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Thursday, October 4
We arrived home from our epic Taz Trip yesterday, but all that got done was to unload the necessities from Taz and the trailer, get them inside, and then crash and burn for the rest of the day.
Today found us getting back in the swing of East Texas life as we climbed into the car (no Taz today) and drove to Lone Star Baptist Encampment to join some of our church members and folks from a 3-state area for the Fall Seniors retreat. As usual, a good time was had by all (except for the part about us sitting under the speaker system and being blown away by sounds louder than any rock concert one might have ever heard), and there was plenty of good food and an inspiring message.
The drive back home was uneventful...
...and when we got to the house we began emptying suitcases and sacks to get our clothes separated and hung up, put away, or dumped in the laundry so the washer and dryer could get a good workout.
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Friday, October 5
After unpacking and putting away a few more things from the trip (we didn't want to overdo this chore and get it all done at once), we decided we'd better sit down and begin preparing for our children's sermon for Sunday. We prepared sermons during the trip (Barbara got really good at working them out as we rode down the highways) and sent them to Chad and Melaina to use while we were gone, but it was now time for us to take over again.
Preparation takes different forms depending on the text of the sermon, but it almost always begins with making a big mess on the dining room table.
We figured out where we were going with the sermon and reminder treats, but this was a particularly large endeavor this week, so we took a break for an afternoon nap.
When I woke up, I went to the back yard to harvest my jalapeno crop (and find that one of the plants that was supposed to be a jalapeno was really a bell pepper.
Then it was time to go to Naturally Nails and have Leslie give us some much-needed haircuts.
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Saturday, October 6
Our goal today was to get everything from the Taz Trip put away and clean up the spare bedroom. It took most of the day to get it done, but by evening it looked as if we'd never gone anywhere.
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Sunday, October 7
For the first time in several weeks we were back in the swing of things at Yantis First Baptist Church. We practiced our children's sermon, went to Sunday school, and then returned to the sanctuary to deliver our part of the sermon.
JIM: Our lesson this morning is from John
3. In it, John, the disciple of Jesus,
continues telling us what John the Baptist had to say to the crowds when he
witnessed to them about Jesus.
John the Baptist had been telling people all along that Jesus was the son of God and the promised Messiah. In fact, he told them in every way he possibly could so that their attention would be on Jesus and not on him as the messenger.
In this lesson, John is telling the people that everything Jesus said was true, because He came from heaven and was speaking of things He had seen there…his words were the words of God.
What does this mean to us today? What it really means is that we have a
choice. We can believe that Jesus was
just a prophet and a good man, or we can believe that what he said was true and
trust him completely…that he is the son of God, and we can receive his promise
of everlasting life with him.
BARBARA: Jesus never said that
we would have perfect lives here on earth if we believed on him. In fact, we know that the more we believe in
and follow Jesus, the more the world will be against us. What we also know as followers of Jesus is
that we can face each new day knowing that our future is secure with him, and
we can face whatever comes.
JIM: Instead of ending our lesson with a
prayer this morning, I’d like for Brother Chad and Melaina to lead all of us in
the first verse and chorus of the wonderful old hymn, “Because He Lives.”
After church we drove to Sulphur Springs to visit our friend Marilyn at one of the rehab centers. It was a beautiful day for a ride, so Barbara took some pictures along the way...
We had promised to let Marilyn know when we returned, so since we were this close, it only made sense to drive up and see her in person.
After seeing Marilyn we stopped at the local Panda Express to get some Chinese takeout for a couple of meals at home.
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Monday, October 8 - Thursday, October 11
These were totally unremarkable days...just the regular business of life. We did go to Lindale Monday for a dermatology appointment and I had a couple of biopsies done, but that was about the most exciting thing that happened.
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Friday, October 12
Friday is our day of concentration on getting our children's sermon prepared. And, since we have big plans for tomorrow, today was D-Day (DO-IT Day).
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Saturday, October 13
Today started out dark and rainy, and never got any better. But, we had plans to join a group of motorcycle friends to deliver some fitness equipment to Lancer Legacy Ranch, a homeless veterans shelter in Maud, Texas, about three hours from Mineola.
Our original plan was to ride Taz on this mission, but it was obvious from the get-go that it wasn't a motorcycle day, so we struck out in moderate rainfall to go to Sulphur Springs, have lunch with the group, headed by Frank and Shirley Palmer of Honored Warriors Ranch, at a restaurant there.
The moderate rain turned into a monster monsoon while we were eating, but that didn't stop us (although it did slow us down) from making the trek across I-30 toward Maud. Fortunately, the rain slacked off a bit when we got to Lancer Legacy Ranch where we unloaded and set up several hundred pounds of treadmill and lifting equipment.
Except for some sporadic heavy showers on the way home, the trip was uneventful and we made it to the house just before dark.
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Sunday, October 14
We were back at Yantis First Baptist church this morning for all of the regular activities. We began with Praise Band rehearsal, then practiced our children's sermon, went to Sunday school, and then returned to the sanctuary for the morning service.
Pastor Craig's sermon this morning was about Jesus and the woman at the well, from John 4:7-15.
JIM: How many of you have ever been so
thirsty that all you can think about is a cool glass of water? I would say that everyone has been that
thirsty at one time or another. Did you
know that a large part of your body is made up of water? It is, and all living creatures need water to
live. Why, even plants need water to
live. Water is essential to life, and
that is why it is important for us to drink it regularly.
BARBARA: In our lesson today,
Jesus teaches us the most important lesson about drinking water that we can
ever learn. One day Jesus was walking
through Samaria. He was tired and
thirsty from his long walk, so he stopped at an important well to rest. When a woman came to the well to get water
for her house, Jesus asked her if she would give him some water to drink. The woman was surprised that Jesus would ask
her, since she was a Samaritan and he was a Jew, and those two groups didn’t
normally speak to each other.
Jesus answered her and said, “If you knew who
was asking you for a drink, you would ask him for a drink and he would give you
living water.”
The woman said, “You don’t have anything to put
water in, so how can you give me a drink of living water?”
JIM: Jesus explained that whoever drank
water from the well would be thirsty again, but whoever drank the living water
that he could give would never thirst again.
Jesus wasn’t talking about the thirst for water
from a well or a water fountain.
Instead, he was talking about a thirst for God in our lives. The Bible teaches us that we have a strong
thirst in our heart for the living God, and that is a thirst that only Jesus
can satisfy. When we fully believe in,
trust and follow Jesus he satisfies our thirst for God and the eternal life he
offers. We cannot have eternal life
without Jesus, just like we can’t live here and now without water.
BARBARA: Our treat and lesson
reminder today are these living water crackers along with a bottle of water to
remind you that we all need water; but for eternal life we need Jesus just as
fish need the sea.
JIM: Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending
Jesus, the Living Water. We pray that
each one here today will drink of the Living Water so that we can have an
eternal life with you. And it’s in the
name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
We drove back to Mineola after church to have some lunch and a quick nap before going out in the country for Cousin Madalyn's (and Jon's) reveal party. Since Jon is an avid hunter, the reveal would occur when he shot a pumpkin that was place out in a pasture. The pumpkin was filled with colored powder that would fly out when it was hit with the high-powered round. Madalyn and Jon already knew the result, but family and friends didn't know until the pumpkin exploded and a blue cloud rose out of it...yep...it's a boy, a little brother for Jarhett.
Tonight we returned to Yantis to celebrate Pastor Appreciation Day for Craig and Chad. Everyone present enjoyed celebrating with root beer (or flavor of choice) floats and Sundaes.
A new round of rain came through while we were in Yantis and continued through the journey home. It was all we could do to see where we were going as we came to the stoplight in Quitman. By the time we got home, we had measured 8 1/2 inches of rain since yesterday morning!
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Monday, October 15
Monday morning almost always means that I'll be driving to Yantis to help our church secretary count money and make the weekly bank deposit...and that's exactly what I did early today.
Meanwhile, Barbara was hard at work making video journals of some of the segments of our September Taz Trip. When I returned to the house, I headed to my office space to clean off the desk and whittle down the stacks of papers to get them sorted out and placed in the proper files.
The monsoon season seems a long way from being over. Today we received another 3 1/2 inches of rain...thus this photo of Tropical Mineola...
Tuesday, October 16
Today was a repeat of yesterday except for the part about driving to Yantis. And the rains continued...another 2 1/2 inches fell today.
We got a phone call from our Kansas/Texas friends Gene and Michelle. They are in town for a couple of days and wanted to know if we wanted to go out and eat tonight. We're always ready for that sort of thing, of course, so this evening we drove up Highway 154 past the Lake Fork bridge and met our friends at one of the many lake country eateries.
After we went to the Lancer Legacy Ranch last week, one of our church friends said she had a large box of video tapes that she would be happy to donate. That got us thinking about how we could do without many of the books video tapes and recordings that we could do without, so we piled the car high with boxes of donated goods and delivered them today to Lance Legacy Ranch at Maud. The folks there were ecstatic to receive them!
By the time we got back to Mineola, it was past time for lunch, so we voted to go to Jalapeno Tree to eat. When we got home, we realized that I didn't have my glasses. I thought I remembered taking them off to look at the menu, but nothing about putting them back on. We called the restaurant and they looked all over the place, but couldn't find them. Then I called Lancer Legacy Ranch to see if I had left them there, but no one could find them.
I needed a new prescription anyway, so I called my optometrist to get the earliest possible appointment, which turned out to be next Tuesday.
We then returned to Jalapeno Tree to look for the glasses ourselves, but no luck. I went back to the table we were at, looked all around, and then as we were preparing to give it up for a lost cause, another customer and I spied them on the floor under the table next to us. We don't know how they got there, but were thrilled to find them.
As we were stepping outside the lady who had seen them on the floor came out with her husband and we talked her into taking this photo...Praise the Lord...the lost is found!!!
All that excitement about wore us out, but we did get a little rest before taking a short ride on Taz...
...and then driving up to Yantis for the Wednesday night lesson and praise band rehearsal.
Thursday, October 19
It was way to wet outside to do yard work, and we didn't feel like going shopping, so we spent the day taking care of business inside the house.
Tonight was band rehearsal with the Lake Country Symphonic Band as we were preparing for an upcoming concert.
Friday, October 19
I began the day by going to see Dr. Bankhead for my annual physical. Everything checked out okay, so I went back home and Barbara and I took turns working in the kitchen. By mid-afternoon Barbara had cooked up a tray of meatloaves and a batch of chicken and I had baked several loaves of bread and grilled a bunch of hamburger patties. Wow...did our kitchen smell wonderful!!!
We'd been lax about getting prepared for our children's sermon this week, so we also set aside time to work on it. Luckily, we had the text ready, so it was just a matter of preparing the lesson reminders.
Monsoon 2 (or maybe it was 3 or 4) rolled in again today, dropping more rain in our neighborhood...
Even though it was raining again, we decided we'd have a date night tonight. We drove to Sulphur Springs to see one of our young friends, Sydnee Hawkins, perform in a play, The Dining Room.
As we left the house, we decided to check on the construction of new duplexes that are being built on the North 40 as part of the Autumn Wind Assisted Living facility. Now that Aunt TJ has moved to Birmingham, we wanted to be able to show her what has been going on since she moved out of Autumn Wind.
Sulphur Springs has a quaint downtown area with a lot of restaurants and shops. After looking them over, we decided on a German restaurant. The food was authentic and a little pricey, but very delicious...and the rain outside seemed to enhance, rather than hinder, the atmosphere of the whole area and experience.
The play was very enjoyable. There was a cast of six, but each character played their original character through several generations. Sydnee, of course, was our choice for Best Actress.
After the play, we made our way through the pouring rain to the car and started the drive back to Mineola. For some inexplicable reason the car veered to the right directly into the parking lot of the local Sweet Frog yogurt store. We just took that as a sign we needed a treat before going home😀
The rest of the trip home was generally uneventful...except for the part about driving with one hand, eating frozen yogurt with the other, and trying to see between the raindrops on one of the darkest highways in East Texas.
Saturday, October 20
We found out yesterday that one of our best friends from church had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and had been sent from the hospital to his house to be placed under hospice care. We made a flying trip to the house to see if there was anything we could do or if they needed a meal. One of the grandsons said (with a bit of a smile) that they would love to have food brought out, but not any chicken, as they already had plenty of that. We told him we'd be back today with something that wasn't chicken.
So, we were back in the kitchen this morning collaborating on a variation on my Brown in Bag chicken recipe, using pork chops instead of chicken. Barbara baked her world famous Apple Dumpling Dew, and I got a loaf of jalapeno bread out of the freezer.
We then made a run up to Boyd and Eldavada's house to deliver the meal and even got to visit with Boyd for a few minutes.
We received a call from one of the LCSB band members yesterday asking about how to find a bugler for a service today. I told Annette that I would be happy to sound Taps at the graveside service, so this afternoon found us at one of the local cemeteries where I sounded Taps for a Korean War veteran.
Sunday, October 21
Fasten your seat belts...It's going to be a very full day!
First on the agenda was a little meditation time in the sun room...it was a beautiful morning and the views were relaxing.
Then it was time to grab Bibles, children's sermon materials, trumpet, and music and drive to Yantis for the Sunday morning service.
Our children's sermon was from John 7:14-20, and we called it "God Knows Everything About You.
Meanwhile, Barbara was hard at work making video journals of some of the segments of our September Taz Trip. When I returned to the house, I headed to my office space to clean off the desk and whittle down the stacks of papers to get them sorted out and placed in the proper files.
The monsoon season seems a long way from being over. Today we received another 3 1/2 inches of rain...thus this photo of Tropical Mineola...
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Tuesday, October 16
Today was a repeat of yesterday except for the part about driving to Yantis. And the rains continued...another 2 1/2 inches fell today.
We got a phone call from our Kansas/Texas friends Gene and Michelle. They are in town for a couple of days and wanted to know if we wanted to go out and eat tonight. We're always ready for that sort of thing, of course, so this evening we drove up Highway 154 past the Lake Fork bridge and met our friends at one of the many lake country eateries.
After we went to the Lancer Legacy Ranch last week, one of our church friends said she had a large box of video tapes that she would be happy to donate. That got us thinking about how we could do without many of the books video tapes and recordings that we could do without, so we piled the car high with boxes of donated goods and delivered them today to Lance Legacy Ranch at Maud. The folks there were ecstatic to receive them!
By the time we got back to Mineola, it was past time for lunch, so we voted to go to Jalapeno Tree to eat. When we got home, we realized that I didn't have my glasses. I thought I remembered taking them off to look at the menu, but nothing about putting them back on. We called the restaurant and they looked all over the place, but couldn't find them. Then I called Lancer Legacy Ranch to see if I had left them there, but no one could find them.
I needed a new prescription anyway, so I called my optometrist to get the earliest possible appointment, which turned out to be next Tuesday.
We then returned to Jalapeno Tree to look for the glasses ourselves, but no luck. I went back to the table we were at, looked all around, and then as we were preparing to give it up for a lost cause, another customer and I spied them on the floor under the table next to us. We don't know how they got there, but were thrilled to find them.
As we were stepping outside the lady who had seen them on the floor came out with her husband and we talked her into taking this photo...Praise the Lord...the lost is found!!!
All that excitement about wore us out, but we did get a little rest before taking a short ride on Taz...
...and then driving up to Yantis for the Wednesday night lesson and praise band rehearsal.
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Thursday, October 19
It was way to wet outside to do yard work, and we didn't feel like going shopping, so we spent the day taking care of business inside the house.
Tonight was band rehearsal with the Lake Country Symphonic Band as we were preparing for an upcoming concert.
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Friday, October 19
I began the day by going to see Dr. Bankhead for my annual physical. Everything checked out okay, so I went back home and Barbara and I took turns working in the kitchen. By mid-afternoon Barbara had cooked up a tray of meatloaves and a batch of chicken and I had baked several loaves of bread and grilled a bunch of hamburger patties. Wow...did our kitchen smell wonderful!!!
We'd been lax about getting prepared for our children's sermon this week, so we also set aside time to work on it. Luckily, we had the text ready, so it was just a matter of preparing the lesson reminders.
Monsoon 2 (or maybe it was 3 or 4) rolled in again today, dropping more rain in our neighborhood...
Even though it was raining again, we decided we'd have a date night tonight. We drove to Sulphur Springs to see one of our young friends, Sydnee Hawkins, perform in a play, The Dining Room.
As we left the house, we decided to check on the construction of new duplexes that are being built on the North 40 as part of the Autumn Wind Assisted Living facility. Now that Aunt TJ has moved to Birmingham, we wanted to be able to show her what has been going on since she moved out of Autumn Wind.
Sulphur Springs has a quaint downtown area with a lot of restaurants and shops. After looking them over, we decided on a German restaurant. The food was authentic and a little pricey, but very delicious...and the rain outside seemed to enhance, rather than hinder, the atmosphere of the whole area and experience.
The play was very enjoyable. There was a cast of six, but each character played their original character through several generations. Sydnee, of course, was our choice for Best Actress.
After the play, we made our way through the pouring rain to the car and started the drive back to Mineola. For some inexplicable reason the car veered to the right directly into the parking lot of the local Sweet Frog yogurt store. We just took that as a sign we needed a treat before going home😀
The rest of the trip home was generally uneventful...except for the part about driving with one hand, eating frozen yogurt with the other, and trying to see between the raindrops on one of the darkest highways in East Texas.
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Saturday, October 20
We found out yesterday that one of our best friends from church had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and had been sent from the hospital to his house to be placed under hospice care. We made a flying trip to the house to see if there was anything we could do or if they needed a meal. One of the grandsons said (with a bit of a smile) that they would love to have food brought out, but not any chicken, as they already had plenty of that. We told him we'd be back today with something that wasn't chicken.
So, we were back in the kitchen this morning collaborating on a variation on my Brown in Bag chicken recipe, using pork chops instead of chicken. Barbara baked her world famous Apple Dumpling Dew, and I got a loaf of jalapeno bread out of the freezer.
We then made a run up to Boyd and Eldavada's house to deliver the meal and even got to visit with Boyd for a few minutes.
We received a call from one of the LCSB band members yesterday asking about how to find a bugler for a service today. I told Annette that I would be happy to sound Taps at the graveside service, so this afternoon found us at one of the local cemeteries where I sounded Taps for a Korean War veteran.
++++++++
Sunday, October 21
Fasten your seat belts...It's going to be a very full day!
First on the agenda was a little meditation time in the sun room...it was a beautiful morning and the views were relaxing.
Then it was time to grab Bibles, children's sermon materials, trumpet, and music and drive to Yantis for the Sunday morning service.
Our children's sermon was from John 7:14-20, and we called it "God Knows Everything About You.
JIM:
Last week our lesson was about Jesus and the woman at the well, and how he
offered her living water. We’ll continue
with that story this morning, but there’s another important lesson from it. The woman at the well was surprised that
Jesus knew everything about her, even though this was the first time they had
met.
The
important part of our lesson this morning is that Jesus knows everything about
each one of us. We shouldn’t be
surprised at that, since Jesus was sent from God, returned to God, and knows
everything that God knows. Still, we
sometimes trick ourselves into believing that we can hide things from God, and
that’s just not true.
When I
was younger, I would sometimes go into a store and see a large jar filled with
jelly beans. There was a contest to see
who could guess how many jelly beans were in the jar, and the one who guessed
closest to the right number would win a prize.
Look at
this jar. Can you take a quick look and
tell me how many jelly beans are in it? .... It would be amazing if you could
tell me the exact number! Actually, there are 116.
BARBARA:
That would be amazing, Mr. Little if someone guessed the exact number of jelly
beans; but I want to tell the kids something even more amazing than that. The Bible tells us that God knows exactly how
many hairs are on your head. Look around
the room. Some of us have a lot of hair
like Aubrey, and some…don’t have very much.
Still, God knows exactly how many hairs there are on each head.
The Bible
also tells us that God knows exactly how many birds are in the air, and if one
of them dies and falls to the ground, God knows it. Not only that, he cares about it. If God cares that much about the hairs on our
heads and the birds in the sky, don’t you think he cares about you, his most
special creation?
God knows
about you and cares about you so much that he sent his only son to die so you
could have everlasting life. That is
amazing love!
This
container of jelly beans will remind you that everything about you counts with
the Lord.
JIM: Heavenly
Father, we thank you for being a God who knows all about us and still loves us
so very much that you sent your only son to die for us so we can live for you
now, and live with you forever in your heavenly kingdom. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
We stayed for most of Pastor Craig's sermon, but had to leave early to drive back to Mineola, have a quick snack, and get dressed for this afternoon's performance by the Lake Country Symphonic Band. With a 1:30 stage call for the band members, there almost wasn't enough time for everything that needed to be done.
Barbara is my ever-faithful groupie for these events...💕
We usually go home and crash immediately after our concerts, but this one was over earlier than I expected. Tonight was the annual Fall Fish Fry at our church, so we decided to make the drive back to Yantis for this fun event (and some great food).
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Monday, October 22
We had another full day today. First was to load the car for an overnight trip to Burleson. Our first stop was at the Wood County Courthouse (where my Grandfather Faulk was the county attorney many, many years ago) to participate in early voting for the general election.
There was already a long line of folks waiting to vote, so I called the optometrist's office to let them know I might be a little late getting there for my appointment.
Luckily, the line moved steadily and we were able to cast our ballots, make our way out of the courthouse through an ever-expanding line of voters, and drive up Highway 154 to /East Texas Optical...where we had another wait, but managed to fill the time taking selfies.
After finishing my eye exam and checking on prices for new lenses and frames, we took off across East Texas on our way to Burleson. East Texas is a photographer's delight, and Barbara had fun taking photos as we drove through the lake country.
The purpose of this trip was to see Kaiden play in his first band concert of the year. Of course, family get-togethers include meals as part of the gathering.
We were pleased and impressed with the performances of the bands tonight, as well as Kaiden's individual accomplishments and contributions.
Following the concert, we took Kaiden to the hotel to spend the night with us and give Leah and Ryan a night to themselves.
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Tuesday, October 23
After a good night's sleep, we got up and had breakfast in the hotel...
...went back to the room and pack, and then left to take Kaiden to school.
After dropping Kaiden at his school we made the drive back to Mineola, unpacked and put things away, got some rest, and then I prepared for our second performance of the series by the Lake Country Symphonic Band.
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Wednesday, October 24
Today was just a day of working around the house and making preparations (including lists) for our next adventure that will begin on Monday...very few slow days around our place!
Barbara rode with me to Yantis this evening for praise band rehearsal. While she was out in the car she got this unique photo of the church.
Thursday, October 25
We spent the morning cleaning house, washing clothes, and making piles of things we'll take to Virginia with us next week.
This afternoon we drove to Plano to watch grandson Alexander play football for Jesuit High School. We were very impressed with his talents and happy to spend family time with Abby, Heather, and Andy.
It was late-thirty when we finished eating, and still raining off and on, but we braved the elements and made the long drive back home. Luckily, the rain stopped after we got out of the greater Dallas area, so it wasn't a high-intensity drive.
Friday, October 26
Today was football homecoming for the hometown Mineola High School Yellow Jackets. We decided to get downtown early and get a good seat so we could see everything.
Mineola is a pretty conservative small town, so there were lots of flags and Scouts heading things up, followed by the high school band (Texas State Champion 3-A Band last year), and floats with queen candidates, attendants, (our hairdressers daughter was a candidate, and Little Jarhett (Jim's third cousin twice removed (or something like that) was on one of the floats.
Since we had been on the road yesterday, our usual day for beginning children's sermon and preparations, we went home after the parade and went to work getting ready for Sunday.
I had baked mini loaves of bread this morning and now they were ready to package.
We had plans to go to Tyler to visit a church friend in the hospital. On the way, we stopped in Lindale to see a display that a friend of our had at a local craft gathering. In addition to visiting Frank Palmer of Honored Warriors Ranch, we also got to visit with Norma McComb of the East Texas Patriot Guard Riders, and Lisa Apel, a friend from Yantis. It was just like old home week!
When we finally got back home, we made sure everything was ready for church tomorrow and then called it a day.
Sunday, October 28
This morning found us at the morning services of First Baptist Church Yantis. Our children's sermon, The Bread of Life, was taken from John 4: 27-38.
Barbara rode with me to Yantis this evening for praise band rehearsal. While she was out in the car she got this unique photo of the church.
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Thursday, October 25
We spent the morning cleaning house, washing clothes, and making piles of things we'll take to Virginia with us next week.
This afternoon we drove to Plano to watch grandson Alexander play football for Jesuit High School. We were very impressed with his talents and happy to spend family time with Abby, Heather, and Andy.
It was late-thirty when we finished eating, and still raining off and on, but we braved the elements and made the long drive back home. Luckily, the rain stopped after we got out of the greater Dallas area, so it wasn't a high-intensity drive.
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Friday, October 26
Today was football homecoming for the hometown Mineola High School Yellow Jackets. We decided to get downtown early and get a good seat so we could see everything.
Mineola is a pretty conservative small town, so there were lots of flags and Scouts heading things up, followed by the high school band (Texas State Champion 3-A Band last year), and floats with queen candidates, attendants, (our hairdressers daughter was a candidate, and Little Jarhett (Jim's third cousin twice removed (or something like that) was on one of the floats.
Since we had been on the road yesterday, our usual day for beginning children's sermon and preparations, we went home after the parade and went to work getting ready for Sunday.
I had baked mini loaves of bread this morning and now they were ready to package.
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Saturday, October 27
We had plans to go to Tyler to visit a church friend in the hospital. On the way, we stopped in Lindale to see a display that a friend of our had at a local craft gathering. In addition to visiting Frank Palmer of Honored Warriors Ranch, we also got to visit with Norma McComb of the East Texas Patriot Guard Riders, and Lisa Apel, a friend from Yantis. It was just like old home week!
When we finally got back home, we made sure everything was ready for church tomorrow and then called it a day.
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Sunday, October 28
This morning found us at the morning services of First Baptist Church Yantis. Our children's sermon, The Bread of Life, was taken from John 4: 27-38.
BARBARA: Have you ever been hungry? Of course you have. Our bodies are designed to need food and
water in order for us to live. The most
important of the foods are the grains, like wheat, corn, and oats. From them we get cereals and breads that are
healthy for us.
As far
back as the Old Testament days, grains were ground into flour for the bread
that people needed to live. That bread
was and still is sometimes called the Staff of Life. God provided manna, a kind of bread to the
Israelites when they were wandering in the desert, and Jesus blessed five
loaves of bread and two small fish to help feed 5,000 people. When he taught his disciples how to pray, he
said, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Bread has always been an important part of life.
JIM:
A couple of weeks ago we talked about
Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria, and how Jesus offered her Living
Water so that she would never be spiritually thirsty again.
In
today’s lesson, we find that Jesus talks to his disciples about something else
that is very important to our physical and spiritual lives. While Jesus was still at the well, the
disciples came up to him and told him to eat something and he told them that he
had food to eat that they didn’t know about.
They wondered if someone had brought him some food, but he told them
that his food was to finish the work that his Father had started…to share the
word so that people could accept him as their savior and live forever in the
heavenly kingdom.
When we
really want something, we sometimes say we “have a hunger” for it. As we work for what we want, we satisfy that
hunger. That’s what Jesus did…yes, he
did need daily food, just as we do, but his hunger and the way to satisfy that
hunger was to draw people close to him and know and accept the truth about the
Heavenly Father, and that is what we followers of Jesus need to feel. We should have a hunger to live and witness
to others so that they will accept Jesus, the bread of life, as their savior.
BARBARA: Our special treat and reminder this morning are
these loaves of fresh-baked bread to remind you that we need bread to live, but
we need Jesus, the Bread of Life, to live forever.
JIM: Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus, the
Bread of Life. We pray that each one
here today will take and eat of that bread so we can serve you here in this
life and live with you forever in your heavenly kingdom.
Since we weren't going to have a service at our church tonight, we returned home for lunch and spent the afternoon and evening packing for a trip to Virginia tomorrow...making lists and checking them twice (and then misplacing them and starting all over again 🤣)
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Spending our last night at home for awhile in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
