{"id":99536,"date":"2026-06-13T07:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99536"},"modified":"2026-06-13T07:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:12:26","slug":"the-deacons-bench-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2__trashed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99536","title":{"rendered":"From the Deacon’s Bench"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Clay Collins<\/a>, Guest Columnist<\/em><\/strong>
207 837-0564<\/p>\n\n\n

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And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them , because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The he said to his disciples, \u201cThe harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n  <\/strong>John 14:15-17<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

June is here in all its glory, bringing with it new life and very warm weather. I hope you have the right cup while you enjoy the fine weather we are having.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I heard a story once about a man who was driving through a quiet neighborhood when he came upon some children selling Kool-Aid for 25 cents a cup. He stopped to buy a cup. He gave them a dollar, and they gave him back his change with his cup of Kool-Aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child stood there in front of him while he drank his Kool-Aid. The man was asked if he wanted another drink, and when he said no, the child asked the man for the cup back, for that was the only cup they had, and it was needed for them to continue in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is difficult to operate a Kool-Aid business with only one cup. Are you running your lives with only one cup, attending church services once a week, and thinking that is all it takes to be a good Christian? Just go to church on Sunday, and that is all that it takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need more cups to do God\u2019s work every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the next time, remember, \u201cBe well, do good work, and keep in touch.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benediction:<\/strong> Gracious Father, help us to remember that it takes more than one cup to do your work.\u00a0\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought for the month:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay you live as long as you want. And never want as long as you live!\u201d [Irish Blessing]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While Chaplain Christine is burdened with technology challenges, she has invited Past MSG Chaplain Clay to share some spiritual thoughts with our Grange Flock. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clay Collins, Guest Columnist207 837-0564 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them , because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. … Continue reading “From the Deacon’s Bench”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[115,394],"tags":[690,206,25],"post_folder":[704],"class_list":["post-99536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplain","category-guest-articles","tag-friends","tag-grange-advocacy","tag-grange-heritage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Walter Boomsma","author_link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?author=2122"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Clay Collins, Guest Columnist207 837-0564 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them , because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-pTq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99537,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99536\/revisions\/99537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99536"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=99536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}