December

19 – Basketball @ Algoma Christian – Girls 5:30; Boys 7:00

20 – Last day before Winter Break

23 – January 5 No School for Students and Staff – Winter Break  

January  

6 – Classes resume

6-31 – Global Scholar Winter Testing

9 – Boys Basketball @ WMAA – 7 pm

14 – Basketball at Grattan Academy – Girls – 5:30 pm; Boys 7 pm

14-16 – Student Led Parent/Teacher Conferences (required of all students and parents)

15 – CTA Board of Directors meeting – 3:30 pm

16 – Box Top Store 

17 – Basketball @ Algoma Christian – Girls 5:30 pm; Boys 7 pm

20 – No School for Students and Staff – MLK Day

28 – Basketball @ Quad City Mustangs – Girls 6 pm; Boys 7:30 pm

30 – Basketball @ WMAES – Girls 5:30 pm; Boys 7 pm

31 –  Boys Basketball @ WMAA – 5:30 pm

Pastor Jim Alblas
Pioneer Christian Reformed Church
3110 17 Mile Rd, Cedar Springs

In the coming weeks many of us will be quite busy. At this time of year some of us might find ourselves spending a great deal of time (and money) getting those last minute Christmas gifts for loved ones. Others, who manage to avoid the busyness of the stores, may find themselves busy in the kitchen preparing snacks and meals for family get togethers. Still others will spend lengthy stretches of time traveling in town or out of town to family functions, Christmas programs and New Years Eve parties. Andy Williams tells us in his classic song that this is the most wonderful time of the year, and the Christmas season certainly has its share of joy. But it can also be a rather hectic time. In light of this, I’ve written a poem that I hope will be helpful to you and will keep things in perspective during the sometimes overwhelming Christmas season.
When in December
When as you scrape the frost off your car and feel the cold in your face
and come to realize, you’ve just a few minutes to get to the workplace.
When there’s still gifts to be bought and cards to be sent
but you’re still trying to find the money for the monthly rent.
When the kids want you to help build the snow man and this year they want him with feet!
but your struggling to find time just to put those Christmas Cookies on the baking sheet.
When the dog needs to be walked and the tree still needs to be put up
and all the while you receive a call from a telemarketer who says “What’s up?”
When the Christmas play is at 6 and the Caroling is at 8
and your teenaged son wants the keys so he can go on his date.
When the busyness of this season, has you at wits end
Remember, our heavenly father and the Gift He did send.
When the days are cold and our windows full of frost
Remember Immanuel, God is with us; we’re never lost!
When the bills start to mount and we wonder how we’ll pay
Remember, that the Lord always makes a way.
When we start to lose our joy and can barely even talk
Turn your eyes to the one whose known as the Solid Rock.
When there’s much to do and not enough hours in the day
Never worry, because to Him we can always pray.
And in the sometimes hectic and pressure-filled December days
Always remember, by your side God always stays.

Rev. Mike Shiery
Pilgrim Bible Church
West Pine Street • Cedar Springs

“Blesssed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the untgodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.”

The story is told that J.M. Barrie, the distinguished author best remembered for giving us Peter Pan, once received a strange invitation to address a student body. That day the students were to be permitted to boo, hiss, and gernerally heckle any speaker they disliked. But he accepted the invitation. Standing before an audience whose obvious reslessness indicated a stormy time ahead, he began his speech with the words: “God gave us memory that we might have roses in December.” It caught the attention of the students and they listened quietly.

It may be that Mr. Barrie had in mind the December of old age. Certainly nothing is more beautiful than the chastened wisdom, the peaceful reveries and the grateful recollections of one whose face is turned toward life’s sunset. The memories of days gone is precious to those who have more sunsets behind them than before them. Memory is one gift of God that even death cannot destroy, and if we have invested in producing good memories we can cherish them and they can help sustain us even during difficlut times.

But December is not a matter of age or circumstance. Perhaps never before has there been so much loneliness, sorrow, and sin. All across the globe humanity is awash in a sea of despair. Yet there is peace in the midst of life’s storms. God’s Word offers His children “roses in December.” To delight in the law of the Lord and to meditate on it day and night; to think on whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely – this is the secret of peace and quietness, those roses in December.