From the Pastor's Desk

Dear Park Ridge Family,

A story is told that one cold winter day an old man walked out onto a frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice and dropped in his fishing line. He was there for almost an hour without even a nibble, when a young boy walked out onto the ice and cut a hole in the ice not far from him. The young boy dropped his fishing line and minutes later he hooked a Largemouth Bass. The old man couldn't believe his eyes but chalked it up to plain luck. But, shortly thereafter, the young boy pulled in another large catch. The young boy kept catching fish after fish. Finally, the old man couldn't take it any longer. "Son, I've been here for over an hour without even a nibble. You've been here only a few minutes and have caught a half dozen fish! How do you do it?" The boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm.” "What was that?" the old man asked. Again, the boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rarrm”.  “Look," said the old man, "I can't understand a word you're saying”. The boy spat the contents of his mouth into his hand and said, "You have to keep the worms warm!"

Firstly, we could safely conclude that both the boy and the old man knew there were fish under that layer of ice, although it could be possible that the old man doubted whether there were any fish there due to his inability to catch anything. Secondly, and most importantly, unlike the old man, the boy not only knew how to catch the fish, but he came prepared to catch the fish. Preparedness was the key. In fact, preparedness is a key aspect of life in general. Understanding the benefits of being prepared helps us navigate school, university, work and family, better. However, sometimes we neglect that fact that our Spiritual lives require a great deal of preparedness as well. Our church has been preaching for decades, the importance of being prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus and that hasn’t changed. More than ever in the history of our world, it is essential for Christians to be spiritually prepared for Jesus’ soon return. John the Apostle—in the book of Revelation—emphasises this by saying to us, “Listen says Jesus, I’m Coming soon”. The great hope of the follower of Jesus Christ should be the return of Jesus to make all things new.

It is for this reason that this Saturday we will be starting a new preaching series titled, “Awaken” in which we will study what the Bible says about the signs of Jesus' second coming and how to prepare for it. If there is one thing all followers of Jesus should be preparing for, it should be the promised climactic event of Jesus’ return. I hope that you can join me in this journey for the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to seeing and worshipping with you all this Saturday.

Blessings, David Peñate