Head Elder’s Corner - Greetings in Christ. 

I just wanted to let everyone know how wonderful it was for Karla and I to have many of you to our house on Saturday for our church picnic and farewell to the Roscoe Family.  It was a wonderful way to send the Roscoe’s off and spend some quality time together as a church family.  I am so thankful that God brought the Roscoe family to Fallon so we could get to watch the entire clan grow closer to Christ over the last 3 years. 

This has been one of the tougher summers I can remember in Fallon.  Between the lack of water and smoke from the forest fires – it has been downright brutal.  The fires remind me of the familiar bible verse found in Joel 1:19 – “To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.”  Sounds a little too familiar, doesn’t it?  In the first part of Joel, it describes a brutal locust plague that has ravaged the countryside, destroying all the crops for eating as well as grapes for wine.  It describes a mourning bride that has lost her bridegroom as well as the mourning of the soil itself, the farmers and even the priests for the land is bare.  In chapters 13 and 14 Joel reveals that this devastation is not coincidental but is God punishing Israel for their sins.  God is proving a foretaste of judgement day and calling on the people of Israel to repent for their sins. 

While I certainly can’t say for sure whether the fires ravaging California and Nevada right now are a punishment from God – what I can tell you is that it doesn’t hurt to repent for our sins at every opportunity.  One of my favorite parts of the service each Sunday is that brief period of time Pastor gives us for reflection of our sins.  After we have repented, he says, “As a called and ordained servant of Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  I don’t know about you, but I can almost feel a weight lifted off of me each time he says that.

I hate the smoke just as much as all of you.  Each time I see it I am reminded that God is in complete control and can destroy us or raise us up depending on his will in a moment’s notice.  While the fires may destroy part of the earth, they cannot touch us, Christians.  The Father has already sent his Son into the world to atone for our sins.  All we have to do is believe in him and we will be saved.  Praise be to God for that.

In Christ,
Andrew Craig

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