Pastor Weekly - 11/26/25
Hello ICC Family!
Over in Asia - specifically Philippines and Thailand - the highways are a little different. While in the US, the interstates have very few rest stops or service areas right along the highway, in Asia you will encounter one every 5 or 10 miles. At these locations they will always have a gas station and huge convenience store. (7-11s in Asia are simply wonderful. I forgot how much that I missed them. I ate there for lunch at least once a week for ten years!) There will always be some kind of coffee shop. Usually a McDonald’s, a Burger King, or a KFC. In the Philippines, there was either a Jollibee or a Chowking. There will be a huge public restroom. And food stalls. Now, the strange thing is that almost every one of these rest areas is very crowded. There always seems to be more people at the rest areas than on the highway.
I really am not sure why there is such a difference between Asia and the U.S. when it comes to highway resting. One of my theories, though, is that Americans are, in general, more direct. We are task and schedule driven. A road trip is all about getting from point A to point B. We want to stop as few times as possible to maximize the time we have when we get there. While we know that we should find “joy in the journey” we prefer to have our journeys not take place on the freeway. And so we have to either pull all the way off the interstate to find a gas station or grab some fast food or wait 90 miles or so to reach the next rest stop. We get to where we are going faster, but we miss out on all of the options.
Filipinos enjoy the journey to celebrating Christmas differently than we Americans do as well. They celebrate a longer Christmas season than any country in the world! At ICC, we also want to make sure that we enjoy the journey leading up to celebrating our Savior’s birth. Celebrating Advent is one way we can do this. Instead of zooming right from Thanksgiving to Christmas and missing the blessings of the Christmas story, we will spend the next 4 weeks both remembering Christ’s first arrival on earth as a baby two thousand years ago, as well as looking forward to Christ’s second arrival when He returns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”
Isaiah 40:9
We will be taking advantage of the Christmas season all throughout the month of December to shout very loudly to each other and to all that would hear… that Jesus Christ is coming! We start this Sunday by looking at the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40. There will be a special Christmas children’s talk each week during this season. Our praise and worship will shift slightly to include some wonderful Christmas songs and hymns. Please come and join us each week as we savor every step of the journey towards the arrival of our Savior!
Don’t forget that there are NO services at the church tonight or tomorrow night due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but we look forward to worshiping together on Sunday.
Blessings to you all!
And know that I am praying for you!
Pastor Aaron
Over in Asia - specifically Philippines and Thailand - the highways are a little different. While in the US, the interstates have very few rest stops or service areas right along the highway, in Asia you will encounter one every 5 or 10 miles. At these locations they will always have a gas station and huge convenience store. (7-11s in Asia are simply wonderful. I forgot how much that I missed them. I ate there for lunch at least once a week for ten years!) There will always be some kind of coffee shop. Usually a McDonald’s, a Burger King, or a KFC. In the Philippines, there was either a Jollibee or a Chowking. There will be a huge public restroom. And food stalls. Now, the strange thing is that almost every one of these rest areas is very crowded. There always seems to be more people at the rest areas than on the highway.
I really am not sure why there is such a difference between Asia and the U.S. when it comes to highway resting. One of my theories, though, is that Americans are, in general, more direct. We are task and schedule driven. A road trip is all about getting from point A to point B. We want to stop as few times as possible to maximize the time we have when we get there. While we know that we should find “joy in the journey” we prefer to have our journeys not take place on the freeway. And so we have to either pull all the way off the interstate to find a gas station or grab some fast food or wait 90 miles or so to reach the next rest stop. We get to where we are going faster, but we miss out on all of the options.
Filipinos enjoy the journey to celebrating Christmas differently than we Americans do as well. They celebrate a longer Christmas season than any country in the world! At ICC, we also want to make sure that we enjoy the journey leading up to celebrating our Savior’s birth. Celebrating Advent is one way we can do this. Instead of zooming right from Thanksgiving to Christmas and missing the blessings of the Christmas story, we will spend the next 4 weeks both remembering Christ’s first arrival on earth as a baby two thousand years ago, as well as looking forward to Christ’s second arrival when He returns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”
Isaiah 40:9
We will be taking advantage of the Christmas season all throughout the month of December to shout very loudly to each other and to all that would hear… that Jesus Christ is coming! We start this Sunday by looking at the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40. There will be a special Christmas children’s talk each week during this season. Our praise and worship will shift slightly to include some wonderful Christmas songs and hymns. Please come and join us each week as we savor every step of the journey towards the arrival of our Savior!
Don’t forget that there are NO services at the church tonight or tomorrow night due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but we look forward to worshiping together on Sunday.
Blessings to you all!
And know that I am praying for you!
Pastor Aaron
Posted in Pastor Weekly