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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Faith
January 31, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Friday, January 31.
As this month is ending, I’m reminded of a beginning. By January of 2022, I had been sending out these little daily thoughts, by email, for a couple of years. They started when the world stopped - for the Covid pandemic. The devotions were a way to stay connected with family, friends, and the volunteers I worked with at my church. And then, on January 31, a new door opened.
Earlier that month I had given a presentation to an area leadership group. I decided to read a dozen of my favorite devotions and paired them with items from my collections. The crowd was very gracious, and in the crowd was J.J. Ford, publisher of the news website, Shelby County Today. She asked if I would like to include the Daily Devotions in her site. I had to think long and hard about it - for about half a second - and then answered “Yes!”.
Shelby County Today, and J.J.’s team, does a fantastic job of keeping us up to date on all the goings on in our area. It is one of the strongest “voices” of our community, and during this month of January it has been visited more than 750,000 times. It continues to be my honor, pleasure, and blessing to play a small part in it. Thank you Shelby County Today! And thank you to all who read David’s Daily Devotions. I echo the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:3 - “I thank my God, every time I think of you”.
Meet you back here on Monday,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
January 30, 2025 - There are two passages of scripture that tell us in plain language who we belong to and the price that was paid for us. In I Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul tells us that we are not our own but that we were bought with a price. Then, Peter declares in I Peter 1:18-20 that the price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
We belong to God. Not only did God create us, he redeemed us with the precious blood of his only begotten son. The essential fact of Christianity is that God thought that all men and women were worth the sacrifice of his son. God thought it was worth the life and death of Jesus to bring men and women home to him.
Not only has God redeemed us, he also has preserved us. Whoever we are and wherever we go, God has brought us through the changes and chances of life to the point where we are right now. God has preserved us in danger, upheld us in sorrow, healed us in sickness and cared for us. This life of ours does not belong to us. This life belongs to God. He created us, he preserves and cares for us and he redeemed us. That is why we should use it with reverence and care. You see, this life cost God so much, we dare not waste it. We should declare with every action of our life that we belong to God.
It’s something to think about... tbp
Come join us for worship at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
January 30, 2025 – Good Morning! It’s Thursday, January 30.
We have a good library here in Center, Texas. And there’s a good one nearby in Nacogdoches, too. I hope you frequent the one near where you live. Libraries are a national treasure. Did you know our nation has one? It’s called the Library of Congress. It was started in 1800, but we almost lost it during the War of 1812, when the British burned it to the ground. On January 30, 1815, Thomas Jefferson made available 6000 books from his personal library to restore it. Today the Library of Congress boasts over 170 million books - housed in a structure called the Thomas Jefferson Building. You can visit it in Washington D.C., but unless you’re a high government official, you can’t check anything out. Maybe President Trump would let you use his library card.
Many Americans love books. And we love collecting books. I have about a thousand at my house (I’m no Thomas Jefferson!). I know that you, at the very least, have 66 in your home. The first one’s called “Genesis”, and the last one “Revelation”. The Library of Congress has a Gutenberg Bible and the Jefferson Bible. The British tried to destroy our national library, but it endures. And so does the Word of God.
Isaiah 40:8 - “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever”.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
January 28, 2025 - Come enjoy a Chili, Gumbo & Soup Cook Off this Sunday, February 2nd at 4pm at First Methodist Church in Center.
There will be a Silent Auction and Dessert Auction. The event is open to the public. Taste and Vote is from 4pm to 5:30pm and People's Choice Awards will be announced at 6pm.
Admission is $5 for ages 13 and up and $3 for ages 3 to 12.
January 27, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, January 27.
If you’re over 60 years old, I’ll bet you remember where you were on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. But, do you recall where you were on January 27, 1967? I do. On that day, the astronauts of Apollo 1 were killed as their capsule was engulfed in flames on the test pad. We knew, inherently, that space travel was dangerous. But no other astronauts had died before, and it was a shock to our nation.
I grew up in Houston in the 1960’s. I lived where all the astronauts lived. We thought of them as hometown heroes. So, when Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died that day, it hit us especially hard. Would the quest for the moon continue? Should it continue? How could it continue? These were hard questions that were answered over the next 20 months, when there were no manned space flights. Apollo 7 finally took off in late 1968 and the race did go on. And when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface on that summer night in 1969, he carried with him a patch that read “Apollo 1”. That patch is still there.
And so, we’re reminded that to achieve great things, there must often be great sacrifice. It was a lesson that my father’s generation learned during World War II, a lesson brought home to my generation that day in the winter of my fifth-grade year. And today, as Americans, we’re reminded of the astronaut’s sacrifices every time we look up at the Moon. And, as children of God, we’re reminded of another sacrifice every time we look up at the Cross.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
January 23, 2025 - When we read the “Sermon On The Mount” in Matthew 6:24, we hear Jesus tell us that “no man can serve two masters.” Yet, in spite of that, there are many in our day and time who want to try to serve the Lord and at the same time be a friend of the world with all its baubles. What we need in our day and time is men and women who are ready to forsake all and serve the Lord. Do you remember the words of Joshua in Joshua 24:15? He says to Israel, “choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
In that passage you have the wholehearted commitment of a man devoted to God. A commitment for its value depends on not only its content but the one making the commitment. To be sure, the person making the commitment is the greatest factor. Here we have God’s man, Joshua, making a spiritual alignment.
The days of Joshua were prosperous. He knew the price of winning. We forget God very easily and here we have Joshua saying that God’s way is the only way. God’s way is the only way for a changing world and it is the only way for mankind. In our day and time, with all its uncertainty and with its cares and problems, should we not say with Joshua, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord”?
It’s something to think about... tbp
Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com
January 20, 2025 - A Call to Help Ministries is hosting a Bingo Night at 6pm on Saturday, February 1, 2025. Tickets are $10 and additional cards are $5.
Come enjoy with us. Prizes for each winner. Also enjoy our Hot Coco and Coffee Bar with cookies. A Call to Help Ministries is hosting the Bingo Night at 818 Cotton Ford Road, Center, Texas 75935.
January 20, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, January 20.
On this Inauguration Day, I celebrate eloquence and the power of words. President Thomas Jefferson was eloquent, as was Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. The power of their words continues to stir our hearts and inspire our minds. And on this MLK Day, I share these thoughts, from a man who never held public office, but who most certainly had a way with words.
*Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase.
*That old law about an eye for an eye, leaves everyone blind.
*We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
*The time is always right to do what is right.
*Returning violence for violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
*The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
*Out of the mountain of despair - a stone of hope.
*Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
*I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
January 16, 2025 - In case you haven’t noticed, we are living in a world which is in a hurry. Sometime when you are in Wal-Mart or the Mall, observe how rushed and impatient people seem to be. Notice the furrowed brows, the faces lined with worry and anxiety, the haggard and hurried look. More than anything, notice the tenseness of the people around you. There often seems to be a tension on the verge of hysterics in the very atmosphere. The tempo of our lives has never been faster and the pressure of life has never been more intense than it is now. Truthfully, deep down in our hearts we know there is something fundamentally wrong about all of this and that God did not intend for life to be this way.
Truth be told, most people in our day and time are living life in such a hurry there is not time to even glance at God, much less to spend time contemplating Him. We need to take time. We need to take time to think. Most people are so busy living that they have no time to think about how they are living. Are we living in the will of God? Are we living the kind of life that God wants us to live? If our life is to be what it was meant to be, we need to take time to think.
We must also take time to pray. We need to take the time to speak to God, to tell Him the innermost feelings and longings of our heart. When we take the time to think, to think about God and take the time to pray, really pray and talk to God we will find life to be infinitely more livable and happy.
It’s something to think about... tbp
Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com
January 13, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, January 13.
We begin today with a question. Is your Christmas tree still up? Well, you need to get busy! Seriously, there will be no shaming coming from me. I didn’t take my inside decorations down till last week, and my outside lights are still up. I read on the internet (so it has to be true), that the average American takes their holiday decorations down by January 15. So, good news - you still have two days to become an average American.
I hope that my opening paragraph didn’t cause you any stress. But leaving things undone is one of the causes of stress, as is having too much to do. We find an example of this in the New Testament, exemplified by a woman named Martha. Here is her story, found in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed - indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
And so, Jesus is teaching Martha about the sin of worrying. And He is speaking to her about the need to set proper priorities. Yes, her work - the preparation for Jesus’ visit - was important. But nothing was more important, or would bring greater comfort, than Mary’s priority . . . sitting at the feet of the Master.
A good lesson for the new year.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
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