Prayer for Today, Wednesday, December 7

Hopeful Presence,

We pause today, in the midst of the joy and activity of the Advent season, to reflect on the events of seventy years ago. The bombing of Pearl Harbor changed the world and affected the lives of all Americans. We thank you, loving God, for the devotion and sacrifice of “the greatest generation”.  Please bless those still living and bless us, O Lord, as we seek to be agents of peace in the world. We soon celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. May his spirit abound in our midst. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.

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Randy Conrady is back in Bass Hospital. Barb Newton had a procedure yesterday at the surgery center and is at home. Sandra Justice is at St. Mary’s hospital with complications after a procedure at the surgery center. She will likely go home today. Mary Ruth Cooper will have a procedure today at noon at St. Mary’s.

Please pray for all of these friends.

Please pray for Beth Henneke as she moves her aunt, Gladys Turner, to Greenbriar. Pray also for Gladys, who seems to be more confused every day.

Caregivers had a wonderful Christmas party yesterday evening.

CWF meets today.

The children are rehearsing this evening at 6:00 p.m.

The Stewardship Committee meets this evening at 7:30 p.m.

The Board Dinner is tomorrow evening.

Please pray for Shawn, a homeless man that Carolyn and I befriended last night. He is one of those people we normally don’t even see and there are many of them in Enid. May God watch over them.

I received the following email from Scott Chuda, a young Navy pilot who attended our 8:00 Chapel Service when he was at Vance:

Mr. McLemore,
Good morning from cloudy Whidbey, Washington. Just wanted to drop you a quick note and say thank you for continuing to send the daily prayers to me.  They are a great way for me to start my day and  look forward to them every morning.  I hope everything is good back in Enid.  I haven't found a church that meets the needs of its people as yours did since I have left, and I really miss attending your services every Sunday morning.
As I mentioned earlier I am up in Whidbey, Washington. I just arrived here 3 weeks ago and have already been thrown into the lion’s den learning to fly the EA-18G.  I send my best to everyone in the congregation for a merry Christmas season and good health.
Thanks again for all you did for me,
Scott Chuda
Ltjg       USN

The  scripture for today is Job 7:1-21:

“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more.¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, ‘then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, visit them every morning, test them every moment? Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle? If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

Grace and peace,

John McLemore