2012.01.30 Monday Morning Message

Greetings and best wishes from all of us at Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, Vinita, Oklahoma.  


We are a congregation with a big heart overflowing with loving care and concern. I know this to be true from personal experience. Because of poor health, I have had to resign as part-time pastor. Friends in the congregation have overwhelmed me with their kindness.

So...this is "Thanksgiving time for me"...KUDOS to Jewell Morgan, church secretary at Pilgrim Church, and Brian Dishman, editor of the Pilgrim Church Blog. They have kept our "on site, on line" ministry on track.

     ...Thanks to each of you who have sent cards and notes.  Each one has buoyed my spirit.

     ...Thanks for the food, for the thoughts and prayers, which have helped me regain strength.

     ...The attractive, unique album you have given me is filled with beautiful words from cover to cover. Sentiments in the album are humbling, especially those I know to be a little exaggeration.

And, I am thankful to friends in Grace Presbyterian Church, Grove, where I served for six years as a part-time minister, and to members of John Knox Church, Tulsa, where I was pastor for more than ten years, for comfort and concern.

I shall always cherish the friendship of each of you.

With blessings and affectionate regard,

Richard

2012.01.23 Monday Morning Message

Message from the archives of Richard Evans:

2009.06.22 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.
It's strange to me how intelligent people can believe our every moment is predestined by God. Such fatalism ought be wiped from the mind. God has established laws within creation, and one is the law of cause and effect. An airplane crash, in which more than 200 people are killed, is not the purposeful will of God.

We need only reread the book of Job, who asked: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and bless him for that good...and then turn around and blame God for the bad things that come upon us?"

Job, who at times prospered and was blessed with a loving wife and children, at other times suffered more than anyone ought to endure, was prepared to live with unanswered questions.

There was one thing Job could affirm and that is that nothing can separate all creation, and that includes you and me, from the love of God.

Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.


Richard

 

2012.01.16 Monday Morning Message

Message from the archives of Richard Evans:

2008.10.06 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

People consult the stars and tea leaves in an effort to unveil the future. However, if we knew what was going to happen tomorrow and the day after, and all the tomorrows that are to be, wouldn't life lose its zest and excitement? It would be boring to play out life mechanically! Thank God we are not robots. We have freedom to determine the shape of our tomorrows by what we do today.

Our future depends largely on what we place in store for the future. Not the stars, nor cards, but our own actions will determine the shape of things to come.

Our "Pearl of Value" comes from Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning:

"Turn your predicaments into achievements - you have that capacity."

With blessings and best wishes,
Richard

2012.01.09 Monday Morning Message

Message from the archives of Richard Evans:

Top of the morning and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

My sole message today may be summed up in four words: "DON'T DESPISE SMALL THINGS!" To be faithful in little things is a great qualification for great things!

Perhaps the greatest fault of our age is that we are in too big a hurry to pay attention to small things which might improve our life.

What are some of those small things?

1. convey congratulations to friends (especially young people) when some success or happiness comes to them.
2. extend a word of appreciation for the work of someone you know.
3. extend sympathy. Comfort comes when one knows that others are sharing their sorrow.
   

Perhaps being diligent in doing small things prompted Emerson's fable, "The Mountain and the Squirrel."

"The mountain and the squirrel had a quarrel. And the former called the latter 'Little Prig'; Bun replied, 'You are doubtless very big; but all sorts of things and weather must be taken in together, to make up a year and a sphere. And I think it no disgrace to occupy my place. If I'm not so large as you, you are not so small as I, and not half so spry. I'll not deny you make a very pretty squirrel track; talents differ; all is well and wisely put; if I cannot carry forests on my back, neither can you crack a nut.'"

"Talents differ!" Thank goodness we're not all alike!

Peace,
Richard

2012.01.03 Monday Morning Message

From the Archives of Richard Evans...

In this first Monday Morning message of the New Year, I offer you one of the greatest phrases in the Bible: "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." (Proverbs 20:27)

Within yourself there is a divine capacity which, when brought forth, can enrich your life and the lives of others. To discover that something within yourself, read and re-read Luke and Acts. You'll be amazed how these two books will bring forth hidden strength and enable you to see the full range of human possibilities.

You are a child of God and by kindling the flame of God within you others who may be spiritually barren and bankrupt can begin to see their own divine capacity.

I have found new meaning and reason for Christ's words, "you are the light of the world". (Matthew 5:14), as I reflect on that great, simple phrase - "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord."

Resolve now, at the start of 2012, to discover what you may become! Don't set a limit on what you may be.

Richard

 

Richard is still ill.  Please keep him in your prayers. 

Also keep AnnaBelle Mitchell in your prayers.