Mrs. Shockley's Arrangements

Visitation - 6-9pm Sunday, Dec. 28th at Strano-Feeley on Churchman's Rd.

Homegoing Services - 11am, December 29th at First Baptist Church, New Castle. Pastor Witmer presiding. (10am Visitation at FBC)

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lighthouse Baptist Church Building Fund. Mrs. Shockley desperately longed to see the new building, and now she will from heavenly places.

She Walked in Beauty - Hazel's Song

She Walked in Beauty
The poem of Hazel Shockley, by Pastor Tobe Witmer 11/21/08

She walked in beauty every day,
Her head held high, with love and praise,
No fairer maid has graced our church,
With nobler life and virtuous worth.

She walked in beauty to all she met,
With kind reproof and no regret,
Her trust in Him who saved her soul,
Could not be swayed by pain untold.

She walked in beauty as time drew near,
Her faith in tact and her focus clear,
Toward foreign shores where maids like her,
Walk with their Savior with eyes unblurred.

She walked in beauty with family,
Great motherly love and kindness free,
To girls and son both hers and grand,
She kissed their cheeks and held their hands.

She walked in beauty, she preached each day,
Of praise to God, of thanks unswayed,
Her courage remains a landmark here,
While she walks in beauty with her Savior near.

O child of God with face so long,
Can you not join our Hazel’s song?
Can you not praise your Lord for all?
And walk in beauty both proud and tall?

A Very Merry Christmas

J- Justice demanded sins equal payment
E- Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God
S- Salvation is of the LORD
U- Under His wings, I am safely abiding
S- Seek Him while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near!

Prayer Please

I would kindly request your prayer for my father. As you know, we went to WV on Thursday to enjoy a few days of Christmas with the Witmer clan. The plan was to return on Saturday. On Friday night at 11pm, my father began to have what appeared to all as a heart attack. He has a long history of heart disease and has had several heart attacks. We called 911 and during severe chest pain, he began having a series of "petite mal seizures". These are very scary attacks where the person goes into a non-responsive eyes-open stare for 30 seconds to several minutes. Each seizure we yell, shake, and do whatever to get Dad to respond again. Each time, he "snaps" out of it, but is weakened by the experience. You can imagine the first several of these as we thought they were heart attacks with no response. He was transferred to a hospital that has a special Neurology Dept. We have been with him since. He continues to have the seizures, and now we are in the 20's I guess. They will be trying to diagnose the EEG readings on Sunday afternoon. Though he has been having severe chest pain especially at the beginning of this, they are leaning away from heart attack or stroke. Please pray for some resolution of this for our family.

Many thanks to Mont, PCP, and Jeff Washer who helped me with arrangements and greatly encouraged me to stay with my father rather than return to LBC in this hard time. Sometimes there is a great duty tug of war in being a Pastor.

We will miss you all tomorrow, but are so excited that the Lord has worked out for you to hear a great preacher, Dr. Bruce Miller in the morning; and our most able Dr. Bish in the evening.

Merry Christmas, God bless LBC.

PW

Great, Grinch, and Gravy

My heart was overwhelmed with Christ, God's goodness, and joy as I listened to the Christmas Cantata on Sunday Night. "And Glory Shone Around" was a tremendous collection of thoughts about the Incarnation. The choir was the strongest and boldest I have ever heard them, and at one point I almost felt compelled to stand in praise to the Lord.

I do hope you are focusing on Jesus more and more this Christmas. I know some of you will not have the joy of a real Christmas tree and perhaps you are like me and can't understand why Brian won't put red and green on the website.....but despite these small discouragements --- Rejoice this Christmas!!

Concerning Gravy: I like it on Mashed Potatoes, but it has little to do with Mennonite Hogmaw which should be eaten on Christmas. If you have no Hogmaw, eat Ham. If you have no Ham, eat Turkey. If you have no Turkey, eat cashews. If no cashews, we are in a bad economic state.

PW