SOLON & BEYOND: Local shelter hustling and bustling

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, my friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

There will be a Holiday Concert: Steel Drums, featuring “The Snow Pond Pantastics” on Saturday, December 8, at 4 p.m., at the Solon Congregational Church. Refreshments will be served. Admission by donation.

Was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Tim and Pat Hunt of the New Hope Evangelical Church telling what has been going on there. “The shelter there has been hustling and bustling all year. We are so thankful for our director, and our shelter manager and all the staff and volunteers who do such a great job here. God has provided through the prayers and the sacrifices of His wonderful people, and we are so thankful for His faithfulness. Thank you for your generosity and kindness to those women who are homeless and in need. You have helped bring comfort and healing to wounded souls. Most importantly, you have helped bring the message of hope and salvation to hearts prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive it.”

Pat and I have gotten involved with the Skowhegan Community Chorus, an area-wide group that performs several concerts a year. This fall some from the church and other good friends have joined us as well.

The church will be having its own Christmas program, A Simple Christmas Story, on Friday, December 14, at 6:30 p.m. This story is interwoven throughout with music that will uplift and encourage you this Christmas season. Discover the promise that can be yours this Christmas!

The ladies at New Hope meet every two months for a Ladies Brunch for food, fellowship and a well planned program.

Another ministry to men, along with the monthly men’s breakfast, is the Man Cave, which usually meets every couple of weeks. The purpose of the Man Cave is for fellowship and addressing important topics concerning men.

We helped celebrate three of our granddaughters high school graduations this past spring. Elli, Zoe, and Abbie all graduated, and our oldest grandson, Gabe, just turned 20! He is a fulltime welder.

Most of our spare time in the summer was taken up with repairing our pool after a hard winter brought about its destruction, breaking the skimmer, crimping the wall, and cracking the liner. Then the pump had to be replaced. But we got it functioning again and spent a lot of time in it.

The Skowhegan Community Chorus will be performing at New Hope on Saturday, December 8, at 7 p.m. Everyone is invited.

And now for Percy’s memoir entitled, Not by Chance or Happenstance: Into our lives come many things to break the dull routine… The things we had not planned or that happen unforeseen … The sudden, unplanned meeting that comes with sweet surprise And lights the heart with happiness like a rainbow in the skies. Now some folks call it fickle fate and some folks call it chance, While others just accept it as a pleasant happenstance. But no matter what you call it, it didn’t come without design, For all our lives are fashioned by the hand that is divine And every lucky happening and every lucky break Are little gifts from God above that are ours to freely take. (words by Helen Steiner Rice.) Another saying of hers is “Look Up” It’s easy to grow downhearted when nothing goes your way, It’s easy to be discouraged when you have a troublesome day, But trouble is only a challenge to spur you on to achive The best that God has to offer if you have the faith to believe.