(0) Welcome and Introduction

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for the Introduction and Welcome video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

    Hello, and welcome to our home. I’m Pastor David Berkedal. My wife, Rev. Sally Welch, and I are co-producing these videos, Streams of Living Water. These videos are being streamed via Facebook and YouTube, and the Bible speaks of living water as the life-transforming presence of God. That’s why we’re calling it Streams of Living Water (get it?)  😊

    We are producing this Introductory Video to give you some background and some basic information for all of our coming videos.

    We are both retired clergy. I am a retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Sally is a retired clergyperson of the Christian Church – Disciples of Christ\ United Church of Christ.

    These are challenging times for all of us, especially medical professionals, food service workers, clergy, teachers, the homeless, those living with families and those living alone, and all those who may seem invisible but are known to God and are providing essential services.

    We both continue to do what old people like us are supposed to do: stay at home. 

    It occurred to us that one of the things we could do while we are here is to connect with friends old and new and share encouragement with one another via video.

    Our current plan is to go live on Facebook, and then upload the video to our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water twice a week.

     We are fully aware that, as someone online pointed out, there suddenly seems to be more pastors online than cat videos. Except that, in our first video, at about 12 minutes into it, our cat Phoebe suddenly appears from behind the window curtains, looks indifferently at the camera, and jumps to the floor. So, there you get a two-fer.  😊

    Each week we’ll introduce our theme, share some humor, encourage you, pray with you, and be reminded that loves us, that God died for us, and that God walks with us through these challenging times. 

       We’ll look at the Bible for the promises that never fail, and experience the presence of God in the action of reading and hearing. If you’d like to follow along, bring out your Bible. We’ll help you find the passage we are looking at.

    We are using our very basic equipment to record these videos: a somewhat out-of-date cell phone to record video and audio and natural light. We are hoping to improve our production every week, but there are bound to be glitches.

    For example, if I look a little out of whack, or at least more so than usual, it’s because my phone records video in a mirror image. Everything is flipped horizontally. I spent hours trying to correct that on my Google Pixel phone with no success. But I’m still working on it. Apparently, Facebook removed the feature that lets you correct that. We’re still looking for an effective work-around. One hack I’m using is to print text in a mirror image, so that it appears to be normal in the video. So, see, improvement!  😊

    Please send us your ideas for improving our video and audio, as well as this blog, your prayer requests, and suggestions for content. We will respond to every one.

    We would also especially like to know if this blog is useful to you. Would you like to see more of something:  Prayer, Bible Study, encouragement, humor, or something else? Do you have questions you would like us to speak about?  

       We hope that you will be encouraged to live the abundant life that Jesus came to give us, even in this uncertain time of risky work and quarantined homes. We want you to know that God is with you, and that we are all bound together in our common relationship with the one, true, living God. You are not alone.

    We are not a church, we are just a small part of the whole church on earth, a couple of retired pastors who see a need. Continue to pray for your pastor and support your church. If you don’t have one, pick one and join its members in worship and service when this thing is over. And it will be over.

    You can contact us publicly by commenting through the comment section below, or privately by sending me a personal message on Facebook or by sending an email to dberkedal1@gmail.com. Please remember that your public comments are visible to the public.

   If you send your email address to me, I’ll see that you are alerted to new videos.

    You can also Subscribe to our YouTube channel, Streams of Living Water by signing into your YouTube account (it’s free). Search for Streams of Living Water. If it doesn’t appear at the top of the list, click on the slider icon near the top of the page (three horizontal broken lines). Look under the Type column and click on Channel.  Click on Streams of Living Water, then click on the Subscribe button.  You can also follow the Facebook Page at the name David Berkedal.

    Finally, we ask that you remember us and Streams of Living Water in your prayers. We need encouragement and to hear the gift of new life in Jesus Christ as much as anybody, and we thank you for your presence in our common ministry of the good news of Jesus Christ.

    May God bless us in this time of uncertainty that God is with us, and that God has promised to all who accept the gift of a living faith, a living relationship with the living God, Streams of Living Water.