How good it is to realize that our God is the Most High, all-powerful Jehovah who supports, guides, and provides. Sometimes I am amazed to think that I am even one of His children at all. Why should He have called me and brought me to salvation and given me like, precious faith as the apostles of Jesus had in days of old? Why should the Gospel have been preached to me so clearly and so lovingly by some of the elders of old-line Fundamentalism through the ministry of a small church in rural southern Virginia? Why should He give me an opportunity to minister the Word in a mission in Manhattan? I really do not feel worthy of His calling.

But just today I had the opportunity to spend some time after our chapel service talking with a twelve-year-old boy who needs help. His mother is concerned about her son’s lack of perceived identity and his hyperactivity. I was able, through my own experience and according to what the Lord has given me, to encourage the boy to find his identity in Christ. I am firm whenever I talk to him; he needs direction. Like so many conversations in life, this one took place while I was doing something; the boy and his mother were each doing their own things as the church was being cleaned around 7 p.m. The boy surprised me today by hugging me as he left. I can relate. I too have lived through long times of searching in my life and have perceived the love of God in the proclamation of the truth of His Word.

Pastor Bill related to me today how after the chapel service, a lady approached him on the sidewalk and told him how, when she was out of work, she came to our food pantry and its accompanying chapel services for help. Obviously a Christian lady according to Pastor Bill, she told him how she used to enjoy those services and that they had been a blessing to her. Now she has found work, and today she gave our ministry a check for $140 for the continuance of the work here. Praise God!

Twice in the past month, we’ve had to call 911 for people who have had medical issues during our chapel services. Almost a month ago, a man had an issue during my Tuesday service, and just the other day, during a message on the death of Christ, just as Pastor Bill said the words “And He gave up the ghost, and He died,” an older lady in the service went back in her seat and appeared to possibly be having a heart attack (thankfully, she didn’t actually). For a while she stopped breathing though, and the EMS took her away. Thankfully, this lady is OK now, from what we’ve heard.

Sometimes, just for relaxation, usually after my Bible study with Big James on the Lower East Side, I like to get on a train going the opposite direction from our church and ride out into Brooklyn. I love riding, seeing the old stations and the city sights from the elevated trains going eastward out of Manhattan. Last Friday I did just this, and this past Tuesday as well. I rode all the way out to the end of the M line Friday and to Broadway Junction on the J train Tuesday. Check out an MTA map if you’d like to see where these places are!

We had a glorious Easter Sunday service this past Sunday with a special meal afterwards. Are you, the reader, aware that Christ rose from the dead on the feast of the firstfruits of barley (Leviticus 23:5-11), the first day of the week after the Sabbath following Passover? Christ fulfilled this type, rising before the LORD as the firstfruits of them that slept in death. Fifty days later, not a sheaf, but a loaf of bread was waved before the Lord. This was the feast of Pentecost, when not one sheaf but many individual grains amalgamated together into a loaf were waived before the LORD. Today, we as the Church, the Assembly of Christ’s people drawn from every nation, tribe, language, and people, are that loaf. Notably for this Easter, two of our long time attendees joined the church after a few months of personal deliberation and some pastoral counseling. We are glad to welcome them into fellowship.