Russell Baumann

From the Family Life Director...


Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I recently had a conversation discussing the amount of time spent on various activities such as; listening to music, Facebook reels, Tik-Tok, tv, listening to podcasts, and reading. From the discussion, we concluded that things done in moderation can be healthy. If it is consuming though, obviously we have an issue.

Our culture has moved into a time of what’s next. These short videos of five or ten seconds may humor us in the moment, but when I think back on the time spent watching videos, can I remember anything of value. No..

So, where is my time going? Am I making the most use of my time or am I giving into what culture says is “down time” so that I feel “rested”.

Scripture has a lot to say about rest. Jesus often went away by himself to pray and become refreshed. Jesus was so often surrounded by people wanting something from Him. Jesus poured himself out for us, and then to refresh, went away to recover. After all, He was 100% man.

So, the question is, how do we rest and use our time to be more like Christ. Let’s look at Philippians.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think on these things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Can we really consider Facebook reels… pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy? I think there are things that are far more praiseworthy than Tik-Tok.

This New Year, I want to really put into practice the effort of being more intentional with my time that is given to me. I want to dwell on things that are worthy of my time and not just give my time over to culture that would choose to consume and waste it.

My life is for Jesus Christ.

Things for the calendar…

  1. January 5th – Family Game Night! This is for all family members. (Bring your favorite game – or learn how to lose to Russell in Cribbage) 4:00 – 6:00 pm. Appetizers provided.
  2. January 12th – Sunday School Resumes
  3. January 12th – Alaska Mission Meeting
  4. January 12th – NYG meeting after 2nd Service, meal provided
  5. January 15th – Prayer Walk (5:15 pm)
  6. January 19th – Youth Night (Mafia)
  7. January 26th – Family Breakfast
In Christ,
  Russell Baumann ~ Family Life Director
  John 3:30