Family News and Notes
SYBSNET does not meet this week but resumes on Tuesday, July 5, at 7:00 PM, at Pittsburg Church of Christ. The Topic will be "God's Word The Choicest Rules Imparts" and will be presented by Bro. Brian Gochenour.
Ten (10) brave campers left at 7:00 AM Friday for Alabama for the Indian Creek Youth Camp, near Jasper, AL. Please pray for a safe journey to and from camp, as well as during camp.
Summer Christian Camp at Camp Cisco, for 8th grade thru 12th Grade, July 24July 29. See Bob Hedges for applications. If you have already Sent in an application please advise Bob so we can obtain an exact number attending, for transportation arrangements.
Austin Neal, while attending the Gospel Meeting Wednesday evening at Oak Grove church of Christ, obeyed the Gospel and was baptized into Christ by Brother Tom Wacaster. Please welcome this new brother and offer him the encouragement he needs.
Edith Shiflet has successful neck surgery last week and says she feels much better.
Bascom Perkins was admitted to the local hospital on Wednesday evening. No update on his condition at the printing of this bulletin.
Howard Horton passed away about 5:00 PM Thursday evening. His funeral was held at 2:00 PM Saturday afternoon here at North Jefferson Church of Christ with burial at Nevill's Chapel Cemetery in Titus County, Texas. Services were conducted by Bates-Cooper-Sloan Funeral Home and Tom Wacaster and Howard R. Horton preached the service. Continue to remember this family in your prayers.
An update has been made to the Pictorial Directory regarding Ruby Pipkin. We have corrected her telephone number. Please pick up your corrected page off the round table in the foyer.
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PRAYER LIST:
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Louis Bell, Annah Brown, Billye Campbell,
Perry Cooper, Vernon Garrett, Zenith Hargrove, Hollis Lee, Winnie Patton,
Dorothy Sargent, Alva Mae Sheets,
ALSO: Melba Boyd, Denise Dering, Wesley & Juanita DuBose, Ruby Jeffery, Bascom Perkins, Lonita Thompson
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WE CAN DO BETTER
Johnny Ramsey
A major purpose of Christianity is to cause us to grow into the likeness of the Savior. We earnestly crave the word of God that "we may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:1-3). We must "go on to perfection" (Heb. 6:1) as we strive to do better as servants of Jehovah. We dare not become stagnant in the work of our Redeemer. These words should challenge our attention: "The richest soil, if not cultivated, produces the rankest weeds."
When we become so arrogant that we see no need for improvement, we have allowed Satan to beguile us. "If you have tried to do something, and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded." Some are so deceived that they really think they have already done the best they can. But 2 Pet. 3:18 demands, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Two brief statements fit right here real well:
[1] When there's work to be done, turn up your sleeves, not your nose.
[2] It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts.
We cannot build a proper reputation on what we are going to do. Some preachers are so lazy that they never get out of the planning stage. Real faith leads to zealous action as we yearn for a closer walk with God. Will Cowper wrote these vibrant words:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy Throne,
And worship only Thee.
When we understand that there are many ways we can grow in the glorious cause of Christ, we will not be content with mediocrity and resting on past laurels. We will deepen in the attributes of godliness and soar to greater heights. The Bible encourages us, "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Pet. 5:4). A heart-warming gospel song truly grasps the thrust of this lesson concerning nearness to our Redeemer:
Would you in His service
Labor always at your best?
Let Him have His way with thee.
His love can fill your soul
And you will see
It was best for Him
To have His way with thee.
We can, and will, do better when we stay close to the Lord Jesus!
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The Person Down The Road
Odis Duncan
(Guest Article from Mt. Carmel Messenger Mt. Carmel, AL)
Think back over the past week, with whom did you spend the most time? You probably spent a few hours with a friend, acquaintances, strangers and relatives outside of your immediate family. If you work, you probably spent between 35 and 45 hours with your boss and co-workers. If you are married, you spent approximately 63 hours with your spouse (providing you spent 1 hour with him/her each day before work and every other available minute after work and on Saturday and Sunday). If you did the same with your children, you would have spent a similar amount of time (minus a couple of hours each night when they went to bed earlier than you). If you add all this time together, the total does not equal the amount of time you spent with someone else. The one with whom you spend the most time is you!
Like it or not, you cannot escape yourself. You spend 168 hours a week with yourself (which, by the way, accounts for each and every hour in a seven day period). If you live to be exactly 72 years old, you will have spent 631,152 hours with yourself (counting 18 extra days for each Leap Year). As you get older, the time you spend with others tends to decrease they die, or move away, friendships wane, you move to a nursing home, etc. Over time, you will find you are spending less time with others and more time alone. No matter how many people come and go in your life, you will always be able to look into the mirror and see the one person who is always there you.
What that means is this: 30, 40 even 50 years from now, when you spend more time alone than ever before, you are going to wake up one day and be forced to face the reality of who you have become.
When you look in the mirror down the road of life, will you like yourself? Whether the person you meet is kind and gentle, or harsh and demanding, depends on who you are today and what you choose to do. If you live only in terms of what you can get out of life, you will be crabby, self-centered and spiteful. If, however, you open your life to others and live as a giver, you will be kind, open and generous.
The person you will be tomorrow depends on the life you live today. Everyday, in every way, you are becoming increasingly like yourself. Make sure the person you are becoming is someone with whom you will be able to spend the rest of your life AND enjoy it! Maybe this is why we spend so much time trying to fill our lives with extra people, activities and possessions; we cannot stand to be alone with ourselves. Think about it, you are stuck with yourself for the rest of your life. Do you want to spend that time with someone just like you, or do you need to change so that you will be able to enjoy the time together? If you met someone just like you, would you want to spend time with him/her?
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