Sunday Night Reflections

Many times, the Sunday after Christmas is lightly attended in most churches. Not so at Solid Rock today. Our attendance this morning wasn't quite what it has been lately, but it was pretty close. That's encouraging.

December is always a flurry of activities, both personally and church-wise. Still, I'm enjoying a little down time to get my batteries recharged. At the same time, it allows me to reflect on where Solid Rock is headed in 2009. I think it's going to be a great year!

Don't miss our New Year's Eve service this Wednesday at 11:00 PM. Our pre-service fellowship time will begin at 10:00 instead of 10:30 as I announced this morning because it turns out we're going to have menudo (the Mexican dish, not the band) along with the refreshments. Still, the focus of the evening will be on the service, not the food, so even if you can't make it at 10:00 for the fellowship, don't miss the service at 11:00.

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The Day Our World Changed

November 13, 1989. 11:30 AM I had just finished my lunch in the teacher's workroom and was walking back to my classroom. I was teaching at San Jacinto Elementary in San Angelo, Texas at the time. Up until then, it had been a typical November day. As I walked past the school office, the door swung open, and a fellow teacher stepped out with a look of concern on her face. She spoke directly to me and said, “Your wife’s on the phone, and it sounds serious.” I ran into the office, took the phone, and heard my wife say, “I don’t know what happened, but your brother is on life support in a hospital in Austin.” Twelve hours later, my father and I were sharing a room in a hotel on I-35 in Austin. My sister-in-law, Sandy, and her six-year-old daughter, Araceli, were in a room across the hall. I hardly slept that night. I would doze off and suddenly wake up to my father crying and calling out my brother’s name. My brother was dead. Osiel had collapsed that morning while his high s

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This past Saturday morning, Lillian, Ryan, and I went to Ballinger for a cross country meet. Ryan and Micah are part of the Cornerstone team that came in second place in their division. It was a great meet, but the the real drama came at the end of the race. There was a young man running in the race that was so far back from the rest of the pack that he came in about 10 minutes after the rest of the field had finished. In fact, most of the people watching the meet had already left, thinking the last runner had finished. Several of the workers had already put some of the equipment away, and the water girl was rolling the water containers away when she was told to come back because there was one more runner still out. Finally, the young man came into view as he entered the stadium for the final few yards. As he approached the finish line, the few people who remained, including me and my wife, encouraged him with applause and tears. Why tears? Because we knew the background story. Just on

Unveiling the Unexpected Gift of Suffering: A Christian Perspective

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I'd like to explore an unusual subject: finding thankfulness in the midst of suffering. This might seem odd, but Christianity has a different perspective on suffering that can astonish many. Embracing Thankfulness Traditionally, as we navigate through the month of November, we often use each day to express thankfulness for various aspects of our lives, ranging from family to health and careers. But, as Christians, we go beyond the norm and find ourselves thankful for rather unusual things—grace, for instance. We are grateful for God's grace and how it instills in us a sense of liberation from our sins. But there's another element, quite peculiar, that we appreciate—suffering. A Christian Perspective on Suffering The notion of being thankful for suffering may sound worrisome. Yet, as followers of Christ, we trust that our trials and tribulations serve a purpose. Every pain, every emotional turmoil, offers an opportunity for spiritual

Jehu Hernandez

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