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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Faith
September 21, 2023 - Patroon Baptist Church is hosting a yard sale from 8am until 3pm and pulled pork sandwich meal fundraiser on Monday, October 9. Meals are $10 and are available from 11am until sold out.
Come out and support our youth. Patroon Baptist Church is located at 310 FM 2261, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.
September 20, 2023 - On Saturday, September 30, 2023, Pleasant Grove MBC will have a Drive-Thru Prayer for anyone in need. We will be set up at NAPA Auto Parts from 11-2 that day. This is an event for EVERYONE NEEDING PRAYER. We would love to pray for you, a loved one, our country, our community, healing, or anything at all! You can just drive in and ask for a quick prayer of Thanks for all God has done for you!
This is not a fundraiser. We are doing this because everyone could use some prayer. We want the community to know that we are here for them and most importantly, the Lord is here for us all. All denominations and all people are welcome to come. Spread the word and join us for our Drive-Thru Prayer. God Bless you all.
September 20, 2023 - The historical Old East Hamilton Cemetery will have its Annual Homecoming and Dinner on the Grounds on Sunday, September 24, 2023, from 11am to 3pm. This is a wonderful time of visiting and singing, as well as conducting the annual business meeting for the cemetery.
As always donations are welcomed and encouraged for the maintenance and upkeep of this beautiful old cemetery. We look forward to seeing everyone! If, for some reason you are unable to attend, but would still like to donate, please contact Dudley Cox at 936-368-2596, and he will be glad to accept your donation. Thank you for your support.
Directions: From Shelbyville, take Hwy 87S to Patroon. Turn left on FM 2261, and drive approximately 6 1/2 miles. Turn left on Forest Service Road 126 off of FM 2261, there is an East Hamilton Cemetery sign on FM 2261 showing where to turn. Continue down FSR 126 to the next intersection and turn right. Continue less than a quarter mile to the Old East Hamilton Cemetery sign on the left, and turn left and go to the end of the road.
Hope to see you there!
September 19, 2023 - Yellowpine's 2023 homecoming will be held Sept. 23-24, 2023, at Yellowpine-Macedonia Baptist Church, located on Hwy 87 South at FM 2343 in Sabine County's Yellowpine community.
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, services begin at 10:00 a.m., including music by the Southern Plainsmen, message by Bro. John McGuire of Nacogdoches, along with other local music talent. Lunch will be served and the Southern Plainsmen will sing again at 1:15 p.m.
On Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, there will be a singing with locals, beginning at 6:00 p.m., for a "home folks singing."
Everyone is invited to attend these events! For information, contact T.A. Lane at 409-382-8765 or 409-584-1144.
September 18, 2023 - The annual Short Cemetery Homecoming will be held on Sunday, October 8th at 12:00 noon. Please make plans to attend.
Anyone wishing to make donations toward the upkeep of the cemetery - send your check to Short Cemetery Fund - PO Box 915 - Center, Texas 75935. All donations will go toward the upkeep of the grounds.
There will be a singing following the meal. For more information, call John Monk 936-239-7100 or Bubba Bell 935-590-1252.
September 18, 2023 - Mrs. Era Miller, former English Department Director at East Texas Baptist University, was my favorite teacher… ever. I took courses in World Literature, English Literature and courses in Shakespeare, Browning and Tennyson from her. I remember well how she often compared Browning with Tennyson. Her favorite lines by Browning were what he wrote to his wife, Elisabeth Barrett Browning: “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in His hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!”
Mrs. Miller compared Browning’s lines with those written by Alfred Tennyson (From “Crossing the Bar”): “For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar.”
Robert Browning was confident that “the best was yet to be” but Alfred Tennyson “hoped to see His Pilot face to face.” Both men were Christians but had different views on getting to heaven after they “crossed the bar”.
John wrote: (1 John 3:2) “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
September 18, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, September 18.
If you're a faithful reader of these little daily devotions, you noticed that I didn't post one last Friday. I had one ready, but when I got up that morning, my wife uttered those four dreaded words, "The Internet is down!" But today my service is back up, so I share this light, inspiring thought.
I live next to an animal sanctuary. Not really. But sometimes it feels like it. My neighbor, down the way, has quite the menagerie - horses, cows, goats, sheep, pot belly pigs, cats, and an assortment of dogs. All of these animals, at one time or another, have mistaken my front lawn as their feeding ground. It's a show.
The dogs include a bull terrier, a hound, a dachshund, two Great Pyrenees, and a teacup chihuahua. Great Pyrenees weigh in at over 100 pounds, while the chihuahua tips the scale at about two pounds. It's quite a spectrum. The dogs move around my neighbor's property, and mine, in a - I won't say pack - they're all too gentle for that word. It's more of a parade. And the drum major leading the way is always the teacup chihuahua.
This canine caravan reminds me of an old saying - "and a little child shall lead them." Did you know that comes from the Bible? Here's the whole verse (Isaiah 11:6) - "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion together, and a little child shall lead them."
Isaiah lived during a time when the Israelite people were in exile, and dealing with great challenge and great loss. And, while he was always careful to remind his people that God was a God of judgement and that sin has consequences, Isaiah also encouraged them with words of redemption and reconciliation and restoration. This passage, that some call "the peaceable kingdom," was an encouragement to them, and to us today.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
September 14, 2023 - As the story goes, the family had come home from church and little Bobby followed his mother into the kitchen. She took the fried chicken out of the oven she had cooked before church and put it on a platter. She left to go into the other room and when she came back Bobby had a drumstick and thigh on a plate and was headed out the door. When questioned, he pleaded with his mother that he wanted the drumstick and thigh to feed his dog. Mother informed him in a not so gentle manner that the fried chicken was for the family dinner.
After dinner, Bobby collected the bones from the table and took them outside and explained, “Well, Rover, I really wanted to bring you an offering today, but it turned out to be just another collection.
That story has been around a long time. It has been used on numerous occasions to emphasize the importance of proper stewardship of our material possessions. However, that story is just as applicable to stewardship of other things God has entrusted to our care.
How about our time? What kind of offering does God receive of the time he has given us? Do we really love the Lord and love His church when we cannot find the time to serve Him? How much time do we devote to the study of God’s word and to prayer? How much time do we devote to telling others about our Savior, Jesus Christ? Did you find time to worship him last Lord’s Day? Will you find time to worship Him this coming Lord’s Day?
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
September 12, 2023 - Mt. Herman Cemetery Homecoming will be held Sunday, September, 17, 2023. Lunch will be at noon. Donations for the upkeep of the cemetery will be taken or may be mailed to Jerryl Adams, 670 CR 1190, Center, TX 75935.
September 11, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, September 11.
There are moments that happen in every generation that are so earth shattering, that everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. For my parent's generation it was December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For my generation it was November 22, 1963, the assassination of President Kennedy. And for all of us, it was September 11, 2001.
Events like these change us, change our culture, change our world. Remember what going to the airport used to be like - greeting loved ones as they got off the plane, standing at the window - without a ticket - watching the landings and take-offs. My daughters know nothing of those memories. And my parents experienced things that I never knew.
Change. It comes. Ready or not. I look at the preschoolers in our church and wonder what kind of world they will grow up in. That's a question that's been asked by every parent in history, I guess.
On July 19, 1971, the second Twin Tower in New York City was completed - topped off, as they say. One week earlier, on July 11, a baby boy was born to Bill and Gloria Gaither. They named him Benjy. The gospel songwriting couple worried about bringing a child into a world where the Vietnam War was raging, where protests were happening in every major US city, where Watergate was on the horizon, where the Cold War with Russia was a constant threat to the safety of America.
The Gaither's, like all artists, used their art to deal with what they were going through. As they awaited the birth of their new child, they wrote these words -
How sweet to hold a new born baby and feel the pride and joy he gives.
But greater still, the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because He lives.
Today, Benjy is a film producer, actor, songwriter, and father. Things turned out ok, life goes on, change happens, God has a plan.
And life is worth the living just because He lives!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
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