Saturday

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.

He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him

along the same lines as the life of his Son ….

We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.”

~Romans 8:29 (Msg)~

Jadon’t Story

Seizures, Seiaures, & Seizures

I don’t have much to report. My seizures haven’t gotten any better. I’m having them during the night again. I’m also having many intense ones all during the day. We don’t know an exact amount, but we do know its well over 100. It’s just impossible to count them every day. My mommy is off of work for the weekend so she is going to get a good count on them. All I can say is please continue to pray for me. My mommy called our neurologist and they said there isn’t anything that needs to be done right now. We just have to wait. Well waiting is horrible, especially when your having seizures all day and all night. Thank you all very much for praying for me. It’s the only thing that keeps us going.

Callie Cole

Good Morning,
Just wanted to say hello and let you know that we had a good trip to Atlanta.  It was fast and furious, but successful.  Doc was impressed with her intact, cognitive abilities.  Can’t wait to see how she will conquer this school thing.  Pray that this area will show the stamp of God and be glorified!!  There are issues with writing that in turn affect the arithmetic portion of the school work.  But, like all other areas of this recovery we will figure out what will work best for Miss Sunshine.  She desires to go to school with Jackson.  I can see her changing her mind once we were to get started.  Can’t you?  Afterall, she is a teenager.  Right now, homebound is good.
Hope you all are thinking up a great, radical, Jesus kiss for someone this month.  I will continue with the challenge to think outside the ordinary and remember that it is a secret!!  Allow the Lord to be glorified so you may receive rich blessings in Heaven.
Keep it real.

Love,
Frances

Harrell Sharkey is progressing well following his knee surgery.  Pray for him as he continues rehab.

Frances Gay got a good report yesterday after the procedure was done.  Thank God for the good report.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Day 7

The Udmurts of Russia

Imagine loving someone you have never met, in a country 6,000 miles away. It happened to two American couples when God gave them a heart to reach the Udmurts, a minority people group in Russia, more than two years ago.

Charlie and Heather Murphy* met Will and Marie Thompson* while attending seminary in Texas. Today all four are Russian language students in Izhevsk, the capital city of Udmurtia.

“I loved the Udmurt people before I ever took a trip here, before I ever met one of them,” Charlie says. “And that really was just a love that came from God.”

Southern Baptists had prayed for the Udmurts during 2007 Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization.

Most Udmurts live as outcasts in rural villages where they eke out a meager existence from their family gardens.

“Without a doubt,” Charlie says, “the thing that burdens me the most about this people is just the depression. You can see it on their faces. … Some turn to the animism, some turn to the Orthodox Church, but right now very few are turning to Christ.”

Will echoes these sentiments. Udmurtia, he says, is “a place ready to receive the gospel … Hopelessness is just an open field—open soil for the gospel.”

Pray for Udmurts to put their trust in Christ and boldly share their faith in their villages.

*Names changed
———-

Lottie Moon Tea

East Fork Baptist Church

2:00 Today

All girls and women from 5 – 105 are invited

Mrs. Lucille Pledger

McKneely Funeral Home, Kentwood

Visitation beging at noon today.

Service begins at 1 P.M.

THE BLESSING OF A MATE

Someone has compiled the following list of observations about married
life:

*  A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can
spend.  A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

*  Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.  Women somehow
deteriorate during the night.

*  A man is a person who will pay two dollars for a one-dollar item he
wants.  A woman will pay one dollar for a two-dollar item that she
doesn’t want.

*  To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a
little.  To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not
try to understand her at all.

*  When women are depressed, they either eat or go shopping.  Men
invade another country.

*  A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.  A
man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change and she does.

*  A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.  A man
never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

*  There are two times when a man doesn’t understand a woman – before
marriage and after marriage.

*  Only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy.  One is to
let her think she is having her own way.  The other is to let her
have it.

*  Any married man should forget his mistakes – there’s no use in two
people remembering the same thing.

*  A man has six items in his bathroom – a toothbrush, shaving cream,
razor, a bar of soap, deodorant and a towel. The average number of
items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 437.  A man would not be
able to identify most of these items.

*  A woman always has the last word in any argument.  Anything a man
says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

Although I am sometimes accused of being personally responsible for the deterioration of relations between men and women in this country, my wife and I can joke about such things because, deep down, we realize how much we mean to each other.

Allow me to share some personal thoughts with you.  God has truly blessed me with the most wonderful woman on the face of this earth.  We have shared our lives together for over 33 years.  We thought when we first got married that it couldn’t get any better, but it has (and it continues to do so!).

I hold my wife personally responsibility for anything I may achieve in this life.  She is my source of strength and my encouragement when things are rough.  She is the one who knows me best, with all my shortcomings and failures, and yet still loves me.  She always sees the best in me, and always manages to bring out the best in me.  She is one I most enjoy talking to and spending time with.  She is my best friend.  How blessed I am!

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.” (Prov. 18:22).

“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” (Prov. 5:18).

Those of you who are married, I encourage you to give thanks to God for the blessing He has given you.  Those who are not married (but hope to be), I pray that God will bless you with a mate as wonderful as mine.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Jesus if the reason for the season!

Anna Lee