April 24

 HAPPY EASTER!

Mark 16:6 “’Don’t be alarmed’, he said.  ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.’”

A TIME OF FELLOWSHIP

Pete and Nadine hosted a meal at their home in the Ho Ho Kam Village to fellowship with those who are still in the RV Resort.  Chaplain Bill was asked to give an invocation and a blessing on the food.  The numbers in the park continue to dwindle.  Many at the party will be leaving before the end of the week.  It was a good time of refreshing fellowship.

Easter Sunday Service at Ho Ho Kam

The title of the message was “The Greatest Miscarriage of Justice in History”. 
To listen to the message click here.

Nadine, one of the residents of the park, volunteered to play the piano for the worship service.

Easter Dinner in the Clubhouse

An Easter Bonnet “HATS” competition parade was held where the ladies and gentlemen could show off their top pieces.  It was lots of fun.

This was followed by the blessing of the food by Chaplain Bill and a delicious meal.


On Palm Sunday Chaplain Bill came down with a bad case of Shingles.  At times he was almost totally incapacitated but praise the Lord he seems to be on the mend thanks to the many prayers from each of you.

“SIGN OF THE TIMES”
The gas prices are rising, the presidential races are heating up, and there’s trouble in the Middle East, but none of that concerns me because I got money back on my tax returns.”

To hear this week's message click here.
Continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord here in the desert.
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April 17

Coolidge Examiner > Religion

Looking from a Distance, as We Consider Jesus Christ this Week

By Pastor William Perry
Community Christian Church/Chaplain of Ho Ho Kam RV Resort
Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 4:13 AM MST

This Easter Sunday morning across the country and around the world, more people will be in church than any other day of the year.  In fact, for some it will be their one and only time they’ve attended church all year.

I’ve often asked the question: Why is it that people seem to fill churches on Easter?
In answering my own question, I believe it’s because they are looking for some good news. Because we all need to hear there is something good, we all need to believe there is something to look forward to.  We can be sure that the Story of Easter is GOOD NEWS!  But the truth is, to some it’s truly TERRIFYING NEWS!

The Gospel writer, Mark, records that the women who made their way to the tomb of Jesus, early on that first Easter Sunday morning were afraid. According to Mark, these women were: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.  It was very early on this Sunday morning as they made their way to the tomb, and their purpose for coming was to anoint the dead body of Jesus. Mark tells us that just two days earlier they had watched the crucifixion.  The Bible tells us that they watched “from a distance.”  And when it was over, they were eye witnesses to Joseph of Arimatha taking the Lord’s body down off the cross, wrapping it in some cloth, taking it to its burial place, laying it in this tomb.  They witnessed the stone being rolled over the doorway of the tomb. The watched all of this “from a distance.”

It seems to me that for many today, that is truly their favorite perspective on death, and burial, and for many, even the resurrection of Jesus, and in fact, on Christianity itself, it’s at a distance!
We like to view death, as did these women, from a distance.  By viewing death from a distance, we hope to be able to ignore our own mortality.  But occasionally, it catches up to someone we love, and it is then that we learn, like these three women did, that you have no choice but to see death in all of its ugliness, up close.  We must be prepared to see death up close, at any time.  This life is so fleeting.

In the book of James Chapter 4, verse 14, James writes, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  As alarming as this message is, I would like for you to consider the words recorded by Mark, in Chapter 16, and verses 6-8, “Don’t be alarmed, he said, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!  He is not here. See the place where they laid Him, but go, tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you.  Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

Now, this, I believe is an element of Easter that is so often missing from our Easter Celebration.
There are far too many who think of Easter as bunnies and little chicks, colorful eggs, and little girls in cute new dresses. But maybe, just maybe, we should give a little more thought to some grown women, with their dresses hiked up to their knees, running with terror, as fast as they could out of that cemetery.

Easter is not about renewal, new beginnings; it’s not about the perseverance of the human spirit, or the first crocuses of spring.  Not at all! It is about, what the angel asked the women that first Easter morning, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” It’s about the hope of Heaven!
It was on this day that Jesus Christ defeated Satan and Death, He did this so we might rise with him into new life.

The Easter story gets finished every time someone comes to the realization of their need for a savior, for rebirth, for a new life, that is what Easter is about.
Copyright © 2011 - Tri Valley Central
http://trivalleycentral.com/articles/2011/04/13/coolidge_examiner/religion/doc4da4cb844e291448917608.txt
http://trivalleycentral.com/articles/2011/04/13/coolidge_examiner/religion/doc4da4cb844e291448917608.prt
 

A Trip to Pinetop

On Thursday we made a trip to visit our home in the mountains.  It was not an eventful trip, but the scenery driving through Salt River Canyon is always breathtaking.

We took this opportunity to take a look at the lake that we enjoyed walking around last summer.  We saw some signs that caused us to become aware of dangers.  In the Bible we’re given signs upon signs, but as we did that day most people just ignore them.

It is beautiful around the lake.  The leaves are starting to come out on the trees and I believe I heard someone say, “we are looking forward to spring!”  …and so are we. 


To hear this week's message click here.
Continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord here in the desert.
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If you no longer desire to receive Perry's Periodicals, simply send us an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. We will then remove your email address from that group. It is our desire to send Perry's Periodicals to only those who want to receive it. Vaya Con Dios...Go With God!

April 10

Chaplain’s Corner

(This Article was published as part of the April 2011 newsletter, “The Bright Penny”, the official newsletter of the USS Berkley DDG-15 Association.)
By Chaplain Bill Perry
John 13:34 “A new command I give
you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another.”

Friendship

Friendship is different from all other
relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship,
it is based on love. Unlike lovers and
married couples, it is free of jealousy.
Unlike children and parents, it knows
neither criticism nor resentment.
Friendship has no status in law.
Business partnerships are based on a
contract. Marriage is a covenant.
Parents are bound by the law, as are
children. But friends never cheat each
other, or take advantage, or lie. Friends
do not spy on one another, yet they have
no secrets. Friends glory in each other’s
successes and are downcast by their
failures. Friends minister to each other,
nurse each other. Friends give to each
other, pray for each other, and stand
always ready to help. Perfect friendship
is rarely achieved, but at its height is a
precious thing. (John 15: 12-15)
(Dr. Perry is a member and the Chaplain for the Berkley Association.)
 

Ho Ho Kam RV Park

The numbers of our Ho Ho Kam Community are dwindling as so many of our residents are heading back to their northern homes.  We wish them safe travels and are looking forward to their return in the Fall.
To hear this week's message click here.
Continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord here in the desert.
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If you no longer desire to receive Perry's Periodicals, simply send us an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. We will then remove your email address from that group. It is our desire to send Perry's Periodicals to only those who want to receive it. Vaya Con Dios...Go With God!

April 3

RESULTS CAN BE COSTLY, WHEN THE CAPTAIN IS NOT AT HIS POST

(This article was published in the Coolidge Examiner on March 30, 2011)
A few years ago, in the state of Alaska, a ship ran aground. Remember? It was the tanker Exxon Valdez, and this took place in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The result was, an oil spill that continued for days, and caused incalculable damage to the local area, to the fishing industry, and played havoc with the wildlife in this extremely beautiful piece of America. The head of the government agency in that area said of this passage that it “Was so wide, that a child could have piloted a tanker through there.” So, what went wrong? Well, this could only be explained by having an unlicensed third-mate at the helm that day, piloting the ship. This unlicensed mate was where the captain should have been, on the bridge of his ship. Where was the captain? He was down below! This disaster happened because the man who should have been directing the ship’s operation was not where he should have been; on the bridge! In the Bible, in the Word of God, in Genesis 16:1, we see what happens when the captain of a family is not in the pilothouse and at the helm. God promised the captain of this family, Abram, he and his wife Sarai were going to miraculously have a son, even after they were beyond childbearing age. God had promised that a nation would come form this son. They had been waiting for this son for awhile. Here in Genesis 16:1 we read, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai said.” So, we see here that the captain of this family abandoned the helm of responsibility for his family and allowed his wife to call the shots. And, with this, Ishmael was conceived and born – and from him, came the Arabic people of the world today. It was thirteen years later, elderly Sarai is now miraculously pregnant (just as God had predicted) with a son, Isaac, the true child of promise, in God’s own time—the child from whom the Jewish people came, was born. The result of Abram’s forfeiture of leadership in his home was: bitter wars springing up in his own family, that have continued throughout the centuries and into our world today.

We can see a Biblical principle underscored in this negative example from scripture, and this principle is; the buck stops for the family with the man. When we look in Ephesians 5, we see the husband being portrayed for us as the Christ-figure in the family, who leads his family with a self-sacrificing love. You can see this also with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when God held Adam responsible for the sin of Eve his wife, even though it was Eve who initiated the sin. This can also be seen, when Sarah laughs at God’s promise of a son in her old age, and God comes asking Abram why his wife reacted in unbelief.

When each of us stand before the Lord, and we all will, you can be sure who the Lord will ask about what happened in our families – it will be the husband, the father, the captain. We don’t have to look very far, and surly not very wide today to see a lot of families who have been set adrift because the captain is down below, abdicating, the leadership God insists he is responsible for.

I am taking this opportunity to ask that each man, each husband, each dad, reading this, take stock: Are you taking the lead in keeping your family focused on the Lord Jesus? Are you leading your family in making good decisions, or are you avoiding the tough choices? Are you facing the fact that many of the things that may be frustrating you in your wife and children may be because of needs you’re not meeting? In family finances, in decision-making, in spiritual things, in keeping communication going –God says the husband, the Dad, is the captain.

When the captain is not piloting the ship--when the man abrogates his responsibilities, families go aground, and the results are very costly. Dr. William Perry is Pastor of the Community Christian Church

Putting up the Christian Flag over our home at Ho Ho Kam RV Resort.
Note the cactus flowers and the palm tree in front of the house

The flags are up and we take time for a little R&R in the pool

A visit from our daughter, Jennifer and her husband, Ronnie, from Colorado with their daughter, Kiley.  We gave them the three day tour of southern Arizona with a visit to Old Tucson.

Biosphere II

Apache Lake with a picnic and very hospital weather.

A visit to Tombstone where they had a Rose Festival Parade “just for us” 
Ha, ha, ha!

We had a chance to meet some Cowboys for Christ.

Also, a trip to Wilcox where we had dinner in a train dinning car and an opportunity to introduce the family to Rex Allen.  “Well, only his statue, but it was nice.”

Church services on Sunday were great.  There were approximately 25 in attendance at the chapel service at Ho Ho Kam.  We are surely blessed. 

On Monday morning the family will be headed back to Colorado.  With a tear in our eye, yet with joy in our hearts we bid farewell FOR NOW!!

To hear this week's CC church message click here and the Ho Ho Kam Chapel service here.
Continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord here in the desert.
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If you no longer desire to receive Perry's Periodicals, simply send us an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. We will then remove your email address from that group. It is our desire to send Perry's Periodicals to only those who want to receive it. Vaya Con Dios...Go With God!