JEFFREY SWAINSTON, CHAPLAIN
872 S. Waverly Road
Eaton Rapids, MI 48827
(616) 405-6921
revjeff82@gmail.com
"COME TO ME, ALL WHO LABOR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST." - MATTHEW 11:28 IN MEMORIAM 2014
Geraldine Bailey - North Adrian #721
Philip Clipfell - Colon #215
James Hazel - Home #129
George Huffman - Home #129
Margaret Wetzel - Home #129
Richard Kelley - Rome #293
Kenneth Murray - Fredonia #1713
Rita Orlowski - Barnard Grange #689
Doris Ely - Lime Creek Grange #712
Marge Wagner - Summit City Grange #672
Gary Hallock - Burns Grange #160
Mary Carson - Burns Grange #160
Dick Wooters - Summit City Grange #672
Alvin Thelen - Capitol Grange #540
Jerry Dennert - Oceana Center Grange #1047
Alice Beebe - Rome Grange #293
Charles Johnson - North Adrian Grange #721
David Armstrong - Adams Grange #286
IN MEMORIAM 2013
Ed Schwartz - Fredonia #1713
Joanie Miller - Fredonia #1713
Eva Grant - Home #129
Esther Pfister - Rome #293
June Ohlman - North Adrian #721
John Baldwin - Oceana Center #1047
Margaret Beardslee - Community #1675
E. Marie Dean - Summit City #672
Eva Grant - Home #129
Ruth Strebbing - Plymouth/Westand #389
Donna Jean Hauri - Studley #1174
Dean Yoder - Torch Lake #1840
Vivian Foor - North Adrian #721
Jody Barnes - Gratiot #1898
Peg Brown - Burr Oak #1350
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025 GRANGE NEWS
Seasons of Surrender
As summer fades and the crisp air of autumn sets in, creation reminds us of a powerful spiritual truth. Change is inevitable and surrender is necessary. The trees are the best teachers of this. In fall, they do not fight to keep their leaves, they let go. They trust the process and prepare for rest, knowing that shedding is not the end, but the beginning of something new.
Likewise, God invites us into seasons of surrender. We often cling tightly to control, comfort, routine, or even our own plans. But just as the trees release their leaves to make way for renewal, we are called to let go of anything that hinders our walk with Christ.
Galatians 1:10 asks us to examine our motives. “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval?” This fall, that question is especially relevant. Are we clinging to the opinions of others or to outdated expectations? What would it look like to fully surrender those things to God?
Just as autumn prepares the earth for winter rest and spring growth, God may be preparing your heart for something new. But first comes the letting go.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1~
Seasons of Surrender
As summer fades and the crisp air of autumn sets in, creation reminds us of a powerful spiritual truth. Change is inevitable and surrender is necessary. The trees are the best teachers of this. In fall, they do not fight to keep their leaves, they let go. They trust the process and prepare for rest, knowing that shedding is not the end, but the beginning of something new.
Likewise, God invites us into seasons of surrender. We often cling tightly to control, comfort, routine, or even our own plans. But just as the trees release their leaves to make way for renewal, we are called to let go of anything that hinders our walk with Christ.
Galatians 1:10 asks us to examine our motives. “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval?” This fall, that question is especially relevant. Are we clinging to the opinions of others or to outdated expectations? What would it look like to fully surrender those things to God?
Just as autumn prepares the earth for winter rest and spring growth, God may be preparing your heart for something new. But first comes the letting go.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1~
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 GRANGE NEWS
Remember to Sabbath
Do we really think our all-powerful, all-knowing God needed to rest after just six days of work? Possibly, but it seems more likely that God chose to rest to show us the importance of resting from our labors. He knew that we would need an example to follow, and that lesson is just as important today as it was all those years ago.
Our culture places a lot of emphasis on working hard, earning your place, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but a close reading of the Bible reveals a very different message.
You can’t earn your place in heaven through good works. And God certainly doesn’t determine your value by your use of your bootstraps — quite the opposite.
After all, the Bible isn’t full of stories of independent go-getters who won accolades all on their own by working around the clock. No, the stories are of people who leaned on God to achieve great things by saying yes to Him and following His path, which includes good work, but also always includes rest.
The Sabbath was the first day specifically set aside for something established by God. More holy days and holidays and feasts would come later, but the Sabbath has been with us since creation. It is one of God’s first gifts to us, a sacred time to give our bodies and minds a chance to recharge and anchor our weeks in rest and communion with Him. Resting regularly isn’t being lazy and doesn’t mean that we are shirking our responsibilities. It is simply accepting God’s generous gift. Building our lives around weekly rest is the first step in accepting the rhythm of life God laid out for us at the beginning, and it only brings us closer to Him.
And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. ~Genesis 2:2~
