Sunday Addition

Mrs. Flo Sanders passed away last night.  I’ll post more later.

Richard Edward Brennan
(December 31, 1927 – April 30, 2010)

A resident of Kentwood, died at 9:55 a.m. on Friday, April 30, 2010 at his residence.

He was born December 31, 1927 in Brockton, MA and was 82 years of age. He was secretary of Kentwood Rotary Club for 4 years. Survived by wife, Ara S. Brennan, Kentwood, 2 daughters, Nicole A. Brennan, Framingham, MA, and Cara F. Brennan, Boston, MA, 2 brothers, William Brennan, Falmouth, ME, and John Brennan, W. Dennis, MA.

McKneely Funeral Home, Kentwood, entrusted with arrangements.

Sunday

We are not our own bosses to live or die

as we ourselves might choose.

Living or dying we follow the Lord.

Either way we are his.

~Romans 14:7-8 (LB)~

Please continue to pray for Jesse and Majel Dean and Mr. Phillip and “Miss” Annie Bell Harrell.

Pray for those working to stop the oil from coming ashore on the Gulf Coast.

Pray for our nation to unite in prayer Thursday, the National Day of Prayer.  Many of the local cities are having special activities for prayer.  Spring Creek Baptist Church will host a lunch and First Baptist Church, Kentwood will host a service Thursday night.  Everyone is invited to participate.







BLESSING OR BAD LUCK?

 The story is told of a man who was walking across the road when he was 
hit by a car.  The impact knocked him on his head which caused him to be 
in a coma for two days before he finally regained consciousness.  When he 
opened his eyes, his loving wife was there beside his bed.  He held her hand 
and said to her:

 "You know, Judy, you've always been right by my side.  When I was a 
struggling college student, I failed again and again.  But you were always 
there with me, encouraging me to go on trying."

 She squeezed his hands as he continued:  "And when I got out of school 
and went for all of my interviews and failed to get any of the jobs, you stayed 
right there with me, cutting out more classifieds for me to check on..."

 "Then I started work at this little firm and finally got the chance to handle a 
big contract.  But I blew it because of one little mistake, and yet you were 
there beside me all the way.  Then I finally got another job after being laid 
off for sometime.  But I never seemed to be promoted and my hard work 
was never recognized.  And so, I remained in the same position from the 
day I joined the company until now... And, through it all, you were right 
there by my side."

 Her eyes brimmed with tears as she listened to her husband:  "And now 
I've been in this accident and when I woke up, you're the first person I see. 
There's something I'd really like to say to you...."

 She flung herself on the bed to hug her husband, sobbing with emotion.

 He said, "Judy, I think you're just plain bad luck!"

 Our attitude makes a big difference in how we see things, doesn't it?  As 
the saying goes, we can either see the glass as half full or half empty.  We 
can either appreciate the good during our times of adversity (the faithfulness 
of God, greater opportunities to develop our faith, the blessing of good 
friends to see us through it) or we can moan and complain about our "bad 
luck."

 The apostle Paul is a great example of someone with a marvelous attitude. 
Through all of his trials, God had been right there by his side.  But never 
once did he blame God for his misfortune.  Instead, listen to the positive 
attitude in Paul's words as he sat imprisoned for preaching the gospel:

 "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me 
have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel." (Philippians 1:12)

 No moaning, no complaining.  Just a marvelous attitude that brought joy to
 his life.  May it serve as an example to you today.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina


Have a great Lord's Day!
Anna Lee

Saturday

“Father, everything is possible for you.

Please take this cup of suffering away from me.

Yet I want your will, not mine.”

~Mark 14:36 NLT~

Jesse Dean is improving.  Continue to pray for him.

Walter Green Harper

Visitation from 9:00 until the 11:00 service at McKneely Funeral Home in Amite.

Donald Lloyd Thompson
(February 8, 1957 – April 29, 2010)

A resident of Amite, died at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at his residence. He was born February 8, 1957 in Canton, OH and was 53 years of age.

McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, entrusted with arrangements.

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10

Mike Benson, Editor

I WAKE UP, grab my iPhone, turn off the alarm, and update my Facebook status…

On the way to school I scroll through my friends’ status updates, updating mine with the song on my iPod.

At lunch, I take a picture of me and my friends and upload it to Facebook.

Now, I am chatting with my best friend in Tennessee. Status update: “Good night all. I’ll text you in the morning.” Such is the day of a typical American young person.

Facebook has taken the cyber world by storm and our social lives forever in a different direction. Compete.com ranked Facebook as the most used social network in the world

According to Facebook’s own stats page, there are currently more than 350 million active users, and 65 million people are accessing Facebook through their phones/mobile devices. They say that the average user has 130 Facebook friends and spends more than 55 minutes a day on their site.

What if Jesus were on Facebook and he sent you a friend request. We know that such is not possible, but for the sake of illustration pretend.

Would you have to stop and think before you accepted it? Would you have to look through your pictures to be sure that you don’t have any immodest pictures or anything tasteless?

Maybe make sure that you don’t have any pictures taken in inappropriate places? Would you go back over your postings to be sure that you haven’t said anything crude or inappropriate?

Would you scan through your list of favorite movies and music, perhaps deleting a few before you let Jesus on your site? What about the games you play? Quizzes you take?

Is there anything that would make you stop and say to yourself, “I think I’ll delete that before I let Jesus on my site?” If the answer is “Yes,” then why not go ahead and take it off? The fact of the matter is the Lord does look at our Facebook pages!

Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

Not only God is watching me on Facebook, but other people are watching. What they see on my Facebook site affects what they think about me, and the church, and Christianity.

What if I have my “religious preference” listed as “church of Christ,” and then I have pictures posted of me at a nightclub, or dancing, or at the beach immodestly dressed, or with an alcoholic beverage?

Or what if my status update has immoral lyrics? Or maybe I’m venting, and running someone else down. We ask, “What effect is it going to have on my non-Christian friend who looks at my site?”

He might say to himself, “I do better than that, and I don’t even pretend to be a Christian!” Or he might think, “What a hypocrite!”

Imagine that you are surfing Facebook, and you see that Jesus has his own site. You are excited, so you send him a friend request. Would he accept it?

Most of us when we receive a friend request have some sort of criteria before we indiscriminately accept someone as our friend.

We want to know if we know the person. We glance at his information, his friend list, where he lives, etc. Does Jesus have criteria for friend requests? Sure he does!

He said, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). Therefore, to be a friend of Jesus, you have to obey him. In light of this,

Christian friend, ask yourself “Would Jesus accept my friend request?”

Before you answer, consider your faithfulness in attending worship, your Bible study habits, your efforts to teach others, your giving, the way you treat other people, etc. Now, with your answers in mind, “Would Jesus accept your friend request?”  Don Blackwell

“You are my friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14).

I may not be a young person, but I enjoy Facebook.  I hope this devotional helps us evaluate how we use it.

Anna Lee

Friday

“You cannot serve both God and money,”

~Matthew 6:24 NIV~

“Wherever your treasure is, your heart will be also.”

~Matthew 6:21 NIV~

CaringBridge

Ashley Sue Miller

(September 27, 1988 – April 28, 2010)

A resident of Kentwood, died at 6:02 p.m. on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at her residence. She was born September 27, 1988 and was 21 years of age. She is remembered as being bubbly and full of life and is known for lighting up any room with her big beautiful smile and magical presence. She is now in heaven with all the other angels. She will be missed terribly by all who knew her and loved her. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Sunday and from 8 a.m. until religious services at 10 a.m. Monday. Services conducted by Bro. Bob Simpson . Interment Hyde Cemetery, Roseland, LA. Survived by mother, Deborah Wall Miller, father, Perry Miller, her only child, Preston William Wright, brother, Ben Miller, sister, Brandi Miller, grandparents, Sandra and Ivy Wall, Jr., and Myrtle Miller, father of her child, Matthew Wright, uncles, Greg Wall, Huck Wall, and Steve Miller, aunts, Sgt. Major Carolyn Miller, Pat Miller Harn, and Dorothy “Dottie” Winters, many cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends. Preceded in death by great-grandparents, Ivy Wall, Sr. and Zula Wall, grandpa Doyle Dude Miller, aunt, Pauline Miller White, and cousin, Brian Saxon.

BOTH BORN AND ADOPTED

The following was reported by WESTERN MORNING NEWS in 1994:

Ian Lewis, 43, of Standish, Lancashire, England, was interested in finding out about his family.  He spent 30 years tracing his family tree back to the seventeenth century.  He traveled all over Britain, talked to 2,000 relatives and planned to write a book about how his great-grandfather left to seek his fortune in Russia and how his grandfather was expelled after the Revolution.  Then he found out he had been adopted when he was a month old and his real name was David Thornton.  He resolved to start his family research all over again.

How frustrating!  However, it reminds me that, for a Christian, it makes no difference whether we trace our spiritual lineage by way of birth or adoption because both images are used to express our relationship to God our Father.

“Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ ” (John 3:5)

“…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…” (Ephesians 1:5)

God is our Father by (re)birth and by adoption (we are chosen!).  What a privilege to be a part of His family!

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Continue to pray for all those we have been praying for lately.

Anna Lee

Thursday Afternoon

Mrs Bette McGehee is being released from the hospital today. She is doing great with her physical therapy. Keep her and her family in your prayers as they help her during her recovery time.

Please pray for Dick Brennan and his family.  Dick has been released from the hospial and is home.

My cousin, Micah Tolleson (22), had the staples from his brain tumor surgery removed.  He also learned his tumor that was thought to be benign is malignant.

Continue to pray for my parents, Grant and Dot Smith.

Monday Addition

URGENT PRAYER
IMB
April 29, 2010

LAST FRONTIER. “I just received a phone call warning me that three branches of the local ‘eyes’ know what I am doing. They know about the recent activities. They want me to know that they know. I was warned to be careful and tread lightly. I am on my knees, I am desperate to receive a Word from the Lord. I don’t know what to do. Of course, this is coming at a time when things seemed finally to be opening up and we received our first believer from a village a week and a half ago. There has already been a meeting to share Bible studies. We have a very special day planned, with our many women tentmakers each inviting five non-believers to a ‘Friend Day’ full of games, songs, stories, crafts and Good News. I am afraid I will have to cancel the meeting. The invitations have already gone out to some of the most remote areas. None of these women have a phone, and we have to travel long distances to hand-deliver the messages. The women are so excited about this day, and some have already reported back that they have their five people picked out. But if we go ahead, it could cause more problems. We were planning to do a big ‘sharing push,’ but we could make it just a fun day of fellowship or we could cancel it all together. I plan tomorrow to rise early and go spend a day with my Father. Please join me wherever you are. My heart is heavy.”

Thursday

It is not that we think we are qualified

to do anything on our own.

Our qualification comes from God.

~2 Corinthians 3:5 (NLT)~

CaringBridge

Walter Green Harper

(July 13, 1928 – April 27, 2010)

A resident of Roseland, died at 2:05 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at Hood Memorial Hospital in Amite. He was born July 13, 1928 in Gatesville, MS and was 81 years of age. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 9 a.m. until Masonic and Religious Services at 11 a.m. Saturday. Services conducted by Rev. Tommy Hicks. Interment Arcola-Roseland Cemetery, Arcola. He is survived by his wife, Maxine Primes Harper, Roseland; a daughter, Keri Wickham and husband, David, Amite; 2 sons, Darell “Pete” Harper, Charleston, SC and Walter “Bo” Harper and wife, Linda, Amite; 8 grandchildren, Kimberly Parent and husband, David, Pumpkin Center, Gwendolyn Pedelahore and husband, Kenny, Livingston, Justin Barrilleaux and wife, Amanda, Holden, Blake Barrilleaux and wife, Traci, Lugoff, SC, Clay Barrilleaux and wife, Marjorie, Walker, Kevin Harper, Amite, Brian Harper, Charleston, SC and Caroline Harper, Charleston, SC; 8 great-grandchildren; a sister, Bettye Jo Hughes and husband, Earl, Roseland.

James Albert Davis

(August 12, 1941 – April 27, 2010)

James Albert Davis was born August 12, 1941 and passed away on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans after a brief illness. Mr. James was 68, a native of Magnolia, MS, a former resident of St. Helena Parish and a resident of Destrehan, LA.

Mr. James was a graduate of Woodland High School and Southeastern Louisiana University where he was a member of Sigma Tau Gama Fraternity. He served in the US Army, Civil Air Patrol, a member of the Jefferson Amateur Radio Club and a retired employee of Tulane Medical School.

Mr. James is survived by his wife of 41 years, JoAnn P. Davis, Destrehan; daughter, Jeanne D. Peres and husband, Tony, Metairie; son, Jevin A. Davis, Pearl, MS; grandchildren, Megan, Mason, Morgan & Logan Peres, Metairie; 2 brothers, A. Thomas Davis, Montpelier and David M. Davis, Alvin, TX.

He is preceded in death by parents, John Albert and Myrth Bornes Davis; brother, Joel A. Davis.

Visitation at St. Helena Catholic Church on Saturday, May 1, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. until Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m. with Fr. Joe Camilleri officiating. Interment in Amite Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family request donations in his memory to the American Cancer Society.

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, in charge in arrangements.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

Devotional

http://www.devotions.net/devotions/04april/29.htm

Have a great day!

Anna Lee

Wednesday

“Jesus said to her,

‘Did I not say to you that if you believe,

you will see the glory of God?’”

~John 11:40, NASB~

CaringBridge

Baptist Press: BPNews.net

Mr. Walter Green Harper passed away yesterday afternoon.  Arrangements are incomplete, but services will be at the end of the week.  He was a kind and gentle man who quietly helped others as long as he was able.  Momma and I visited with him and “Miss” Maxine not too long ago.  I’m thankful for that last visit.

Rose Mary Badon

(August 9, 1968 – April 24, 2010)

Rose Mary Badon a beloved daughter, mother, sister and grandmother was born on August 9, 1968 and passed away at 1:58 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at her residence. She was 41, a native of Independence and a resident of Tickfaw.

Rose Mary is survived by her father, Allen Spokey Badon, Ponchatoula ; a son, Brandon Allen Badon, Hammond; a daughter, Tabitha Renne` Young, Ponchatoula; a brother, Benjamin Earl Badon, Sr., Bayou Grey, LA; 3 grandchildren, Mia Nicole Badon, Hayden Scott Campise-Badon, and Brandon Allen Badon, Jr.; numerous aunts, uncles and extended family.

Preceded in death by her mother, Mary Ellen Kelly Badon and a brother, Carl Allen Badon; nephew, Christian Dakota Badon.

Visitation at the McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, on Thursday, April 29, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. until Religious Services at 2:00 p.m. Interment in Briar Patch Cemetery, Loranger.

An on-line Guestbook and to view a Video Tribute is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W ( Exit 46) next to Bill Hood Automotive and behind Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Holiday Inn Express.

God has provided a beautiful day.  Enjoy it!

Anna Lee