Month: January 2011

We look not at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are unseen.

The things which are seen are temporal

and the things which are not seen are eternal.

~2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)~

Mug ‘n’ Muffin

This is a meeting for all girls and ladies.  The name comes from taking your own mug to drink from and the request that you being a dozen muffins to share.  There will be a fellowship time, a sharing time, a craft time, and a time to prepare a package of muffins to share with someone.  This morning we will meet at FBC, Kentwood at 10 A.M.  Come and have a great morning!

Continue to pray for the many requests that have been listed and for some you know of that are not listed.

Pay attention to the weather report for the next few days.

Plan to study your Bible and attend Sunday School and church.

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2.10

Mike Benson, Editor

MILTON WAS FLYING on a plane from Atlanta to Dallas…

He happened to have the middle of the three seats on one side of the aisle.  To his right, sitting next to the window, was a young girl who obviously had Down’s syndrome.  She began to ask him some simple but almost offensive questions.

“Mister,” she said, “did you brush your teeth this morning?”

Milton, very shocked at the question, squirmed around a bit and then said, “Well, yes, I brushed my teeth this morning.”

The young girl said, “Good, ’cause that’s what you’re supposed to do.”  Then she asked, “Mister, do you smoke?”

Again, Milton was a little uncomfortable, but he told her with a little chuckle that he didn’t.

She said, “Good, ’cause smoking will make you die.”  Then she said, “Mister, do you love Jesus?”

Milton was really caught by the simplicity and the forthrightness of the little girl’s questions.  He smiled and said, “Well, yes, I do love Jesus.”

The little girl with Down’s Syndrome smiled and said, “Good, ’cause we’re all supposed to love Jesus.”

About that time, just before the plane was ready to leave, another man came and sat down on the aisle seat next to Milton and began to read a magazine.  The little girl Milton again and said, “Mister, ask him if he brushed his teeth this morning.”

Milton was really uneasy with that one, and said that he didn’t want to do it.  But she kept nudging him and saying, “Ask him!  Ask him!”  So Milton turned to the man seated next to him and said, “Mister, I don’t mean to bother you, but my friend here wants me to ask you if you brushed your teeth this morning.”

The man looked startled, of course.  But when he looked past Milton and saw the young girl sitting there, he could tell her good intentions, so he took her question in stride and said with a smile, “Well, yes, I brushed my teeth this morning.”

As the plane taxied onto the runway and began to take off, the young girl nudged Milton once more and said, “Ask him if he smokes.”  And so, good-naturedly, Milton did, and the man said that he didn’t smoke.

As the plane was lifting into the air, the little girl nudged Milton once again and said, “Ask him if he loves Jesus.”

Milton said, “I can’t do that.  That’s too personal.  I don’t feel comfortable saying that to him.”

But the girl smiled and insisted, “Ask him!  Ask him!”

Milton turned to the fellow one more time and said, “Now she wants to know if you love Jesus…”

The man could have responded like he had to the two previous questions — with a smile on his face and little chuckle in his voice.  And he almost did.

But then the smile on his face disappeared, and his expression became serious.  Finally he said to Milton, “You know, in all honesty, I can’t say that I do.  It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I don’t know Him.  I don’t know how to know Him.  I’ve wanted to be a person of faith all my life, but I haven’t known how to do it.  And now I’ve come to a time in my life when I really need that very much.”

As the plane soared through the skies between Atlanta and Dallas, Milton listened to the fellow talk about the brokenness in his life.  Then he began a Bible study and explained how to become a person of faith.

And he did all of that because a little girl with Down’s Syndrome had asked him to ask the fundamental question that all Christians should be finding a way to communicate, “Do you love Jesus?”  Stan Toler, “God Has Never Failed Me, But He’s Sure Scared Me To Death A Few Times.”

“And He said to them,

‘Go into all the world and

preach the gospel to every creature.”

Mark 16.15

Anna Lee

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses,

with insults,

with distresses,

with persecutions,

with difficulties,

for Christ’s sake;

for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

~2 Corinthians 12:10, NASB~

Be careful if you have to get on the wet roads today.

Pray for the many who are on our prayer list.  I’ll not name them individually.

Thought for the Day: The People Behind You

A teenager, Elizabeth, was nervous as she took the wheel for her first driving lesson. As she was pulling out of the parking lot, the instructor said, “Turn left here, and don’t forget to let the people behind you know what you are doing.”

Elizabeth turned to the students sitting in the backseat and announced, “I’m going left.”

Though it may not have been understood properly, the instruction of the teacher was a valuable piece of advice: “Let the people behind you know what you are doing.”

In Hebrews 2:10, Jesus is referred to as “the author of our salvation” (NKJV). The RSV, though, translates that phrase as “pioneer of our salvation” because the Greek word used in this verse (“archegos”) was a word sometimes used for a pioneer or trailblazer who opened up a territory so that others could follow.

I love the Appalachian Mountains. When I lived in Boone, I often wondered what it would have been like in the early 1700’s to cross those mountains — no interstates, not even any dirt roads, just trees and bushes. There were mountain men who had braved the frontier, but there was no safe and reliable way to get settlers over the mountains. What was needed was for some brave man, a “pioneer”, to open the west by finding the best mountain passes and building a passable road to the west.

The idea of the pioneer is an appropriate image of Christ. He went before us and opened up the way so that we can follow.

But you, too, are called to be an “archegos”, a pioneer who blazes the way for others to follow. There are those who work with you and live around you who are looking to you as they struggle to find the way in their own lives. You may have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and countless others who will be influenced by the legacy you leave behind. Choose your path carefully. And let the people behind you know what you are doing.

May we be able to say with Paul: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (I Cor. 11:1)

Have a wonderful, but wet, Wednesday!

Anna Lee

By our baptism, then,

we were buried with him and shared his death,

in order that, just as Christ was raised from death

by the glorious power of the Father,

so also we might live a new life.

~Romans 6:4 (TEV)~

My sister, Julie, requests prayer for a friend’s family.

Edna Bailey Kennedy, a long time friend of mine, posted this Monday night on Face Book: “Please pray for our son, Justin, and his platoon. His vehicle hit an IED today. Justin is in a medical facility in Afghanistan with a concussion. We were notified by the U.S. Army notification center tonight. Information was scarce.”

Thanks,

Julie

Edna is from the Franklinton area.

Ashlyn Neal is able to attend school for half a day as she continues to improve.  She has another doctor’s appointment later this week.  Please continue to pray for Ashlyn, her family, and her friends.

Pray for Stacey Scarle today.  She is not healing well and will have to have additional surgery today.  Radiation and additional surgery will follow.

Thought For The Day: Small Town Atmosphere

You know you live in a small town when…..

* Third Street is on the edge of town.

* You don’t use your turn signals because everyone knows where you’re going.

* A baby born on June 14 receives gifts from local merchants as the first baby of the year.

* You speak to each dog you pass by name and he wags his tail at you.

* You dial a wrong number and talk for 15 minutes anyway.

* You can’t walk for exercise because every car that passes you offers you a ride.

* In order to paint traffic lines, the road has to be widened

* The Mayor is also the Sheriff, Town Council and street sweeper.

* There is no town idiot — everybody has to take turns.

* You can name everyone you graduated with.

* You have to drive an hour to buy a pair of socks.

* You get a whiff of manure and think of home.

* You fix yourself up to go buy groceries lest anyone starts the rumor that you have gained weight or quit taking care of yourself.

* Friday nights fun consisted of standing in line for the one-screen theater and when it is sold out, watching truckers and drinking coffee at the truck stop (the only place open after 10).

* Someone asks you how you feel and listens to what you say.

There are certainly some disadvantages to growing up in a small town, but some advantages as well. Especially when it comes to having people around you who truly care. In a large city, it’s easy to find yourself surrounded by a sea of nameless faces. That is something that we dare not allow to happen in the church.

The 16th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans is important, though you may have previously overlooked its significance. The chapter consists of a series of greetings, most of them to people whose names we can’t even pronounce. No less than 28 members of the church in Rome are mentioned by name. Why? Perhaps Paul wanted to remind this group of Christians in a large city that they were not nameless faces — they were part of God’s family. We not only mean something to God, we mean something to one another. It’s a “small town atmosphere” even in a “large city church.”

“Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.” (Rom. 16:14-16)

–Alan Smith

I like small towns.  We are able to pray for the needs of others, often people we know well.  Also, when needed, people can pray for our needs.

Anna Lee