SEND YOUR ANONYMOUS PRAYERS - Our new series of messages for July is on prayer. Our aim is to help you communicate with God more meaningfully and honestly. To succeed in that goal, it would help to know what you’re praying these days. So, would you send some of your current prayers - anonymously - to a website that we have set up for this purpose? Whether your prayers are filled with praise or anger or fear or loneliness or thanksgiving, just send some of them to www.7729.org. They are strictly anonymous, so you can be 100% honest with yourself and with God.

THE SAMARITAN’S HEART - A MINISTRY OF COMPASSION
We are seeking volunteers to join us for local nursing home visits two times a month. Help us as we strive to instill hope and faith in Jesus Christ to senior residents through fellowship, worship, and prayer. We meet every other Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at Victoria Gardens of Frisco (at Rolater and Hillcrest). For more information, contact Peter & Alainna Palmer at 214-432-7575 or pandapalmer@tx.rr.com.

MEN’S COLORADO ADVENTURE
PTCC Men are invited to Durango, Colorado July 30-August 3 for an outdoor adventure. Pick up a registration packet at the Yes! Table at the Men’s Ministry area for further details or on the website.

WOMEN’S RETREAT
Looking for a weekend get-a-way this summer? Some fun before the school year kicks into high gear? Well, you’re in luck! PTCC Women’s Ministry is having their first annual Women’s Retreat on Friday, August 17th - Saturday, August 18th at Lantana Lodge. This weekend will include great teaching, worship, and tons of fun! Cost is $80, and a $40 deposit is due upon registration. The full payment will be due by July 1st. Spots are limited, so sign up now at the YES! Table.

PARTNERSHIP
Take the next step in your commitment to God and to PTCC by becoming a partner, our membership program. Partnership focuses on five biblical principles that we call the 5Gs: Grace, Growth, Groups, Gifts and Good Stewardship. You may complete the self-directed Bible Study found on our website or you may attend our next partnership class July 15 from 9:30 AM - Noon at the PTCC building. Sign up at the Yes! Table today!

ONLINE GIVING
Make your life simpler by automating your giving. Follow the easy directions at www.prestontrail.org to setup for debit or credit card for regular giving and dream big donations. All transactions are secure and will appear on your regular statement.

LIFE GROUPS
Sign up at the Information Table or email info@prestontrail.org and get involved in a group!

Size of our Universe

Every now and then I read an astronomy clip that blows my mind and humbles my spirit.  Philip Yancey, in his book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, puts the size of our universe in perspective.  If our galaxy, the Milky Way, were the size of North America, our solar system (for those of you who are astronomy challenged, that means our sun, the earth and our fellow planets) would fit in a coffee cup. 

To expand your mind a bit more, there are several hundred billion other stars and their solar systems in our galaxy.  Got that?  Now let’s take it one more step.  The Milky Way is just one of roughly 100 billion galaxies in the universe.  Light traveling at 186,000 miles per second would take approximately 200 billion years to travel across the universe.  My cranium is about to burst!  How about yours?

When you begin to grasp the enormity of the universe and then realize that God simply spoke all of this into being, it gives you a whole new appreciation for the majesty of God.  How big, how wise, how powerful, how loving does a God have to be in order to create and maintain a universe like that?  Usually another question follows behind these pretty quickly.  “How could a big God like that ever care about such a small potato like me?”  The psalmist puts it a little more poetically, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?”

If we aren’t careful we can fall into despair thinking that God is just too big, too busy, and too inaccessible.  We can easily start concluding that for all practical purposes we are simply alone in this vast expanse.  Sometimes we feel like we could pray all night but it just wouldn’t do any good.  But, the Bible says, “Wait, hold it right there!”  God may be awe inspiring, but he’s not above loving even the least of his creatures.  He may have a lot on his plate, but he’s not overwhelmed.  He may be at work a galaxy away, but he can still hear a prayer whispered in anguish.

No one has understood prayer quite like David, the psalmist.  And for that reason Paul Basden is going to spend the next four weeks teaching us about the mystery of prayer out of some of the classic Psalms.  The message series is entitled 7729.  For those of you who have not joined the rest of the world in text messaging, those four numbers spell out the word “Pray.”  Paul is going to help us understand that we can connect to God—whenever!  I hope you’ll invite a friend be present at every service.  You will be spiritually guided and enriched in a powerful way! 

77293738559,

Jim

P.S.  Way to go PTCC!  In our drive to supply Frisco Family Services we gave 442 pounds of cleaning products to restock their shelves and to help families in crisis.

ONLINE GIVING
Make your life simpler by automating your giving. Follow the easy directions at www.prestontrail.org to setup for debit or credit card for regular giving and dream big donations. All transactions are secure and will appear on your regular statement.

Read previous Trail Notes here

LISTEN! Preston Trail Podcast
PTCC worship messages are available by subscription to our podcast or for listening on our website. So, if you missed a service, or want to share one with a friend go here and take a listen.
You will have the option of downloading and listening to them on your computer or even subscribe here (or press the iTunes image on the right) to have them come to your computer automatically each time one is added - then play them on your computer or your iPod while you're exercising or driving.

Calendar at a glance...

July 15 - Partnership Class - 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM

July 22 Life Group Connection 10:35 - 11:05

July 30 - Aug. 3 Men's Colorado Adventure

Aug. 12 Discover Preston Trail - 11:00 Corner office

Aug. 17 - 18 Women's Retreat