The Visitor » The Visitor – May 18, 2008

Here and There
by Wes Price

A big, warm welcome to David Nelson and his wife from New Zealand. We have been looking forward to their visit for some time. We are especially glad that Mary will be with him this time. He will be bringing us up-to-date on the work in New Zealand at the Bible class hour and then will preach at the morning worship.
We look forward to having a large number of visitors from the Nelson clan as usual when David and Mary are with us. Greet all of them and make them feel welcome.
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Please remember to save Sunday, June 29, for a very special day. The elders have designated this as a day of celebration and I’m grateful for their wanting to remember my completing 45 years service to the church. A very special friend of mine, Leon Crouch, will be here to speak for us and then we will enjoy a delicious meal following the worship. I’ll tell you more about him later. Just save that date!
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We certainly were blessed with a message from Spencer Ross at the evening service last Sunday. He is the kind of student that we can commend as he completes his studies at the Brown Trail School of Preaching and goes into full time ministry. We will have him again soon.
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June 7 will be a special day for JBCoC members. We will spend the morning doing some special work around the building and then conclude in time for everyone to have time to return home and dress for our trip to Ft. Worth to say a special birthday greeting to Henrietta Pummill on her 100th birthday. The church bus will be going for those who need rides and the whole church is invited to attend. Details for the gala event are posted on the bulletin board in the Community Room. Let us know if you would like to ride the bus.
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JUST FOR LAUGHS – A grocery store clerk was swarmed with last minute customers on a holiday weekend. He shook his head in disgust and said to a preacher who he knew in line, “It’s funny to me that people always wait until the last minute to prepare for a trip they know they are going to take.” “I know,” said the preacher, “I have the same problem in my business.”

On Sunday morning, May 25, Mack Lyon will be speaking on “The Holy Spirit on Pentecost.” Join him for that message at 7:00 a.m. on Channel 27, KDFI-TV.
Someone who believes he (or maybe she) is “saved” asks to be kept in prayer that he might speak in tongues and do miracles like the people did on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. We will carefully examine that event, not to get anybody “told off,” but to be helpful to many who ask similar questions.
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YOU ARE MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).
This majestic view of man is thrilling, but what does it mean? Through-
out the centuries men have wrestled with the idea that we are created in God’s image or likeness.
Some have suggested that man’s physical features are a copy of God’s physical features, but God is Spirit. Others have called attention to man’s upright posture which sets him apart from the animal creation. Still others put emphasis on the fact that man is to have dominion. However, John Willis has observed that “a closer look at the context indicates that man’s dominion is the result of his being made in the image of God.”
Several of the church “fathers” (such as Gregory of Nyssa & Chrysotom) contend that this distinction was lost at the fall (This is difficult to prove when you examine Genesis 9:6). Many scholars believe that God gave man spiritual qualities like His own…the ability to think on a high level…to look beyond oneself to higher goals…to examine one’s own motives, etc. but Gerhard Von Rad says, “One will do well to split the physical from the spiritual as little as possible: the whole man is created in God’s image.” He continues, “The interpretations…are to be rejected which proceed from an anthropology strange to the Old Testament and one-sidedly limit God’s image to man’s spiritual nature, relating it to man’s dignity,’ his ‘personality’ or ‘ability for moral decision.’”
So the debate goes on. And I certainly don’t have the answers, but I did discover something helpful. I was reading about “love” and saw it defined as “self-surrender.” I thought about the fact that “God is love,” and that Jesus Christ incarnated perfect love.
That’s when I ran across a statement ftrom the pen of Edward John Carnell, “Love is the true point of contact between God and man. Man is made in the image of God, and the image of God is the capacity of self-surrender. The more kind and loving a man is, the more like God he is. A good man prefers others before himself; a bad man is selfish.”
JOHN GIPSON
WINDSONG CHURCH OF CHRIST

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Prayer List
Jimmy Mooney – Texas Select for rehab. The pathology report was good.
Royal Smith has seen a cardiologist and will continue with tests next week.
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Arline Swanson, Evelyn Dillon, Laura Wood, Ada Couch, Oleta Landin, Angie Sabedra, Catherine Coronado, Fran Womelsdorff, Doris Henry, Morris Miller, Nancy Spurgeon, Carmen McMillion, Vertie Lee Stanley, Treva Traylor, Urbanelle Cox, Oleta Armstrong, Jennie Wright, Billie Morgan, Bea Dipprey, Ruby Faas, Lois Rodriquez, John & Lillian Rowland, Ida Smith, Holly Lee, Weldon Siler, Catherine Jayroe, Geraldine Hurley, Dr J & Dorothy Coats, Carol Patterson, Joe Benedick, Marjorie Moore,
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SYMPATHY
We want to offer our love and sympathy to Lewis Hinton and family. His loving wife, Bonnie, passed away quietly Thursday evening. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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New Phone Number – Urbanelle Cox – 214-500-5175
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MEDINA CHILDREN’S HOME GROCERY DRIVE – June 3, 2008
Items Needed:
Saltine Crackers, Canned Pineapple, Canned Sweet Potatoes
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You are invited to see our weekly bulletin on the church’s web site at jeffersonblvd.org
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What a wonderful way to begin Sunday mornings. Watch “In Search of the Lord’s Way” on Channel 27 at 7:00 a.m. followed by “A Truth In Love” at
7:30 a.m. on Channel 52.
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VITAL SIGNS: MAY 11
Bible Study 69
Morning Worship 100
Afternoon Worship 47
Offering $3,321.00
Budget $3,410.46
Wed. May 7 46

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Reflections
by Jack Armstrong
Sometimes when sitting here writing my column I think back to the “good ‘ol days”, down in Waco, Texas when I spent my summers out on the farm with my wonderful grandparents, Robert & Maggie Mickle. My granddad preached the Gospel for over 60 years and as far as I know he never drew a cent of pay for all his labor; only the best reward of all, to spend eternity with his wonderful, loving wife of some 80 years.
Seems to me that kids now days don’t have the great experiences we had available to us back then. Families seemed to be much closer and enjoyed the get-togethers we all had in our church and our homes.
I remember following Sunday afternoon services we would either go to someone’s home or out to the park (Cameron Park in Waco) to have a feast and dinner on the ground. Back in those days we called our meal times, breakfast, lunch and supper. Nothing fancy, just plain everyday food like red beans and cornbread or homemade soup or chili and on Sundays if we went home we’d have a big roast, mashed taters, green beans and a big chocolate cake with homemade ice cream for dessert. Remember when we had to pack ice in the ice cream maker and put gunny sacks on top and one of the kids sat on top and another opened up the hole in the bottom of the freezer to let the water out? We usually made chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or peach and believe me that was sufficient to do the job.
The grown ups would sit and visit or play “42”, and the kids would play all kinds of great games, good clean games and no pernicious goings on, no drive by shootings, or fights for no reason, and for sure no gangs of hoods to run around with and get into all kinds of trouble.
We didn’t have much money back then, but it seems to me we were all closer and knew when the first day of the week rolled around it was time to go and worship our Lord, morning and evening and Wednesday night, too.
Arline Swanson, Evelyn Dillon, Jimmy Mooney, we want you to know we miss you, love you, and pray for your well being daily. Carmen, we pray you are doing much better and you too Vertie Lee. We sure do miss all of you. It was so good to see Fran on that back row, too. We pray all is better for all of our sick and shut-ins.
Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)