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Each month's newsletter is posted here. Previous month's issues can be found in the archives.
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January 2026 Church of God Faith Fellowship Newsletter
Calendar Notes:
Wednesday, January 21st - likely New Moon Day
Sabbath, January 24th - We're upstairs in the Sanctuary (Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby in the Fellowship Hall)
Sabbath, January 31st - Women's Heart to Heart (Grace); Men's Torah Study (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
And Be At Peace
by Cynthia Saladin
The summer before I started kindergarten, my dad brought home a puppy from the dog pound. Being five, I was not overly imaginative when naming him; the black puppy with four white stockings and white bib became Blacky. He was an amazing dog! I could tell you stories! But when he was still a puppy, he was extremely destructive when left alone. One day he started running laps in the backyard. Every time he went past Mom’s cherry tree, he grabbed a branch. Pretty soon, branches were strewn all over the backyard. That poor cherry tree was never very pretty after that but was bent and misshapen. The day, however, that Blacky chewed up the seat on Dad’s motorcycle was nearly the final straw!
Blacky wasn’t the only destructive dog we ever had. Tinker, a poodle mix, decided she didn’t want to be left inside the garage one day. So she chewed an arch-shaped pattern into the bottom of the door going out of the garage. She easily chewed through the outside of the door, but was stopped by the solid core. Dad was mad. The next time we had to leave her, he left her in the backyard. When we came home, there was a matching arch on the exterior of the door where Tinker had tried to get inside.
For Blacky and Tinker, it seemed to be more than just puppies needing to chew. They just didn’t know what to do with themselves while we were gone. They were not at peace.
2 Peter 3:13-14 (ESV) says, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
We are waiting, sometimes more impatiently than other times, for the fulfillment of God’s promise. We long for Jesus to return and set up His kingdom where there is righteousness, and no more sorrow, or tears, or pain, or death! We believe with all of our heart that it is coming.
So we wait, and we tend to focus on the first part of the admonition. We are diligent to study His word that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1). As we examine ourselves, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves (Romans 5:6), we rely on God’s promise that He will purify the Bride of Christ (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:25–27). We think about the effort that is involved in choosing to walk in a way that pleases God. We persevere and overcome - enabled by that power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
But do we give the last part of this admonition the same weight? Are we at peace?
Every once in a while, I have to be out of the house, running errands, keeping appointments, or spending time with my granddaughter. It is not unusual, when I ask how the dogs were while I was gone, for Ron to tell me that Pepper went upstairs, curled up in his bed, and went to sleep. I’m not home doing stuff, so Pepper just waits until I am. And he’s at peace - at least until he hears my car coming down the road.
What a fantastic object lesson for me to take to heart! God has given me a job to do until Jesus returns. I’m to live a life that points others to my Messiah, and a huge piece of doing that is the way I live my life - being at peace. A person who is calm and at peace witnesses to the hope set before her - without even using words. It’s so incredibly powerful because other people want that peace. But it’s not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the violence and vileness of our society. It’s not dismissing the greed, grief, and godlessness as just a part of the end time scenario. It’s seeing the world around me that is in such desperate need of the Savior and recognizing that God has given me an opportunity to be a light in an ever-darkening world. That light shines brightest when I exude His peace - because I trust Him and I know He’s coming back. Jesus will set all things right. I might not know why so many people are suffering, why there’s so much evil and pain, and how God can use it to His glory. But I don’t need to know. I just need to keep my focus on Him . . . and to be at peace.
What a gracious God I serve! I deeply appreciate the gentle object lessons He sets around me - teaching me, helping me to grow and to become an ever-more useful vessel for His service. And that’s the point, isn’t it! God is sovereign. He has a plan. The tapestry He’s weaving is altogether beautiful. My job is not to tell Him how to weave, but to be part of the final product. From my perspective as a thread, I cannot see the whole picture. I just need to do what He has set before me and to be at peace. After all, God’s got it all sorted.
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
Someone just called my phone, sneezed and then hung up. I'm getting sick and tired of these cold calls.
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
Sabbath School Memory Verses:
Sabbath, January 3rd - " . . . And the LORD shut him in." Genesis 7:16
Sabbath, January 10th - “ . . . Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head . . .” Genesis 28:11
Sabbath, January 17th - “ . . . you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good . . .” Genesis 50:20
Sabbath, January 24th - “ . . . And his master shall bore through his ear with an awl. . .” Exodus 21:6
Sabbath, January 31st - “ . . . in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” Exodus 40:38
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind than on the externals in the world.”
~George Washington
Calendar Notes:
Wednesday, January 21st - likely New Moon Day
Sabbath, January 24th - We're upstairs in the Sanctuary (Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby in the Fellowship Hall)
Sabbath, January 31st - Women's Heart to Heart (Grace); Men's Torah Study (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
And Be At Peace
by Cynthia Saladin
The summer before I started kindergarten, my dad brought home a puppy from the dog pound. Being five, I was not overly imaginative when naming him; the black puppy with four white stockings and white bib became Blacky. He was an amazing dog! I could tell you stories! But when he was still a puppy, he was extremely destructive when left alone. One day he started running laps in the backyard. Every time he went past Mom’s cherry tree, he grabbed a branch. Pretty soon, branches were strewn all over the backyard. That poor cherry tree was never very pretty after that but was bent and misshapen. The day, however, that Blacky chewed up the seat on Dad’s motorcycle was nearly the final straw!
Blacky wasn’t the only destructive dog we ever had. Tinker, a poodle mix, decided she didn’t want to be left inside the garage one day. So she chewed an arch-shaped pattern into the bottom of the door going out of the garage. She easily chewed through the outside of the door, but was stopped by the solid core. Dad was mad. The next time we had to leave her, he left her in the backyard. When we came home, there was a matching arch on the exterior of the door where Tinker had tried to get inside.
For Blacky and Tinker, it seemed to be more than just puppies needing to chew. They just didn’t know what to do with themselves while we were gone. They were not at peace.
2 Peter 3:13-14 (ESV) says, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
We are waiting, sometimes more impatiently than other times, for the fulfillment of God’s promise. We long for Jesus to return and set up His kingdom where there is righteousness, and no more sorrow, or tears, or pain, or death! We believe with all of our heart that it is coming.
So we wait, and we tend to focus on the first part of the admonition. We are diligent to study His word that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1). As we examine ourselves, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves (Romans 5:6), we rely on God’s promise that He will purify the Bride of Christ (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:25–27). We think about the effort that is involved in choosing to walk in a way that pleases God. We persevere and overcome - enabled by that power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
But do we give the last part of this admonition the same weight? Are we at peace?
Every once in a while, I have to be out of the house, running errands, keeping appointments, or spending time with my granddaughter. It is not unusual, when I ask how the dogs were while I was gone, for Ron to tell me that Pepper went upstairs, curled up in his bed, and went to sleep. I’m not home doing stuff, so Pepper just waits until I am. And he’s at peace - at least until he hears my car coming down the road.
What a fantastic object lesson for me to take to heart! God has given me a job to do until Jesus returns. I’m to live a life that points others to my Messiah, and a huge piece of doing that is the way I live my life - being at peace. A person who is calm and at peace witnesses to the hope set before her - without even using words. It’s so incredibly powerful because other people want that peace. But it’s not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the violence and vileness of our society. It’s not dismissing the greed, grief, and godlessness as just a part of the end time scenario. It’s seeing the world around me that is in such desperate need of the Savior and recognizing that God has given me an opportunity to be a light in an ever-darkening world. That light shines brightest when I exude His peace - because I trust Him and I know He’s coming back. Jesus will set all things right. I might not know why so many people are suffering, why there’s so much evil and pain, and how God can use it to His glory. But I don’t need to know. I just need to keep my focus on Him . . . and to be at peace.
What a gracious God I serve! I deeply appreciate the gentle object lessons He sets around me - teaching me, helping me to grow and to become an ever-more useful vessel for His service. And that’s the point, isn’t it! God is sovereign. He has a plan. The tapestry He’s weaving is altogether beautiful. My job is not to tell Him how to weave, but to be part of the final product. From my perspective as a thread, I cannot see the whole picture. I just need to do what He has set before me and to be at peace. After all, God’s got it all sorted.
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
Someone just called my phone, sneezed and then hung up. I'm getting sick and tired of these cold calls.
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
Sabbath School Memory Verses:
Sabbath, January 3rd - " . . . And the LORD shut him in." Genesis 7:16
Sabbath, January 10th - “ . . . Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head . . .” Genesis 28:11
Sabbath, January 17th - “ . . . you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good . . .” Genesis 50:20
Sabbath, January 24th - “ . . . And his master shall bore through his ear with an awl. . .” Exodus 21:6
Sabbath, January 31st - “ . . . in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” Exodus 40:38
🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕 🐩 🐕
“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind than on the externals in the world.”
~George Washington
