~ From Joe Banner Sr., NPC Elder
To all our friends and church family,
Indeed, these are trying times in our personal and church life! Few, if any of us, have experienced the imposing dangers we are facing and losing so many privileges we take for granted. Our first reaction after being told to close our business and being quarantined was shock and dismay! The very thought of having to stay home and not being able to go wherever whenever was akin to a jail sentence! However, as the days passed, we felt ourselves beginning to enjoy a life with simple pleasures and quite frankly just being together without the normal daily pressures!
With going to church and being part of a wonderful church family our entire life all of a sudden gone, we wondered how to fill this void. To a very large degree, Michael has been the answer! Debbie and I think watching him on YouTube is very inspirational and makes us appreciate him more than ever! However, we still long for the return to not only hearing Michael in person but hearing our very talented musicians and choir and mingling with our church family. Indeed, the session is considering all possibilities to enable our return to normalcy even though it may come in stages and be slow!
On a very personal note, having to stay home for such a long period of time, Debbie has been quite content reading; I, on the other hand, rekindled my love for cooking! I love watching Chef John of Food Wishes on YouTube and decided to try several of his recipes. Sometimes, it was hard to choose between Chef John and Pastor Michael!! One of the highlights of my cooking was our granddaughter, Sophie, asking me one day what I was cooking. I answered her by saying “Pastitsio”. She asked what in the world Pastitsio is and I answered “Greek Lasagna”. Her response was to ask if she could eat with us and of course she got a resounding “Yes!” Quite frankly, I don’t know which Debbie and I enjoyed most: My excellent Pastitsio, Debbie getting out of cooking, or an evening with Sophie! Pictures of my efforts:
