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| Along the Way 5-27-10 |
 Do you set aside a daily time for prayer and Bible reading? If so, do you use the United Methodist produced The Upper Room? This little booklet (4 ¼” x 6 ¼”) is published 6 times per year and contains a daily devotional, a daily thought, suggested scripture reading and even a prayer. You will find these powerful guides at every entrance to our sanctuary. The May-June issue features a painting of the father embracing the prodigal son. Take one and use it daily.The Upper Room is celebrating its 75th anniversary, the result of the inspired vision of Mrs. Frances Craig, a San Antonio, TX, member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South who served on what was then known as our church’s Committee on Devotional Literature. In December 1934 a motion was passed “…to publish a quarterly devotional booklet to be sold in the local church …as an experiment for one quarter.” When the first issue was printed in 1935 the committee ordered a miraculous 100,000 copies! The issue sold out. Now The Upper Room is translated into 40 languages and 2.6 million copies are printed of each issue. The guide is distributed in 102 different nations from Argentina to Zimbabwe and since 1940 donations have underwritten complimentary copies of The Upper Room for the US military, hospital patients, and inmates in prisons and jails. Each year 10,000 people visit the Upper Room in Nashville, TN, where you will find the prayer center, bookstore and a beautiful chapel. You can read The Upper Room online with millions of other people at www.upperroom.org. That website also has a bookstore, offers subscriptions for devotional magazines designed for children, youth and adults, provides an array of articles and resources on spiritual growth and development and operates a prayer line (1-800-251-2468) 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, staffed by caring Christians. My spiritual life would be impoverished without the ministry of The Upper Room. For many years I have subscribed to the devotional journal called Weavings (see the website) and last month I ordered 7 books from the Upper Room bookstore. On another note, offer a prayer this Memorial Day weekend for those who grieve over the death of family members in our armed forces. This is Ride Your Bike to Church Sunday…I’ll look forward to seeing you in church, arriving by car, bike, motorcycle or on foot! We’ll have a blessing of the bikes following our eleven o’clock service. Creede Hinshaw |
