July 7, 2023
Hello Grace Vineyard and Friends of Grace.
It’s Friday night, and I’m just getting to my weekly update email to you all. I hope you all had a nice Independence Day Holiday. Ours was not what we had expected – both Kim and I came down with different sicknesses on Monday. Kim had strep throat, and I have some kind of upper respiratory infection, so we both just rested all day, trying to give our immune systems all available energy to do their jobs. But even with some sickness in the house, it’s been a pretty decent week overall. I think we have SO MUCH to be thankful for, that little bumps in the road like a sore throat and a cough can’t do much to steal the joy that the Lord gives us. If you haven’t exercised your gratefulness muscle much this week, may I recommend you do a little thanksgiving workout right now? You’ll find it does wonders!
When Kim was diagnosed with strep on Monday, she immediately was prescribed an antibiotic, and her health improved a lot within one day. (That’s something to be thankful for!) I thought I was almost better, but today I went backward a step or two, so Steve Rogers offered to step in and bring the message this coming Sunday morning. We’re going to take a week off from our “Witness” series, and Steve’s going to take us to the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes. It’s an interesting philosophical look at life and wisdom and the many things that are just meaningless, having the permanence of a puff of smoke or a vapor. Even though on the surface the book sounds a bit depressing, I’ve personally found through the years that I actually feel strangely encouraged to read it whenever depression is knocking at my door. In the midst of remarking about meaninglessness all around us, the author notes some things of eternal value, and that’s where the encouragement comes in. There’s a word that gets used a lot in the book – in Hebrew it is “Hevel”, and it is translated into English as meaningless or futility or vanity. The title of Steve’s message on Sunday is “Hevel and the Gift – lessons from Ecclesiastes about the illusion of control”.
If I’m feeling good enough I’ll be with you on Sunday to be inspired alongside of you, otherwise I’ll be joining from home on Zoom. Either way, I hope you’ll all be with us at 9:30 for worship, the Word, and ministry time. Here’s the zoom info for every Sunday morning: Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814. You should be able to just click on the Meeting ID and to launch the zoom meeting.
New Start Date for The Chosen Study
Ladies, Monday nights beginning July 10th, we’ll be watching Season 3 of The Chosen at my house (4965 Calle Sobrado, Oceanside) from 6:30-8:30pm (we originally scheduled this for July 3, but have delayed it a week due to illness). We watch an episode together, read through the scriptures it is based on, discuss what we’ve seen and pray for each other. For more information, please call or text Kim Ohst 760.519.4558.
Men’s Breakfast Tomorrow (July 8)
Men, our monthly Men’s breakfast is tomorrow, July 8, at 8am. Our Men’s Ministry puts on a GREAT breakfast on the 2nd Saturday of every month. We meet at Ty’s Burgerhouse, enjoy conversation around eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuits & gravy, coffee, and juice. We spend some time worshiping together, listen to an inspirational message focused on issues related to our lives as men, and save some time to pray for anyone who could use a touch from the Lord. Richard “Snake” Ertel leads this ministry, so reach out to Snake for more info at (760) 622-4572 or richard@convicted4christ.org. This week I was very stoked to learn that our speaker is my old friend John Salisbury! You’re gonna love him!
Saturday Ladies Walk (July 8)
While the men are consuming calories, our ladies will be burning calories! On the 2nd Saturday of every month at 9am, Kathy Green leads a ladies hike/walk in one of the many beautiful spots in North County. It’s always a very easy walk, and it’s just a great way to connect in the beauty of Creation. Tomorrow (Saturday, July 8), the ladies will meet at the Batiquitos Lagoon Nature Center (7380 Gabbiano Lane, Carlsbad) at 9am Saturday, July 8th at 9am. This is such a pretty walk around the lagoon. Please let Kathy Green know if you plan to attend 760.583.1779.
Worship and Song Connect 2nd & 4th Mondays
Everyone is welcome on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month for Worship and Song Connect, and July 10th is the 2nd Monday so it’s time for Worship& Song Connect. This group is focused on worship art, but anyone who loves to worship the Lord would enjoy. If you want, bring your instrument. Ammee Huzil leads this group, so if you’d like to know more, reach out to Ammee at 8 or ammeepearl@gmail.com .
Face to Face Women’s Home Group is July 21st
Face to Face is our women’s home group where we worship together, share a time of teaching, pray for each other and EAT. Our July meeting will be on the 21st, and will be hosted by Daria at her home (3248 Roberta Ln, Oceanside) from 6:30-9pm. Call Kim Ohst for more info 760.519.4558.
Get Ready for Make & Bake Sale July 23
This is still a couple weeks away, but I’m letting you know now cuz we need some Makers and Bakers to pull this off. To raise money for women’s retreat scholarships and Bible study curriculum, we’ll be doing a Make and Bake Sale right after church on Sunday, July 23. You can bring food or other items for us to sell. These sales are much more than your traditional bake sale, we often have clothing, pottery, handmade cards and other homemade items. Sign up to bring something or to help with the set up, selling or clean-up. For more information, please call/text Kim Ohst 760.519.4558.
Start Saving For the Women’s Retreat in October
We’ll be doing our Women’s Retreat at Pine Valley October 20-22. The cost will be $230 for private bath lodge rooms, $210 for shared bath lodge rooms and $180 for dorm rooms. You can begin to pay for this retreat and we’ll keep track of it for you. If you pay online www.gracevcf.org/online-giving or in person, please note that it’s for the women’s retreat. If you end up not attending, we will refund your money. Please email kimohst@gmail.com or text Kim Ohst at 760.519.4558 to let her know what type of room you are reserving. We have limited availability.
That’s all for the most current upcoming events. But I do want to remind you that in my email last week, I gave you a list of just about every way we have for connecting with each other at Grace Vineyard. If you’d like to see that list again, check out last week’s update by clicking here.
With that, I’ll sign off for now so I can deliver this to you before the night is over! God bless you each richly.
With love and blessings,
Ron Ohst
Tithes and Offerings Online
THANKS for taking ownership in the life and ministry of Grace Vineyard! And thanks to all of you who are stepping into a lifestyle of generosity with your tithes and offerings. It really does take all of us doing our part with the income God has entrusted to us for His church. If you’d like to give your tithe or offering online, click the donate button below.
P.S.
Don’t forget we’re needing to build up our building fund for some important improvements around our Grace Vineyard home. If you’d like to give a special offering, just make sure to mention “building fund” in the “what’s this donation for” section of the online giving system. Thanks!