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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
June 12, 2023 - The Wimberly Cemetery Homecoming will be held on Sunday, June 18 at noon. Everyone is encouraged to come, enjoy our beautiful cemetery, and fellowship with friends and family over lunch.
If anyone would like to donate to the cemetery fund, that would be greatly appreciated either at the homecoming or by mail. Hope to see you there!
Donations may be mailed to:
Wimberly Cemetery
c/o Wanda O’Rear
11466 FM 2694
Shelbyville, TX 75973
“Jesus come to seek and save that which was lost…” Matt. 19:10
June 12, 2023 - When I was in the second grade, my Dad took me, Uncle Jink, and my brothers on a fishing trip to Mill Creek. This cold, spring fed creek was a great fishing place and was the sole water supply for my hometown of Center, Texas. We arrived at the pump station on a hot, summer afternoon equipped with catalpa worms, hooks, cane poles… and plenty of peanut butter and crackers.
I crossed the creek on a familiar foot log and raced down a trail to my favorite slough. My stringer of goggle eyed perch was growing so fast that I didn’t consider the dangerous thunderstorm that was approaching or the falling darkness. Sensing my peril too late, I desperately searched for the creek trail, but was soon overcome by the darkness and rain.
After shouting myself to hoarseness, I began a disoriented four hour walk in the blind darkness. My heart leaped for joy when I finally spotted a light shining in Walter Bound’s chicken house. After standing me to dry in front of his fireplace, he put his daughter’s dress on me, and drove me down to the creek.
Fire Chief Dr. Hap Rogers and twenty members of the Center Fire Department met us at the pump station. After giving me a quarter and a hug, he told me a moving story about my father. “Your dad wouldn’t give up on you. He kept diving in the dark under that bunch of driftwood. He said he’d last seen you crossing the foot log there.” I’m eternally grateful to have a father who loved me like that.
Seven years later, I was rescued by my Father in Heaven… and so was my Dad. And we’re both eternally grateful to a Father who loved us like that.
Janetta Searcy told me that the kids at school called me a hero… but I know better… the real hero was my dad!
June 12, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, June 12.
On June 12, 1942, a young girl turned thirteen. One of her birthday gifts was a small book with a lock on the front, a diary. She began writing in it that very first day, but wondered how the happenings of her humdrum life could ever fill its' pages. Less than a month later, the life of Anne Frank changed forever.
Her family, living in Amsterdam, was forced into hiding, threatened by the Nazis. And for the next two years, Anne would chronicle their harrowing experience in her diary. She had hopes of becoming a writer when she grew up. But, tragically, she would never have the chance to grow up. When she was fifteen, the Nazis found them, and before her sixteenth birthday, Anne Frank died in a German concentration camp.
Otto Frank, Anne's father, was the only member of the family to survive. On returning to Amsterdam, he found her diary. It was published as a book and became a bestseller. It was turned into a play and received the Pulitzer Prize. It was made into a movie and won the Oscar.
Her life was cut short, but her legacy has been long and powerful. The Diary of Anne Frank is standard reading material for school children around the world. Eighty years after her death, her voice still rings loud and clear. Her example of courage in the face of danger is a continuing inspiration. And her words, written during one of the darkest moments in human history, continue to give us hope.
"I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
June 9, 2023 - Mt. Zion Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is celebrating 147 years on Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 3pm. Guest speaker is Rev. Rhonda Christopher with St. Paul C.M.E. Church, Nacogdoches.
Mt. Zion C.M.E. Presiding Prelate - Bishop L.L. Reddick, III; Presiding Elder - Rev. Milton Proctor; and Pastor - Rev. Richard Edwards.
The church is located at 921 Martin Luther King Drive, Center, Texas.
June 8, 2023 - Pleasant Grove MBC will be at Wal-Mart Saturday, June 17, 2023 from 10am-2pm with tickets available for Youth Fundraiser!!! There are 3 prizes that will be won on Father's Day.
We need your help and support in our effort to take our kids to Church Camp this year. Rose Jackson with Mama Rose Italian Ice will be there with her awesome Italian Shaved Ice too. So, come by and see us. We will be set up on the Pharmacy side. For more information, you can message me on Facebook or email me at joshcrawford99@gmail.com. Thank you and God Bless you.
June 8, 2023 - To those who know us, it would come as no surprise that other than the Longhorn Network, probably our favorite channel to watch on television is the Food Network. We have several shows that are among our favorites and one of those is “The Pioneer Woman”. The Drummond family owns a large cattle ranch in Oklahoma and part of the show us usually devoted to what is taking place on the ranch as well as the recipes Ree Drummond shares with her audience.
I remember a segment where they were branding cattle on the ranch. Branding season usually is in the spring of the year, and we know that the purpose of branding cattle is so that they will bear the mark of their owner.
Well, that started the old wheels turning in my head. You see, Jesus wants us to carry His brand. Paul said in Galatians 6:17. “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”. Paul possible was referring to the stripes he received in Philippi, or the emaciation of his body due to hunger. And yet, he might well have been referring to certain things about himself that identified him with the cause of Christ.
Jesus told us that the mark of discipleship was love. Before he went to the cross, he told His disciples in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Just as cattle on the ranch will bear the mark of the owner, when we love each other we will be branded by Jesus, we will carry the mark of Jesus Christ to whom we belong.
It’s something to think about... tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
June 5, 2023 - An Evening with Lady Nash - Honoring Pearlie Nash on July 9, 2023 at 3:00 pm at The House of Refuge Apostolic Ministries 215 Church Street, Center Tx 75935. Guest speaker - Carol Beard from New Birth Reconciliation Ministry Inc. Moss Point MS. Everyone is invited. If you have any questions contact tecosawalker@yahoo.com
June 5, 2023 - The New Prospect Cemetery Association will hold its annual Homecoming event on Sunday, June 11th at the church on FM 1645 near Timpson.
This article is copied from Shelby County Today without permission.
Lunch will be served at noon and our supporters are invited as we honor the lives of those buried in our cemetery. Please bring covered food dishes, old family photos, genealogy records and join us for fellowship and financial support of our cemetery.
June 5, 2023 - I have told “my first sermon” story for my years now, but realized last week that I had almost forgotten my real “first sermon.” I didn’t preach it at Center’s Central Baptist Church in 1950 (as I have claimed) but preached it at the Mill Pond in Shelbyville, Texas. I had the year right but not the place.
In the fall of 1950 I enrolled in Panola Junior College in Carthage, Texas. As I was hitch hiking home to Shelbyville one day, I spotted a hungry little puppy abandoned at the roadside. I hitch-hiked home with him and named him “Spot.”
One day after school, Spot followed me to the pond and heard me preach my first sermon. My preacher expressions like “One more word” and “in conclusion” didn’t seem to bother Spot nearly as much they bothered our church members. I had three points (like preachers do) and after closing with “amen,” Spot followed me back up the hill without uttering a single amen or a word of praise.
When I later preached at Central Baptist Church, my Aunt Belvin Busbee told me that I’d be another Billy Graham and that I needed to buy a suit. And she was half-right.
I did need to buy a suit.
June 5, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, June 5.
This article is copied from Shelby County Today without permission.
This morning we begin Vacation Bible School at First Baptist Church Center. I've chosen 25 of my favorite Bible verses and will share five each day this week. No commentary. No teaching. Just the Word of God speaking for itself, speaking with power, speaking with wisdom.
- Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
- Matthew 6:33 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given unto you.
- John 16:33 - I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
- Isaiah 40:31 - Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.
- 2 Timothy 1:7 - God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self control.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
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