Final Days Until Our Founders Dinner

On Friday, March 17, we will host our 3rd Annual Founders Dinner with special guest speaker Gracia Burnham.  Gracia is a missionary and author . . . you all know that.  You all know that Gracia was held captive for over a year in the Philippine jungle with her husband Martin, and you all know that Martin was killed as the government was making a rescue attempt.  You know that Gracia has authored two books reflecting on her time in captivity: In The Presence Of My Enemies and To Fly Again.  You all know the things mentioned above because I have shared them with you multiple times . . . but do you know WHY we are hosting Gracia and have a Founders Dinner?

Conestoga Christian School began having Founders Events (dinners and concerts) three years ago to be an encouragement to the Christian community and to raise funds for our school.  Yes, the Founders Dinner is a fundraiser.  Families that attend any Founders Event enjoy an encouraging speaker, wonderful food (if we are having a dinner), fabulous fellowship, intriguing information about CCS, and the opportunity to bless CCS financially.  Many families that have attended past Founders Dinners have not been a part of the CCS community, but some have been.  Through the Founders Events we are letting our surrounding communities know that we have a school and, by attending our Events, allowing them to help support us financially.

There are only two weeks left until we host Gracia at Shady Maple Banquets.  Please pray that God will fill the banquet hall with families that need to hear Gracia's story.  Currently we only have sold about 100 tickets, but through God's power we could easily sell 500 tickets in a day.  We set out to host 900 people, and through the miraculous power of God that could still happen.  Have you purchased your ticket yet?

With your help we can get the word out, enjoy an encouraging evening with Gracia Burnham, and support Conestoga Christian School.  Tickets can be purchased at www.conestogachristian.net.

Where Do You Find Comfort

I was reading a devotion from Alistair Begg where Alistair commented on a quote from C.H. Spurgeon, “The hot day of weariness does not last forever.”  Alistair shared that even our roughest days will pass and this earth will fade away, but the peace and strength of the Lord will last forever.  Weary is a great term for the way I can feel at times.  Often I find myself becoming weary when I look at the small picture of my life: budgets, discipline, strategic planning, coaching, mentoring, and the list goes on and on, not to mention being a husband and a father.  I become weary only when I look at the small picture of my life and not the big one.  When my eyes are focused on myself, it is a hot day of weariness, but when my eyes are focused heavenward, on Christ, on the founder and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2), I find strength, joy, and contentment.

One of the greatest encouragements I have as a Christian educator is working with God-fearing men, women, and students.  When I am weary, the body of Christ picks me up.  God seems to always send one of His children my way when I am down.  Have you experienced something similar?  When the day seems long, I somehow always receive an encouraging note, email, or text -- a message that encourages me to carry on because God is awesome and at work in our lives.  It is at that point, when a friend or family member reminds me what is important, that my focus shifts from me to God.  Be that person who sends a note of encouragement and reminds a brother or sister in Christ that when we do not lean on our own understanding and we acknowledge Him in all we do, He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Are you looking for encouragement?  Come to one of the following events and you will be encouraged:

 Pastors Luncheon on Thursday, February 9 . . . Have you invited your pastor?
 Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, February 18 . . . Come hungry, leave happy!
 Instrumental Recital on Tuesday, February 21
 Elementary Concert on Friday, February 24
 Family Skate Night on Saturday, March 11 . . . a wonderful night of fellowship
 Founders Dinner on Friday, March 17 . . . Have you bought your tickets?

God's Grace

"The times when life seems unmanageable to us are the times when we find out that God is truly good." (Gracia Burnham, To Fly Again)

What an amazing opportunity we have here at Conestoga Christian School to host our 3rd Annual Founders Dinner!  We are privileged to have Gracia Burnham be our featured speaker at the dinner which will be hosted at Shady Maple Banquets in East Earl, PA.  This is an opportunity promising to encourage your walk with God.  Remaining focused on Him, Gracia trusted God with her life as a missionary in the Philippines.  She was strengthened by Him to live moment by moment in the jungle as she and her husband were taken hostage by a terrorist group linked to Osama Bin Laden.  God’s grace gave her the ability to remain steadfast in Him through everything she endured: months held in captivity and the death of her husband Martin as they were being rescued.

Life is difficult!  Gracia has experienced this more than most of us.  She lived through captivity for over a year, seventeen gun battles, other captives being beheaded and raped, very little water or food, no privacy, no toiletries, and the list goes on and on. Through it all she still can say that God is good!  She has written two books, In The Presence of My Enemies and To Fly Again: Surviving the Tailspins of Life.  In The Presence of My Enemies is her story of the moments leading up to her capture, days in the jungle, and her rescue.  To Fly Again is an account of her coming home, adjusting to life without her husband, and how God used Martin and her to bring three of the terrorists to a faith in God.  I encourage you to read these books!  It is a miracle story of our great God and who He is even in the most difficult times in life.  

There is a book club that just started in the Morgantown area.  The first book this group read together was In The Presence of My Enemies.  Each one said they could not put the book down and now they all have tickets to our Founders Dinner.  Each person in the book club is excited to hear Gracia’s testimony and meet the person God has used and is using for His glory.  Take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy tickets to the CCS Founders Dinner where God will speak to you through His servant Gracia Burnham.  Tickets can be purchased at www.conestogachristian.net.

Take a moment and listen to Gracia after she was rescued from the Abu Sayyaf:

Freed Hostage Speaks About Ordeal