Wednesday

“But my God shall supply all your needs
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
~ Philippians 4:19~

Wayne Criswell

Wayne Criswell is having a needle biopsy of his right lung Friday morning, at North Oaks in Hammond. Please pray for him and those doing the procedure.

Thanks,

Chris Wales

Sharla Hodges

Please continue to pray for my cousin as she adjusts to her new home.  Pray she will be in rehab soon.

ADRIANNA KATE CAVANAGH, AGE 3

And a resident of Franklinton went to be with God early Tuesday January 26, 2010 at Riverside Medical Center with her family by her side. She fought a courageous battle against cancer for the last ten months. Adrianna was born December 6, 2006 and her three short years on earth were a blessing to all who knew her. She was loved greatly by her family and supported through it all by a wonderful community. Adrianna was full of joy and brave during her fight but she had a unique understanding that God would care for her. She and her entire family felt blessed by the countless prayers from people all around the world. Her faith was peacefully rewarded with mommy and daddy holding her hands as she went to heaven.

Survived by:

Loving parents: Joe and Stephanie Simmons Cavanagh of Franklinton

Grandparents: Reggie and Judy Simmons of Franklinton Brian and Irene Cavanagh of Torrington, CT

Aunts and Uncles: Kristi and Rob Crain of Franklinton Betsy and Jason Labat of Prairieville, LA Brain Cavanagh of Torrington, CT Kate and Keith Bouchard of Unionville, CT Jackie and Wade Wilkinson of Long Beach, NY

First Cousins: Wesley, Andrew and Jacob Crain Jack Bouchard Emma Wilkinson

Also numerous great-aunts and great-uncles and other cousins

Adrianna also had a special real dog that she loved named Finn.

She was preceded in death by her uncle Matthew Cavanagh, Joe’s twin brother. Also her great-grandparents Gary and Josie Stafford, Othar and Maude Simmons, Joseph and Eileen Gormley and Fred and Ellen Cavanagh

Visitation will be at Crain Funeral Home Friday January 29th from 5 pm until 9 pm. Visitation will continue Saturday after 9 am at First Baptist Church of Franklinton. A funeral service will be held at the church at 11 am with Rev. Luther Stanford and Rev. Jay Cook officiating. Burial will follow in Ellis Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made in Adrianna’s honor to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans or to bandofparents.org, an organization committed to the research and eradication of childhood cancers.

http://www.actionnews.us/News/tabid/55/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/422/Northshore-mourns-passing-of-Adrianna-Cavanagh.aspx

http://www.actionnews.us/News/tabid/55/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/433/Funeral-services-set-for-this-weekend-for-three-year-old-Adriannna-Cavanagh.aspx

Today’s devotional is entitled Misery and was written by Mike Benson.  We’ve all been there.  Us the link below to ready the devotional.

http://www.forthright.net/kneemail/

Count your blessings today!

Anna Lee

Tuesday Evening

Adrianna Cavanagh

Continue to pray for the family.  The obituary has not been published yet.

I will post it when it becomes available.

Mrs. Katherine Sanders

“Miss” Katherine is doing a little better.  Please continue to care for her.

Pete Lee

Pete continues to develop problems that will hinder surgery.  Keep Pete

and his family in your prayers.

Mark Hughes

Mark is out of the hospital and doing well.  He will stay in the Atlanta

area for a while.

Tuesday Update

Andrianna Cavanugh

Adrianna is free from all pain.  The Good Lord came and retrieved her spirit at 7:41 this morning after long hours of labored breathing.  She fought so long and so hard that we were relieved to see her leave for Heaven.  Just yesterday afternoon she had told her sweet daddy (at his request), “I love you daddy”, and kissed him.

We ask that, in lieu of flowers that you PLEASE consider giving to Children’s Hospital of New Orleans or to www.bandofparents.org
Band of Parents Foundation
PO Box 335
Dewittville, NY 14728

Funeral arrangements will be available later today at www.crainfh.com. 

Joe and Stephanie are doing well, but they called on me to write this entry. Stephanie will write later.  As for the four Grandparents, we are also pleased that Adri’s suffering is ALL over with.  She fought longer than anyone could have imagined, and in her suffering Joe and Stephanie found that they could let her go.  But it is soooo HARD!  She was so sweet and special that we cannot understand, though we accept, that she HAD to die.  On the brighter side, she entered Heaven in only 3 short years, after ten months of blessing tens of thousands with her sweetness and cheerful ways.  You can’t know the half of it unless you were around her all the time.  She was the most unique 3 year old I have ever known!She will NEVER be forgotten as long as any of us live.

Thank you for your love and expressions of faith.  Reggie/Poppa

 

 

The obituary is not available at this time.  I will post it later.

 

 

 

Tuesday

 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,

in the breaking of bread,

 and in prayers . . .

and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

~Acts 2:42-47~

 

 

 

Mrs. Katherine Sanders is home again and improving.  Keep her in your prayers.

 

Pete Lee is in ICU still and hopefully will be ready for surgery this week.  Please keep Pete and his family in your prayers.

 

 Dr. Landrum Salley

I have major surgery scheduled for Monday. I tend to have a low sodium level, and that could prevent me from taking a general anaesthetic and therefore delay the surgery. It’s to correct an abdominal hernia, which I acquired when all my abdominal muscles were cut when I had emergency surgery five years ago. We will appreciate your prayers. And thanks again for keeping us posted on what is happening in a town where we spent sixteen years and still love

Callie Cole

Good Evening,

Callie is doing well.  She has not made any great strides over the past few days but is still responding well to family and friends.  It is good to see how her friends have adjusted and can now talk to her and treat her just like they used to.  Not sure but this is probably very difficult for them to do.  It does my heart good to see them crack a joke or do something to try and get a response out of her, and most of the time it works.  Frances works hard with her during the day along with the therapists to keep her mobile and to increase her range of motion as well as working on the swallowing, which is going very well. 

There are a great group of guys working on our building project.  It has not been the greatest weather for construction but it hasn’t slowed them one little bit.  As a matter of fact they are putting this building up faster than I can get what I need to get done to stay ahead of them.  The Lord has truely blessed our lives by using people in ways that we could never have imagined. I thank the Lord every day for all of you who continue to lift my daughter and our family up to the Most High.  I know that we shouldn’t be, but we are amazed at the prayers offered up on our behalf, and all of the things that people have done and continue to do for us out of love.  I ask that the Lord bless each one of your lives and to know how you have blessed ours.

Sunday,  Bro. Floyd preached a message from Genesis chapter 39 on Joseph.  We were reminded how Joseph remained faithful to the Lord and to himself.  I decided to read chapter 37 and also chapter 40 just to jog my memory and the Holy Spirit showed me something else.  Joseph was a righteous man.  He did almost everything right and yet he was sold as a slave by his own brothers, he was thrown into prison and then forgotten by a man he had helped and left in prison for two more years for no crime at all.  Through all of this Joseph remained faithful and the Lord was able to fulfill his purpose through this man because of it.  You see, the Lord had a great purpose for the things that happened that no one knew about.  Thank you Lord for showing us what we need to see at just the right time.

Please continue to pray without doubt as I know you are.

Tom

 

 

TODAY’S PRAYER
IMB
JANUARY 26, 2010
“Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.” (Psalm 54:2)

HAITI. For updated information and prayer requests related to the Haiti earthquake, please visit http://www.imb.org/main/pray/ and Ed Cox’s blog, http://imbprayerdir.wordpress.com.

WORLD LEADERS. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Please pray today for Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist of Greenland (northern North America, northeast of Canada).

CHINA. More than 98,500 Chinese students studied in U.S. universities last year. Pray that many of them will receive Christ this year while in the United States as churches, families and individuals open their hearts and homes to these bright young Chinese adults. Pray that Christians in the United States will see this as a great mission field, and will also comprehend the great influence the students may have someday when they return to their homeland.

DUTCH INDIGENOUS OF THE NETHERLANDS. Please pray for a small evangelical church in Holland. From this small church, a group of believers is prayerwalking the city and asking God to bring revival in the land. Recently they discovered a portion of the city with a concentrated amount of occult influence. They have decided to focus in this part of the city for awhile. They ask you to agree with them in prayer that strongholds will be broken and that the truth of the gospel will penetrate the hearts of those who live in this area specifically. Pray also that the occult organizations will be rendered powerless and not be able to influence the lives of those in this area.

 

 

Baptist Press News

http://www.bpnews.net/

 

 

Welton H. Brumfield, Jr.
(February 25, 1933 – January 25, 2010)

 
  Welton H. Brumfield, Jr.  
 
U.S. Veteran Welton H. Brumfield, Jr. a loving son, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather was born on February 25, 1933 and passed away at 5:55 a.m., Monday, January 25, 2010 at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, Covington. He was 76, a native and resident of Amite.Mr. Welton is survived by his daughter, Becki Brumfield Biandolillo and husband Mike, Amite; a son, Greg Brumfield and wife Nicole, Amite; mother, Mrs. Josephine H. “MerPhinie” Brumfield, Amite; son-in-law, Danny Richardson, Amite; companion, Connie R. Evans, Amite and her granddaughter, Lindsey; 11 grandchildren, Gretchen Ockman and husband, Mike, Jared Richardson, Lindsey Jo Brumfield, Blair Reid, Chelsea Brumfield, Grant Welton Richardson, Gray Richardson and wife Donna, Ashley Brumfield, Blake Welton Brumfield, Sydni Biandolillo and Alexis Biandolillo; 4 great-grandchildren, Keegan Ockman, Kelsey Ockman, Kelton Baugh and Grayson Richardson

Preceded in death by his father, Welton H. Brumfield, Sr.; his wife, Jacqueline “Jackie” Eubanks Brumfield; daughter, Laurel “Lauri” Brumfield Richardson; brother, Claude “Hank” Brumfield; sister-in-law, Eleanor “Cricket” Vessier Brumfield; and sister, Sara Frances Brumfield.

Pallbearers are Grant Richardson, Gray Richardson, Jared Richardson, Blake Brumfield, Claude Brumfield & Bryan Brumfield. Honorary Pallbearers are Johnny Peterson, Larry Mobley, Buck Cefalu, John Bush & Ray Fontaine.

Visitation will be at First United Methodist Church, Amite, on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. until Religious Services at 2:00 p.m. with Bro. Brady Whitton officiating. Interment in the Amite Memorial Gardens, Amite, LA.

Mr. Welton graduated from Amite High School in 1951 and received his Business Management degree from LSU in 1955. He served as a pilot for SAC in the Air Force and was honorably discharged in 1958 and returned to Amite. He first owned Brumfield Tractor Co. from 1953 to 1988 and also manager of Brumfield Sales & Service in Kentwood from 1971 to 1978. He became general manager of Brumfield Motor Co. in Amite in 1971 and subsequently dealer in 1975 after the death of his father. He sold this dealership in 1998. During this period he served on the National Dealer Council at Ford Tractor Division and also served as one of five dealers in the country for a two year term on the National Dealer Council for Ford Motor Company. He also served on the board of Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association and was the President of LADA from 1977-78. He has been active in the First United Methodist Church for many years. He has served as Chairman of the Board of his local church, as the First lay President of the Council of Finance & Administration of the Louisiana Annual Conference and its First Lay Chairman for the Board of Pensions of that conference. He also served on the General Council of Ministries for eight years at the national level. He was a delegate to two sessions of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church and four sessions of the Jurisdictional Conference. He has also served as director on the Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston, LA since 1976. He was elected to board of Central Progressive Bank in 1977 and has also served and is presently serving as a Director for Blossman Bamcshares and recently elected Chairman of the Board.

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

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

 

 

 

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…”  Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

 
TO BE “SAVED” means to be made safe…
 
It implies that the unsaved person is in danger.  Mark 16:16 speaks of salvation and safety from sin.  When the term saved is used in reference to a Christian, it means he is made safe from the guilt and eternal consequences of his sins (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:2; Ephesians 2:15; Titus 3:5).  This safety is brought about by God’s pardon, which can be affected in no other way.  It means the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  This salvation is equivalent to the promise of pardon for those who believe and are baptized.  Many religious people balk at the idea of placing baptism in such a connection with salvation (that baptism is necessary for the forgiveness of sins).  However, we must remember that it was Jesus Himself Who placed baptism in this connection.  When a mind revolts at any of His words, it is not His fault but their fault.  The stubborn heart bears sole responsibility for one’s failure to heed God’s Word.  When considering the concept of being saved, one must take into account the power of God to deliver an individual from the bondage of sin by the power of the Gospel.  H.D. Simmons

 
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved;

but he who does not believe will be condemned.” 

Mark 16:16

 

 

Have a blessed day!’

Anna Lee

Monday

But as for me, I will sing about your power.

Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.

For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

~Psalm 59:16 (NLT)~

 

 

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

 
ALLEGIANCE IS LOYALTY to or support for a particular person, cause, or group…
 
Many  times in history’s past, leaders have given their allegiance to those whom they thought would provide them the greatest protection, if they were to be attacked by an enemy.  Yet, invaribly there would be those poor choices made by a kind or leader in choosing an ally.
 
Ally is to join or enlist somebody, in an association with one or more other states, organizations, or individuals for mutal help and support or the achievement of a common purpose. 
 
On one such occasion a king many years ago had the opportunity to choose whom he would pick as an ally.  He could not wish to have every nation around him as an ally because even they were at odds with each other.  He had to pick the strongest and hope that this new ally would not turn on him in the process.  You see, his kingdom was the smallest of them all.  So, he looked to the hills around his kingdom and tried to make a decision.
 
He had the choice between choosing one or two of the nations that touched his border or he could choose God. 
 
Here is what he said, “I life up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip — He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD watches over you — the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”  Psalm 121
 
What a wonderful example of a deep trust in God by this king of Israel!  Is this how we make choices in our lives as Christians?  Do we pick the people of importance around us to create our success in life?  Do we choose the strong financially, professionally, gifted, or the most in number for our security or do we really trust God with our welfare, and most importantly, our eternity?
 
Whom will you choose today, God or man?
 
As Christians, choosing God as our constant ally is the only option in this life.  We should do this in all matters pertaining to our present life.  The eternal consequences of not having Him on our side at all times is too paralyzing to imagine!  Mike Price
 
“…If the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us

 when their anger flared against us they would have swallowed us alive;

 …Praise be to the LORD who has not let us be torn by their teeth… 

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” 

~Psalm 124:2,3,6,8~

 

 

Have a blessed week!

Anna Lee

Sunday Afternoon

Mrs. Kathine Sanders

Momma Cat is in Our Lady of the Lake Hospital with pneumonia.  Please  be in prayer for this lady and her family.

 

Chuck Pittman

Chuck is in room 3104 at North Oaks.  Please be in prayer for Chuck and his family as he continues the battle with cancer.

 

Mark Hughes

 Mark is continuing to be treated with medication for the problems that arose after surgery.  He is doing better and may soon be able to be released from the hospital.  He will continue to stay in the Atlanta area so he will be near his doctor.

 

Bro. Butch Reviere

Bro. Butch is now at his sister’s house where he hopes to get some rest for a while.  Cards may be sent to him in c/o Cathy Purvis. 61156 Seal Road, Varnado, LA 70467.

 

Pete Lee

Pete continues to need surgery to stop an infection.  Pray for the doctors to make the right decision about the next step in treating Pete.

 

Adrianna Cavanagh – I know your hearts break as you read the updates on Adrianna.  The family has received lots of support, but it is still difficult to be in their situation.   Please continue to pray for this family.  This update was written by Adrianna’s mom midmorning today.

Another hard morning for us.  Joe stayed up til 3:00 am and then I have been on duty since.  Adrianna did not sleep well and threw up a few times.  She has had some leg pain, but we think her pain meds are working better now.
She has not been moving her left leg or left arm, so she could have had a mini stroke yesterday during the seizures, or what seemed like seizures.  That leg and arm are also swollen, but does not show signs of edema yet.
We are weary and tired, but love seeing our daughter.  We don’t like seeing her in pain, though.  We just want what is best for her and that is all we can hope and pray for.
I have been doing more praying now than I ever have in my life.  God knows better than me, though, so I know I have to be patient. 
Just praying for her peace and comfort.
She did ask me to go feed her stuffed cow this morning and then said, “Mommy, let’s watch Annie!”  but then she’d fall right back to sleep.  She also asks for sips of water and for her binky.  Even asks for her Mommy….wh ich always makes my heart melt.
This baby is fighting so hard..I just wish I could take away her pain…..
The nurses have been coming to check on her every day and night.  Her vitals are all pretty good, considering.
We think there may be some decrease in brain function, though.  I am so scared that a tumor is pressing on her brain….Lord, please let us have as many conversations with her as we can get….Please grant her a miracle or let her go to live with you, in peace…We don’t want to watch her suffer anymore.  It is so painful….
Believing,
Stephanie

Death Notice – More and more people that I have know all my life are passing away.   Alma is in that group.  Please pray for her family.

Alma Marion Moore
(October 31, 1931 – January 26, 2010)

A native of Amite and lifelong resident of Arcola, died on Saturday, January 23, 2010 at Tangi Pines Nursing Center in Amite, LA at the age of 78 years. She is survived by her 2 sisters, Mary Pevey, Amite and Lydia Hawkins, Grenada, MS; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father, Cleo Joseph Moore, Sr.; mother, Cecelia Vessier Moore; sister, Lorena Wimberly; brother, Cleo Joseph Moore, Jr.; niece, Judy Moore Hammons; nephew, Ronald Pevey. The family would like to express a special thank you to the Staff of Tangi Pines Nursing Center for their dedicated care and assistance during this difficult time. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 12 Noon on Tuesday until religious services at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Services conducted by Rev. Mike Woodard. Interment Mulberry Street Cemetery, Amite.

Sunday

From now on, 

 if you listen obediently to the commandments that I am commanding you today,

love God, your God, and serve him with everything you have within you,

he’ll take charge of sending the rain at the right time ….

~Deuteronomy 11:13-14 (MSG)~

 

 

 

Eric Pritchard

Please keep Eric on the prayer list. it’s not looking promissing, But with Jesus,all things are possible. Keep praying for a miracle.

Lloyd and Alcyon Hayden

 

Wagstaffs

Here’s our latest on the medical front.  We have a complication.  Bob just had his x-rays and doctor’s visit, and  unfortunately the doctor did not release us to make reservations to come home on Feb.6, as we had hoped.  He wants Bob to have a CT Scan on Tuesday because he is having so much pain.  If he doesn’t find the problem and Bob is still in pain he will have an MRI as soon as it can be scheduled.
   We are getting weary of being away, but Bob couldn’t do anything there anyway while he is having this much pain.  Please do continue to pray.  It seems that Bob’s backbone is healing nicely, but the doctor said there may be a bloodclot or hemorrhaging that is pressing on a nerve.  Doctor Ha (Yes, that is really his name.) is not sure what is causing this pain, that’s why Bob will have more tests.
  Our prayer request is for Bob to be pain free and to be released to come home.  We would love for that to happen by Tuesday.  Anyway, God has a reason for allowing our hardships.  Pray that we will understand why this is happening.  But, even if we don’t, we praise God that He is in charge.
     We love you guys,
                             Diane

 

Adrianna Cavanagh

Today was a rough day for Adrianna and for us.  Yet God blessed us with another miracle and now she is sleeping peacefully on the couch.
Early this morning I could tell Adrianna was very confused.  She kept saying she wanted to go to Mommy’s room, but we were already in there.  Finally we brought her into the living room to the couch, because she wanted to be moved.  She threw up a lot last night and all through the morning, but kept wanting to drink more water and milk.
Around 11:30 she began to start straining for breath, just as she did last Saturday night- a week ago.  We all sat around her, talking to her, telling her she did not have to fight anymore and she could go be with God…and not to be scared. 
She then had what seemed like 3 different seizures, so we kept giving her Ativan to calm her down.  Thankfully, the hospice nurse was here to help.  We also switched her pain meds because her leg, feet, and arm pain have been getting worse.
As she finally regained some strength and started breathing normally, we were all in awe again.  Simply a miracle!  We just kept shaking our heads in disbelief, thinking, “Wow!  This kid is tough!  She just doesn’t want to give up yet!”
After a while, I took a long bath and thought of Abraham in the Bible who was supposed to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Though Abraham couldn’t bear to do this to his son, he followed God’s orders until God said for him to stop, and saved Isaac from being sacrificed.
I kind of felt like we had done something similar today–tell ing God to take her so she wouldn’t suffer anymore, and God giving us a miracle. 
Adrianna has woken up off and on, asking for water nonstop.  She has kept down all of her medicine and fluids tonight and is finally sleeping, without pain.
God bless all the people who’ve been praying for all of us, for the people who’ve been holding a candlelight vigil outside our home every night, and for all the people who’ve been bringing us delicious food to eat all week.
We are truly blessed with amazing family, friends, and acquaintances. 
We are tired, but happy that our baby girl is still here with us, fighting like the true fighter she is.
And we’re trusting in God, who is the ONLY one who can give us the real strength we need and the peace that passes ALL understanding.
Hoping to have more precious moments with our baby girl tomorrow, and that she will be pain-free tonight and tomorrow. 
Taking it day by day, hour by hour….
Keeping the faith and believing in miracles,
Stephanie, Joe, & Adrianna

 

Roy Russell has been moved to North Oaks Rehab.  He is getting some help he needs to recover f rom his stroke.  Please keep him in your prayers.

 

 

My cousin, Sharla, is doing much better at rehab.  She still has some issues the medical staff is working on, but is definately better.  Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

 

 

Daddy had his first cataract surgery and is doing well.  Please continue to pray for him as he progresses and for us as Momma and Daddy have four appointments with doctors this week.

 

 

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10
Mike Benson, Editor

 

 

 

 
THERE IS A certain convict that I have been corresponding with for several years down in Texas that recently got a “new” typewriter…
 
He had completely worn out the old one.
 
It was not very easy to correct his errors on the old machine and the letters he would type were full of typos most of the time.  I was taken back by the cost of the new one…$110…quite a price to pay for anything in prison, and it was very elevating to my own soul to hear how joyful he was at being able to buy it.
 
I wrote him a letter and told him that every once in a while all of us need a little new in our lives.
 
Makes me wonder…
 
Why don’t we sweep out the old grudges from our lives, rip the pages of regret out of our life book, focus on how much good God has done for us, plant a seed of hopefulness in our neighbors, write a special memory on the wall paper of someone’s heart?  Replace the fears of tomorrow with the good we can do today.  Make a difference where we stand.  Do the little things that matter.  Hope more, love more, find new ways to serve, get out of ourselves and into the lives of others.
 
What stirs you?  What is your passion?  What makes you get up early, go to bed late, work harder, stay longer, risk more, cry less, laugh more?  What if there was no way for you to lose?  No way to be disappointed, no “on the other hand,” nothing but good consequences at the end of the day?
 
What if you could “buy” a dream, make a wish come true, be the person you’ve always known you could be?  How hard would it be to put some “new” in your life by changing just one simple thing – your attitude?
 
What if we looked forward to helping others instead of considering it a chore, that’s right a chore, don’t think I’m the only one that ever had the thought, “I could be doing something I want to do instead of helping so and so.”  I’m not.  Neither are you.
 
What kind of “new” could you and I put in our lives that would give us the joy that this convict feels with a new typewriter?  Could it be as simple as looking each day for someone to serve in some way even if it is small?  Yep that would do it for me.  I could get up for some “new” in my own life, a change in my attitude, an opportunity to serve others and the good part is those “others” are all around me.
 
I think perhaps we are so conflicted about what we should be doing and dont do that it makes us all start searching for something different or new to put joy in our lives whwen all along the “new” is simply to write on our own internal typewriters a “new name” to serach each day.  I must do better.  Ken Upchurch (Ken is a shepherd with the Kensington Woods church of Christ in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.)

 
“Therefore, as we have opportunity,

let us do good to all,

especially to those who are of the household of faith.” 

Galatians 6:10

 

 

 

I’ll post some other updates this afternoon.

Have a great Lord’s Day!

Anna Lee

 

Saturday

A man’s heart reflects the man.

~ Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)~

 

Today’s devotional thought is dedicated to Dr. Joe Baugh.  If you have heard him preach, you’ll know why.

 

 

 

 

 

 DON’T FORGET THE “PUNCH LINE”

    The story is told of a preacher who attended a seminar with many well known motivational speakers. One of these speakers boldly approached the pulpit and, gathering the entire crowd’s attention, said, “The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman that wasn’t my wife!”  The crowd was shocked!

    He followed up by saying, “And that woman was my mother!”  The crowd burst into laughter and he gave his speech which went over well.

    Several weeks later, this minister who had attended the seminar decided to use that joke to introduce his sermon.  As he shyly approached the pulpit one Sunday morning, he tried to rehearse the joke in his head, but it seemed a bit foggy to him.  Getting to the microphone he said loudly, “The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman that wasn’t my wife!”  His congregation sat shocked!

    After standing there for almost 10 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the preacher finally blurted  out “…and for the life of me, I can’t remember who she was!”

    Remembering the “punch line” is important in sharing a joke.  It’s also important in relating the gospel message.  We tell the story of Jesus coming to this earth and becoming a man.  We tell the story of Jesus being crucified for our sins.  We tell the story of Jesus being buried in a borrowed tomb.  But, if that’s all we remember, then we truly have no reason to rejoice.  There’s more to the story!

    As Paul begins his letter to the Romans, he focuses on the “gospel of God”, but he makes it very clear from the outset that the gospel is not just that Jesus “was born of the seed of David according to the flesh”, but also that he was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:3-4)

    The gospel, the “good news,” is not only that Jesus died to offer us salvation from sin, but that he rose to give us hope of eternal life.  Don’t forget the “punch line”!

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina

 

May you know the real punch line of God’s salvation plan for each of us.  If now, ask someone what the bottom line of salvation is.

Anna Lee

Friday Evening

I forgot to include a special request for prayer for Dara Hughes as she cares for Mark.  Caregivers often get overlooked, but they have an important and very stressful responsibility.

 

Pete Lee is hospitalized at our lady of the lake.  Doctors are doing tests to determine if surgery is an option to treat an infection.  Please pray for Pete and his family as well as the medical staff caring for him.