Open Air Service * 18:30 19th July Kimble Free Church

The list
I awoke before the alarm went off. Bad
Kitty was kneading her paws on my
tummy, purring loudly. Time to fill my
dish, please. See how cute I am? With a
moan of protest, I glanced at the clock:
5:32 a.m. It was way too early to start the
day, but I knew that my beloved tabby
would never let me go back to sleep. I
stepped into my slippers and shuffled to
the kitchen, yawning while Bad Kitty
wound around my legs and purred.
“I hear you, kitty. Just hold on a
second…” I filled her dish with food, then
turned on the coffee maker and settled
down to wait for the coffee to brew.
All thoughts of recapturing sleep quickly
fled as I eyed the living room, still
displaying a few reminders of last night’s
memorable date with Bob. A single pink
rose was starting to open in its bud vase.
The end table held our empty popcorn
bowls; I had been too drowsy to wash
them after he left. Our Scrabble game
was still on the table. We had laughed
until our stomachs ached at his attempt
to play ‘squoze’ on a triple word space.
“It is too a word!” Bob feigned
indignation. “It’s the past perfect
participle of 'squeeze!'”
“Bob, I was an English major. There’s no
such thing! Use it in a sentence.”
“I squeeze my sweetie, I squoze my
sweetie, I have squozen my sweetie. So
there! That’ll be…let’s see…75 points for
‘squoze,’ plus another... 27 points for
adding the ‘s’ to ‘home’…102 points!”
He pumped his fist in victory.
Remembering our mock-argument, I
smiled. Lord, I love Bob so. We have
such fun together - I’m just sure he’s The
One. Won’t You give him just a little
nudge for me? We had been dating for
almost a year - we had both committed to
pray about our relationship - but still, Bob
had never once brought up the possibility
of marriage. I was beginning to despair.
Just a nudge, Lord, that’s all I ask.
Bad Kitty wandered back into the living
room, stopping to sniff at a scrap of
paper on the carpet. She touched it with
a tentative paw, then trotted off to her
basket, satisfied that her world was not in
danger. It was one of Bob’s ever-present
sticky notes. He was endearingly clumsy
and absent-minded; his numerous notes
to himself were the only way he managed
to get everything done. It must have
fallen from his jacket pocket. Feeling
slightly like an eavesdropper, I read the
note; it was simply a list of chores in
Bob’s nearly illegible scrawl:
1. Drop off movies
2. Buy herring
3. Call Tony E. about computer
4. Oil change
I drew a heart pierced by an arrow on the
bright yellow note and stuck it to my
refrigerator. He’d see it when he came by
that evening. With thoughts of Bob filling
all of the empty spaces in my heart, I
tidied the living room.
Several hours later, Bob arrived, looking
even more flushed and anxious than
usual. As he kissed my cheek, I saw
his eyes flick over to the colourful
note on the fridge. He looked startled,
then smacked his forehead, looking
stricken. “Oh, no! Sophie, I’m so sorry! I
wanted it to be a surprise! Now it’s all
spoiled!” He tore the note from the door.
Puzzled, I mentally reviewed the contents
of the list. What was he going to surprise
me with? Fish? “Bob, I don’t…”
He interrupted me by taking my hand and
dropping to one knee. My heart lurched.
He fumbled in his pocket and produced a
little square box. “If you saw that list, you
know that I bought you a ring yesterday.
Sophie, I wanted to surprise you, but will you be my wife?”
I was still trying to wrap my mind around
this, when I burst out laughing - not, I
think, the reaction that Bob had
expected. Not “buy herring!” Buy her ring!
What a huge, marvellous difference one
little space makes!
July 2015
website: www.kimble-free.co.uk
email: [email protected]
contact: Val & Jon 01844 346957
Kimble Free Church, the church by the bridge
Open Air Service *
with the
Ellesborough
Silver
Band
18:30
19th July
Kimble Free Church
* will be inside church if weather poor
A word in your ear from Val
I’m sitting writing this on a rainy day in the early part of June.
The last two days were lovely and sunny without a cloud in the
sky and so it was a bit of a shock to wake up this morning to a
wet and rather dismal day.
It got me to thinking about the weather. We moan a lot in this
country about our rain but many parts of the world would love
to have our climate. Just look out your window and see the ’life’
that is around us in every tree, plant and blade of grass. Water is so important to
bring ’life’ to our world.
That reminded me of an article that I read recently about how the United States
has spent millions of dollars looking for water on Mars. A few years ago, NASA
sent twin robots, ‘Opportunity’ and ‘Spirit’, to the red planet to see if water was
present or had ever been present in the past.
What was the purpose for sending the two “rovers”? The scientists were trying to
figure out if life has ever existed on Mars. You see, for ‘life’ to have happened,
there had to be water. No water, no life. Water is essential for life to exist!.
The article goes on to say, ‘two thousand years ago, a couple of “rovers” set out
across the countryside of an Earth-outpost called Samaria looking for water. One
was a woman who lived nearby. The other was a man from Galilee. They ended
up meeting at a well near the village of Sychar.’
We read of this encounter in the Bible (John 4:5-15).
The woman had come to collect water from the well and Jesus asked her for a
drink. He went on to explain to her that her spiritual need for refreshment was just
as important as her need for physical water.
Jesus offered her the Water of Life - Himself. He was (and still is the) refreshing,
renewing “fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).
When you are thirsty, water is so satisfying. When your spirit is thirsty, the ‘living
water’ that Jesus brings into our lives is so refreshing and so cleansing to our soul.
What’s on at Kimble Free Church?
Our Sunday Services are at 11am. We give a warm welcome to any visitors.
Wednesday 8th July 10am – ‘Craft Cafe’ - An Arts and Crafts morning at the
Church. A time to bring along your favourite craft or just join us for a chat
over a cuppa. For details, contact Vicky on 01296 612748.
Sunday 12th July 11am - Chatty Church - Includes crafts,
drama, puppets, live music, a short interactive talk and lots of
fun. Come and enjoy cheerful chat whilst also tackling the
bigger questions of life!
Wednesday 15th July 10:30am - T4U - Come and help us raise funds for the
important charity ‘Arthritis Research UK’. Tea & Coffee are available as well as our
popular Cake stall and our ’Bring & Buy table.
Please contact Doreen on 01844 344576 for details.
Thursday 16th July 3pm - Reminiscence Group A friendly and lively group for the over 60’s.
Please ring Val on 01844 346957 for details.
Sunday 19th July 6:30pm Open-Air Songs of Praise with the Ellesborough Silver Band.
We will still meet inside the Church if weather is poor.
Come to our barbeque on
Saturday 22nd August at midday
All are welcome at our BBQ on Saturday 22nd August
but please ring us on 01844 346957 by 7th August so
that we can cater for numbers.
LIVE MUSIC & LOTS OF GOOD FOOD & FUN
The food is free but any donations would be gratefully
accepted. Please bring your own drink & glasses.
Alcohol is permitted.
Those two ‘rovers’ on Mars were suitably named ‘Opportunity’ and ‘Spirit’. Don’t
miss the ‘opportunity’ of finding Jesus and let him fill your ‘Spirit’ with the abundant
life he can bring you.
Are you or one of your friends looking for that refreshing? Please get in touch and
Jon and I will explain more. Jesus is the Living Water and He can lead you on the
greatest discovery of all time.
God bless, Val
Thought for the month
Kind words are short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless. - Mother Teresa
© Rene "Dikko" Dikkenberg