6/4/2010
The Visitor – June 6, 2010
Here and There by Wes Price will resume when Wes recovers from surgery. We pray he will be back with us soon. =========================================
Summer Is Upon Us
Roger Owen
We have now entered the month of June. Every year it is the same for me. When I see June show up on the calendar, I know hot times are ahead. Summer officially begins on June 21, but it FEELS like summer before we get out of May.
This is not good for me. It is not just in inconvenience issue, summer is a threat to me. I am much more in danger of dying from the heat than dying from the cold. Sunburns for me were very common growing up. I had a major melanoma removed in 1982. Allergies have made my eyes extremely sensitive to the bright sun’s light. And I suffered a head injury in high school that somehow caused the blood vessels in my head to be stretched thinner than they are supposed to be. As a result, if I get too hot, extreme headaches arrive, and they are so severe that I am totally useless for about a day and a half. I can only hibernate in a totally dark room with the air conditioning going full blast until I cool off and my heart-rate slows down, stopping the pain from the blood trying to rush through my now thin blood vessels to help cool me down. So needless to say, I am an INDOORS kind of guy!
The only way I could play golf was to tee off at dawn, before the sun came up and put a zip-lock bag of ice in my hat when the temperature rose above 75 or 80 degrees. It would melt pretty fast and I had to refill it continually throughout the round. My playing partners did not know about the ice because I did not want to listen to all the teasing and deal with the embarrassment of being such an “oddball.” I always filled the bag when they were busy hitting their shots. One day my ice bag sprung a leak and I had no back-up. So I positioned the part of the bag with the hole in it towards the front of my cap and pushed the bag back far enough on my head so that the hole was above the combination of ice and water. Then it did not leak – until I leaned my head over to putt and all this water came gushing out! One of my playing partners shrieked, “Man, you sure sweat a lot!!” Needless to say, the heat has curtailed any attempt to regularly play golf any more.
Many will remember 1980 as a record-setting heat spell. In August, we hit 10 days in a row over 100 degrees and many of those days were as high as 113 degrees. I had a pick-up truck that had no air conditioning in it. I would drive to work, then completely clean up all over again and change clothes once I got there. When the week-end arrived, I drove to Oklahoma and my uncle (a truck and auto mechanic) installed an air conditioner in my truck.
So, what’s the point? When I deal with the heat, the only thing on my mind is finding some relief; some shade, a breeze, some air conditioning, etc. It is at that time I am reminded most what Hell might be like. Jesus describes it as “everlasting fire” in Matthew 25:41. That’s all I need to hear! EVERLASTING – no relief! No shade, no breeze, no air conditioning. Nothing!
Today, we don’t talk much about Hell. People don’t like to be told it is possible they could go there. We are all about emphasizing the positive and ignoring the negative. Yet it is still a reality that Jesus talked about often. Keeping me out of that place cost Him His life! Shouldn’t we still be concerned about warning each other about such a place!
When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the day of the Lord, he told them it would happen “while people are saying, ‘There is peace and security.’” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Hebrews 10:26-27 still says, “For it we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”
What do we see when we encounter lost souls? Hungry people? Poor people? Unfortunate people? Needy people? It occurred to me that if we are only wrapped up in feeding them, housing them, helping them, giving to them, or helping with whatever they need to make their physical lives better, we are doing no more than prisons do when they offer a prisoner on death row whatever he wants to eat for his last meal before execution. People are in danger of suffering heat like has never been suffered before. What can we do about it?
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PRAYER LIST
Wes Price–Charlton Methodist– A Tower, Room A 3117. May have short visits. Is slowly improving. Remember to limit your visits to 10 minutes. He tires very easily.
Jimmy Mooney will have day surgery at Charlton Methodist at 7:15 a.m. on June 18.
Carol and Pete Diamond need our special prayers at this time. Carol is the cousin of Sylvia and Muriel McMillion and her husband, Pete, has a malignant brain tumor and is not doing well at this time.
REMEMBER ALL OTHERS ON THE PRAYER LIST
Adrain Arthur (great nephew of Theresa Bersano); George Bailey; R. C. Bell; Addie Bennett; Dr. “J” Coats; Urbanelle Cox; Evelyn Dillon; Tom Duvall; Ruby Faas; Gloria Garcia; Rita Harrison; Doris Henry; Bill Hinton; Ed Horn; Mary Catherine Jayroe; Jean LaPine; Nancy Lindley; Mark Locke; Sylvia & Muriel McMillion; Dorothy Mooney; Billie Morgan; Bobby Muirhead (sister of Billie & Jean Thompson); Lula Murray; Henrietta Pummill; Rick Ramsey; Sherry Reynolds; Lois Rodriquez; Mary Russell; Mildred Sala, Nancy Spurgeon; Treva Traylor; Marie Works.
Vital Signs – May 30, 2010
Bible Study 54
Morning Worship 64
Afternoon Worship 36
Wed. Eve. Bible Study 5/26 30
Offering: $2,158.50
Budget: $2,893.27
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We want to offer our much love and sympathy to Jacob & Joyce Locke and their family. Jacob’s sister, Alice Marie Holley “Bedie” passed away May 31, 2010 at the age of 92. Her funeral was at Williams Memorial Chapel on June 2, 2010. Interment was in Garland Mills Cemetery in Garland, TX.
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We want to offer our much love and sympathy to the family of Magdalena Gonzalez. Magdalena passed away on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. The visitation was Friday at Jeter Funeral Home. Her funeral was Saturday, June 5, 2010 here at the church officiated by Robert Johnston, minister of the Longview Church of Christ in Longview, TX and former minister of the old Mt. View Church of Christ. Magdalena was a long time member of Mt. View Church of Christ and then a long time member of Jefferson Boulevard Church of Christ. She was a loving mother and grandmother and had such a sweet and happy disposition. .
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“Looking Forward”
by Jack Armstrong
We decided instead of reflecting on things in the past we will try to talk about things to come. Oleta and I had a wonderful surprise on Tuesday, May 25, 2010. We had called Alma Faye earlier (not realizing she was probably resting from spending the night at the hospital with Wes). She called us back to give us an update and said “by the way someone wants to talk to you”. Wes came on the phone and we had a wonderful visit via the phone. He sounded so good and it just made our day!
Wasn’t the letter from Josh Martinez inviting us to the graduation great! We sure do miss Val and Josh being with us but are so glad they are attending church in Princeton with their uncle and cousins. They are the grandsons of Domingo and Becky Martinez who have become permanent members of the JBCoC congregation.
We sure do miss the Bells and pray they are doing much better.
We were so glad to hear from Rick that Bill Hinton is doing so good and likes where he is living.
Speaking of looking forward, let’s all pray the doctors treating Wes will find the way to stop the leak still there in his intestines. Wes says when he sees all that great food in the paper and on TV and it just makes him crave a great meal! I told him when that day comes we will all celebrate! It’s been a long hard ordeal for Wes and Alma Faye but I can’t help but feel something good will happen real soon because Bro. Wes is a lot like Job in his resolve to keep his faith in the Good Lord, regardless of what transpires! Besides all that he has one of the most endurable, abiding, caring, loving helpmate I’ve ever seen. She’s been there through thick and thin and always says… “We must be cautiously optimistic.”
By the time you get this we will have celebrated Memorial Day and we hope you had a good one.
I have to tell you what Dan Talbott did for me last Lord’s Day. He told me to come out to the car as he had something for me. I went out and he had one of the greatest picture puzzles of a group of Marines standing in a line with the words Semper Fidelis across it in a beautiful frame. I have to tell you it is just beautiful and I thank Dan more than I can say! He told me it was for Memorial Day.
REMEMBER… “When Duty Becomes Desire”
Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)
(Just an added note)
Thank all of you for the beautiful, meaningful anniversary cards and calls. It was Number 15 for Oleta and me. Can you believe it’s been that long? Also, we saw Wes Saturday and he is looking much better. Wes had just come back from a walk up the hall and back!