Our_Bulletin_11_28

Family News and Notes

Our Song Leader list was not furnished in time for the printing of this bulletin so we have "pot-luck" this morning. The AM song leader will announce what song or songs he will be leading.

Visitation Teams No. 2 and 3 will meet after services this morning. All team members are encouraged to attend.

We STILL need Volunteers to help clean the building for the month of December. Won't you please put your talents to good use and sign the sheet on the table in the foyer. It will certainly help ease the mental anguish Grady is going thru.

A REMINDER: the ladies will be doing "Care Boxes" again this year and are requesting that anyone who want to donate funds for the boxes to give their donation to either Veleta McFerrin or Amy Jones ASAP. These are taken to shut-ins, nursing home residents & elderly.

HOLIDAY EVENTS Christmas with the McCains Mature Adults (50-150) on Friday nite, December 10th and Young Adults (20-55) on Saturday nite, December 11th. (those in between can choose which event to attend or can come to both) There REALLY IS a "Sign-Up Sheet" on the table in the foyer. Please sign in showing what type of dish you will be bringing. We will have appetizers beginning at 6:30 PM and dinner about 7:00 PM. PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING A WRAPPED GIFT for the Crazy Gift Swap (be creative and funny). Call Janice at 903-577-1540 or see last week's bulletin for more information.

On Wednesday December 29, we will have singing in the auditorium. Also, all classes will meet in the auditorium on that nite.

Johnnie Barrett, age 73, passed away on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 in Mount Pleasant. Funeral Services were conducted at 10:00 AM Saturday morning, November 27, 2004 by Bates-Cooper Funeral Home with burial at Masonic Cemetery. Johnny is survived by his wife Lynn, two daughters and sons-in-law, Carolyn and Willard Holliday of Anchorage, Alaska and Cathy and David Booher of Memphis, TN, three grandchildren and spouse, David and Skyla Holliday of Mount Pleasant, Mark Holliday of Hughes Springs and Kelly Booher of Memphis, TN, seven great-grandchildren, Keith, Craig, Austin, Tristan, Halley, Laurel and Keith, brother and sister-in-law Charles and Belva Barrett of Mount Pleasant and three nephews.

Johnny was dearly loved by us all and he will be missed.

*************************************

PRAYER LIST

Justin Barker, Louis Bell, Sue Browning, Josephine Cooper, Perry Cooper, Narci Cooper, Zenith Hargrove, Howard Horton, Ruby Lawhon, Winnie Patton, Dorothy Sargent, Alva Mae Sheets, Ola Mae Simpson

ALSO: Ronald Duncan, Ercell Fetters, Marie Holloway,

Patricia McCracken, Kelsey Meyers,

*************************************

After The Turkey Is Gone

Grandma's house is empty again. The children and grandchildren have all returned to their respective homes, jobs, and schools. The dishes have all been washed and neatly stacked in the cupboard and china cabinet. The house is clean and uncluttered again, and so very quiet! The linens and towels have all been washed, the beds in the spare bedrooms remade, and everything has been put back in its place. About all that remains is the carcass of the "big bird", and enough sliced, chopped, and chipped turkey to make the words "turkey surprise" sound like a death warrant!

Oh, yes, there is one other thing that lingers on, or at least should, even after the "turkey surprise" is just a bad memory. That is, the warm feeling of thankfulness for all of God's blessings large and small, which should be a conscious part of the Christian's life, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but 365 day a year. We are indeed privileged to live in a land whose constitution and government acknowledge the existence of God, and where by yearly presidential proclamation a day of thanksgiving is set aside as a national observance of God's blessings and provisions. We detract not one whit from this national tradition and hope that it will ever be remembered and observed.

However, the Christian should be thankful to God every day that we live. Both in good times and in bad, in circumstances of good health or affliction, in prosperity or adversity, in times of joy or sadness, we should be humble, grateful, thankful people. Over a hundred verses of Scripture instruct us concerning God's desire that His children be people who are filled with praise and thanksgiving. Colossians 2:7 says we are to "abound in thanksgiving." I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; and in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." As the Psalmist so beautifully penned, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations" (Psalm 100:4~5).

Perhaps, though, the most difficult admonition concerning praise and thanksgiving is the Apostle Paul's exhortation to, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:6). Is it possible to be thankful every day, in all circumstances of life, both good and bad? Paul, by inspiration, said: YES!

We must strive to look for the good and "our God" in every occurrence of life. When we do that; when we look beyond the temporal to the spiritual, two great things happen. First, the devil's influence is thwarted, for he prefers grumbling and complaining over continual praise and thanksgiving. Secondly, we discover a reward for thankfulness, for Paul finished his admonition by saying, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7).

Yes, after the turkey is gone, there remains for the Christian the daily, calm, continual, thankful, supplication and prayer, which will result in the priceless prize of the "peace of God, which passeth all understanding." With that in mind, we can even be thankful for "turkey surprise!" David McCain

************************************

Other Uses For Leftover Turkey

1.As a blunt object to fend off your pesky cousins with.

2.As a Christmas gift (avoid the holiday crowds this way!)

3.As a doorstop to keep your relatives out.

4.As a disguise so your ugly Aunt Beatrice can't kiss you and say, "How much you've grown!"

5.As a football for the after-meal game.

6.As a hood ornament.

7.As a Christmas stocking stuffer.

8.Food Fight!

9.Place a speaker inside the bird, and from another room, amaze your guests with this talking fowl.

10.Throw the turkey out the window yelling,

"You're FREE! Fly! Fly!

11.Two words: Turkey puppet.

12.As a science project.

13.As additional meals :

Friday lunch: turkey sandwiches

Friday dinner: turkey curry

Saturday lunch: turkey fried rice

Saturday dinner: turkey cacciatore

Sunday lunch: turkey soup

Sunday dinner: turkey loaf

Monday dinner: turkey hash

Tuesday dinner: turkey-noodle casserole

*************************************

Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

****

Trouble in marriage starts when a man get so busy earnin' his salt, that he forgets his sugar.

****

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

*************************************