“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that you love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:3-11
On November 3, 2014 my family and I began our caravan to New Jersey in a blizzard as we left Wyoming with Uhaul and minivan. Four days later on November 6, 2014 we arrived in Brick and the rest, as they say, is history.
What a blessing the ups and downs of the last six years have been. I wanted to take this week’s Weekly Thought to thank all of you in our church family for your love and patience with us over these years and I hope there are many, many, more that we get to spend together.
As Paul is writing here to the Philippians in this letter, he is not present with them, but he is sharing his love and thankfulness for the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. I don’t have to write a letter to you from a distant location but let me take the time to write this weekly thought to you.
To the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Brick, members of Faith Bible Church, Orthodox Presbyterian. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. I am very thankful that God brought our family here and we are blessed to be in this congregation with each one of you. I am joyful when I pray for you. I appreciate our partnership in the gospel from the first day we arrived and you showed your love to us until now. I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace. I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
I know this year, in particular, has had its ups and downs and we long for normal church life. Let us yearn for those times of fellowship and worship. Times of sharing and fun. May God go before us in the days to come and may we look to him over the next six years.