Dear Beulah Members and Friends -

Christmas Greetings to you and yours in this holy time of the year.

We are getting all geared up here for our Christmas "weekend" of services.
Remember Christmas Eve on Saturday, 5:00 and 10:00 PM - and Christmas Day on
Sunday, one service at 10:40, for a service of Christmas Lessons and Carols.

Let me also add a word of thanks for the cards, gifts, notes of
encouragement, and other expressions of care that have shown up on my desk
here at church, and in the mail at home, from so many of you.  Your care and
support of all the Hockenberry family is wonderful, as always!

I do need to pass along some news and some needs to you all, for your
prayers and your help:

1. We continue along with our "Beulah Pace Maker" marathon - today Emma
Kennedy is getting one, and unfortunately she was taken quite late into
surgery (around 1:30 PM - and they all got there at 6:30 AM, and I prayed
with them at 7:15!).  All should go well, and she is staying a day or two in
the hospital.

2. Jim Fox is scheduled to have the battery replaced in his pacemaker on
Thursday, December 22.
3.Jim Barbour, our Ramsey Building custodian, is also in the hospital and is
improving.

4. Kim Clements is in need of our prayers. She is struggling with some
ongoing stomach and digestion system struggles, and is worn out - as is
Steve from a virus and caring for Kim.  Keep praying.

4. Lisa Payne is home on bed rest, to help her yet-to-be-born baby stay
longer and grow stronger.  Please pray for Lisa, Tom, and big brother Sean.

5. Brittany Bradley, daughter to Stan and Kris (step-daughter) Bradley (Kris
Gertz Bradley is the daughter of Bob and Sherry Gertz) had surgery on her
leg last week, and is home recovering.

6. Theresa Billingsley is recovering from a hurt knee and is at home.
7.  June Priest is in rehab at Hurstbourne Care Center and is regaining her
strength after her recent      hospitalization.
The OAM (Older Adult Ministry) Christmas gathering was much fun.  Their
donations from the white elephant sale and some other donations were able to
help a needy family in our community - for which I, and this family - was
exceedingly grateful.

I have recently been made aware of two families within our church, and
another in the community (a family Judy knows very well) who are having some
rather sudden struggles at this time of the year.  These folks are all
working hard, trying to make ends meet, but have experienced either a sudden
transmission problem with an older car, a lack of response from an insurance
company that is delaying making a reimbursement payment which has set them
back, and another whose parent is quite ill and needs some help with medical
bills which is making the working, adult and only child having a difficult
time this month.  If you are able and willing to help with these situations,
I would encourage you to let me know.  All of us can remember to pray - and
please let us all remember that as Jesus taught his disciples, our "first
response" to needs around us is to pray, knowing that God works through our
prayers, and then through our actions and the actions of others, to bring
about help and support for those who need it most.

I know that many of you are traveling and maybe already traveling to family
in other places for Christmas, and that many are traveling to us here in
Louisville for this Christmas time.  May God keep us all safe in our
travels, joyous in our opportunities to be together with family and friends,
at peace with one another, and graceful and encouraging in our conduct with
one another - now and always.

Blessings -

Pastor Ken H.

Ken Hockenberry
ken@beulahpresbyterian.com
Pastor, Beulah Presbyterian Church
Stated Clerk, Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky
"Fret not; it tends only to evil"  Psalm 37:8b