In John 10:27-29, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” 

      Tornadoes are phenomenal storms of great power that form when areas of very low pressure encounter high humidity and high winds. As geologists do with earthquakes, meteorologists rate the intensity of tornadoes, too. The scale that meteorologists use to classify tornadoes goes from one to five.  An F 5 tornado, the strongest of tornadoes, has winds over 260 miles per hour.    

      In the 1996 movie Twister, which is about a group of meteorologists who chased tornadoes in order to study them, someone asked one of the meteorologists what an F 5 Tornado was like. He replied that this all-powerful tornado was “the finger of God.” 

       But tornadoes are destructive powers that leave disaster in their wakes, while God’s power is constructive and leaves blessing behind.    Jesus said here in John chapter 10 that for all eternity believers are guarded by the fingers of Jesus in the palm of God’s hand.  If I was Jesus, I would have used a good Old Testament metaphor and said that believers are guarded by the “strong right arm of God!”  But Jesus said that all it takes is His little finger to guard us for all eternity!

     We had a good month in June with an average attendance of 324 in Bible Study.  We celebrated FATHER’S DAY and celebrated the birth of Olivia Josephine Bernard, the daughter of Trey and Amanda.  Jason Teal and crew worked hard to make the EQUIP MISISONS CAMP an exciting time here on our campus.   Equip Missions is an association-wide event for our students to do missions locally as well as consider God’s call to missions for their lives.    

     And thanks to our Children’s Ministry Team for helping us put together a great Wednesday night summer activity for our children, grades 1-5.   It’s called “OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR” and will run through August 1st, from 6:30 to 7:30pm. The Bible study follows the Gospel of Mark, while they also have some fun activities that work off of the biblical theme. And of course, there’s always something good to eat!  You can find more information about it in this edition of The Witness.  

     Congratulations to Michael Richardson for celebrating 17 years of sobriety!  We appreciate Michael and the way he walks every day as a genuine believer in Jesus Christ.