East Bethany Presbyterian Church

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day, a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then, it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.... The butterfly then emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives too. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, we would not be as strong as what we could have been. "I asked for strength, and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity, and God gave me a brain and brawn to work. I asked for courage, and God gave me danger to overcome. I asked for love, and God gave me troubled people to help. I asked for favors, and God gave me opportunities. I received nothing I asked for but everything I needed!"

A young lady named Sally relates an experience she had in a seminary class given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says that Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target, and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw da...rts at the person's picture. Sally's friend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the overall effect she had achieved. The class lined up and began throwing darts. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target. Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face, and His eyes were pierced. Dr. Smith said only these words, "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Matthew 25:40 No other words were necessary; the tears filled eyes of the students focused only on the picture of Christ.

We apologize for technical problems yesterday. Zoom wouldn't work to stream the service live and then YouTube was being finicky about uploads. Here is the Easter service led by Rev. Bob Kaiser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKykYrRB5GE

Welcome to worship with East Bethany Presbyterian Church. We are so glad that you are here! Our service today is being led by Rev. Bob Kaiser. For more information about our church, email us at [email protected]. https://youtu.be/3a-wx2NRVRM

We have been open for in person worship for a while now and would love to see you!! Our Sunday worship service is at 10:30 AM. We are practicing social distancing and the wearing of face masks is required. We look forward to seeing you soon!