As I mentioned in previous Musings, it is going to be a busy fall at CTR! I will say more and give additional information in Musings as each event draws near, but I want to give a preview and overview of major events that are coming up:
September 10th : Youth Group Begins
September 14th: CASKET Thursday Night Series Begin
September 17th: Youth Confirmation Begins, Alpha Course Begins
September 29th: RezMen Chicken Dinner
October 1st: TBA
October 7th: New Member Orientation #1
October 13-15th: Men’s Fall Hike
October 21st: CTR Fall Festival
October 28th: HollyFest Booth
November 3-5th: RezMen Retreat
November 10-11th: Alpha In-town Retreat
November 17-19th: Women’s Retreat
December 3rd: FV Christmas Parade
December 9th: HS Christmas Parade (If we decide to do it)
December 10th: New Member Orientation #2
December 24th: Lessons & Carols (morning), Christmas Eve (evening)

There are other, more routine activities that are not part of this list – these are important too! There are other activities that have yet to be added to the schedule. Go ahead and pencil or peck the above into your calendar and we will fill you in more as upcoming events approach.

I hope you can see why it is going to be a full and busy fall around here. I like it that way!

Hellish Hail and Nature’s Fury
A day after writing in Musings how blessed I was because my beloved Ellie made it through my swerving incident unscathed, she was trashed by the hailstorm last Friday… I have never seen hail like that!

And now my windshield is cracked in numerous places, and the body of Ellie looks like someone took a hammer to it. (Did I mention I neglected to get comprehensive auto coverage?) She remains perfectly drivable, but it just isn’t same — the little dream I wrote about in Musings earlier this summer is over, and I want my beautiful, ugly-cute Ellie back the way she was!

I know many of you experienced similar car damage. I know unlike me, some of you had significant property damage to your homes. I know I am fortunate compared to many in this area. We all are blessed in comparison to those in Texas and Louisiana who lost so much to Harvey. Let us continue to pray for and support them! A great way to help is through the Anglican Relief and Development Fund. The donation page is here:
https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E92060&id=93

And now the monstrous and terrible Irma is on its way. Let us pray for those in Florida and Irma’s path. Let us pray the storm track doesn’t shift slightly east from this morning’s forecast. I suspect it might, putting us in the path of a weakened but still dangerous Irma. Meanwhile, more storms continue to form off the African coast…

I am disinclined to wholeheartedly buy into apocalyptic visions and warnings of either a climatic or biblical sort. That’s just the way I am. But with all that is happening, it does make me wonder – what the heck is going on? In the end, it might mean nothing at all. That’s just the way it is. We have had a dearth of serious hurricanes over the last few years, and conditions are now right for several to form. Or maybe not, maybe more is going on than we comprehend.

Regardless whether all this fury is something or nothing at all, my response is the same: Lord, have mercy, O Lord have mercy on us all!

[Held Over] Alpha Ad & YOU
Note:Thanks to those who responded to this last week. We need more of you! Through the ad and those of you who have highlighted Alpha on your own Facebook page, we are getting lots of looks!

We have recently created an ad on Face Book to help us promote Alpha, which is coming to CTR beginning September 17th.

The ad is a great tool, but you can help us get the word out even more!

Here’s what you can do:
-If you haven’t done so already, join our CTR Face Book page at https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRezFuquay/

-In the Upcoming Events section, find the Alpha Course posting
https://www.facebook.com/events/882316728601182/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A%22[%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22page%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22page_upcoming_events_card%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A[]%7D]%22%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D

-Please share, like, comment upon, respond to a comment – do anything you can to get Alpha to show up on your feed so that your FB friends will see it!

-Invite someone to Alpha directly & give them the link.

The above is easy to do, and who knows what God might do through it?

See you Sunday!
-Bill