASK A PASTOR forum: to answer your
questions about Seventh-day Adventist beliefs or to gain
Christian guidance and light for a number of
heart-hurting issues and general concerns.
Pastor Elizabeth Castle
lives in Lancaster, Massachussetts where she is a
half-time Associate Pastor at the Lancaster Seventh-Day
Adventist Church. She has a degree in Personal Ministry
and Psychology from Atlantic Union College and is
enrolled in a Master's program in M.Ed. with an emphasis
on Clinical Ministries. Pastor Elizabeth has a
wonderful God-given wisdom and compassion born partly of
having been a single mom (she has a daughter Sarah, 30
and a son, Bryan Jr., 28, and a grandson, Christopher,
10), and having grown up in a home where alcoholism and
abuse were present. She has a fascinating witness to
share of how she became a Seventh-day Adventist
Christian (coming up).
Pastor Elizabeth has a desire to
serve the Lord in the way He leads her. I am so
impressed and grateful for the way He has brought her
into our lives on the Angel Co-op site. Feel confident
in using the forum. You can register with a 'pseudonym'
and be ensured of confidentiality. When you share your
questions, you can be certain that others will benefit
from your courage in coming forward. Click on
ASK A PASTOR to go into the site, and
follow the instructions there. God bless you!
In Christ,
Cynthia
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