Midweek Check-in (Feb. 4, 2026)

Good afternoon, church family!

Let’s use this pause in the middle of our week to look back on the trees.

If you’ll remember, we spent some time this past fall considering the many times trees are mentioned in scripture. Here’s a few examples (there are many more):

• Trees play a prominent role in the Garden of Eden.

• A healthy, fruitful tree is the embodiment of a happy person in the first chapter of Psalm.

• A tree (stripped of its fruit, branches and leaves) is misused by the Romans to crucify Jesus.

• A tree awaits in the final pages of Revelation with leaves that bring healing for the nations.

I can look out my window today and see trees in my yard and around my neighborhood. They don’t look so great these days. There are no leaves. There’s no fruit. They look quite bare here in the dead of winter.

Does that mean the trees are dead? Does that mean the trees are worthless? Are the trees done and lost – destined to remain like this forever?

Of course not! No matter how long these winter months feel, we know spring is coming! And with that we can expect the trees to burst forth with leaf, flower, fruit and nut!

This is the hope Job desperately seeks even in the most negative of circumstances.

Indeed there is hope for a tree.

If it’s cut down and still sprouting

and its shoots don’t fail,

if its roots age in the ground

and its stump dies in the dust,

at the scent of water, it will bud

and produce sprouts like a plant.

-Job 14:7-9

Church family, I’m praying for an upcoming season of watering, sunlight and warmth for our lives that will produce fruit and growth! The season of Lent begins in two weeks (I’ll have more on that later this month). And that prepares us for the celebration of Easter in April! And that leads us to the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost Sunday in May!

Let’s begin praying for this upcoming season. May the Lord bless us with all we need to grow closer to Him and each other this year!

Your pastor,

Billy Byler

CHILI COOKOFF: Thanks to so many of you who helped put away Christmas decorations this past Sunday, and congratulations to Larry Cox for winning our annual chili cook-off with Jim Winter finishing in a close second place and CJ Byler coming in third! It was such a fun night, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the selfless service of so many volunteers. Thank you!

ALABASTER: In the month of February we will be receiving an Alabaster Offering to help support missions. All funds collected for the Alabaster Offering go to missionary building efforts, including churches, hospitals, orphanages and parsonages around the world. Bring your Alabaster Offering any Sunday in February.

JUST FOR FUN: Hey, you read Pastor Billy's midweek check-in all the way to the end! As a reward, check out these crazy stories I came across recently:

• Some rodent in Pennsylvania saw his shadow on Monday, meaning we’re supposed to have six more weeks of winter. Punxsutawney Phil has been “predicting” weather for 130 years, and, according to the National Weather Service, he’s been right only 35 percent of the time.

• This website tracks 89 weather-predicting groundhogs around the world, including General Beauregard Lee (in Jackson, Georgia) and Buckeye Chuck (in Marion, Ohio). There are none in Kansas, but a taxidermied groundhog in Nebraska named Unadilla Billie predicted an early spring!

• Are you ready for the Super Bowl this Sunday? Heinz is offering a 114-ounce, stainless steel keg of ketchup called the Kegchup.