{"id":99886,"date":"2026-08-11T06:27:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99886"},"modified":"2026-08-11T06:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:34:19","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-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99886","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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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cFinally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0 <\/strong>Ephesians 6:10-11<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here we are, the middle of the beautiful, hot, humid, lazy, hazy days of summer. Right where we said we wanted to be last winter! You remember those cold, blistery days when we were all huddled around the old \u201ccook stove\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I trust you all are having a fantastic time enjoying all there is to do in this wonderful state of ours. Before we know it, the children will be back in school, and the temperature will be dropping like a \u201clead balloon,\u201d and the heating bills will be showing up. I apologize for being a \u201cgloomy Gus\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I end this for another month, I want to remind you that the month of August is \u201cInternational Peace Month\u201d, and it is observed throughout the month of August. It was founded on August 16, 1926, at the Fifth International Democratic Peace Conference in Rheims, France, to reflect on the devastation of World War One and to promote global cooperation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was created by 4,000 pacifists from 30 countries to study international peace work and to prevent future global conflicts. (It doesn\u2019t seem to be working very well today!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might not be able to do very much on the global front, but we can do something in our own town and neighborhoods. Whenever a conflict arises, don\u2019t just bull your way into the situation. First, try talking, trying to defuse the situation. I have noticed that cool heads are a lot better than a fiery temper with a lot of shouting.<\/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 doesn\u2019t take a hot temper and loud voices to settle disagreements, but calm, cool minds and friendly attitudes to calm angry situations.\u00a0\u00a0Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cBless the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us.\u201d<\/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 \u201cFinally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.\u201d \u00a0 Ephesians 6:10-11 Here we are, the middle of the beautiful, hot, humid, lazy, hazy days … 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-99886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplain","category-guest-articles","tag-friends","tag-grange-advocacy","tag-grange-heritage"],"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 \u201cFinally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.\u201d \u00a0 Ephesians 6:10-11 Here we are, the middle of the beautiful, hot, humid, lazy, hazy days…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-pZ4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99886","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=99886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99888,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99886\/revisions\/99888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99886"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=99886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}