Eastland eBulletin 8-27-06

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Area Meetings
. September 10-15 - North Madison (IN)
. September 15-16 - Teen's Studies at Mt Washington
. September 17-22 - Overland (Lawrenceburg)

Potpourri
. Remember the kid's bulletin in the foyer.
. Notes for today's sermons are in the literature rack in the foyer. Cloyce
Sutton is today's speaker.
. The September calendar is ready.
. Have you checked the support letters lately? They are on the bulletin
board in the foyer. Take the time to read them and learn about the men we
support in preaching the gospel!

August Duties
. Transportation: Gorick, Crowder
. Lord's Supper: C & M Wilson
. Meals: A Sutton, K Mindel, N Pardue
. Deacon: J Goick
. Usher: E Shields
. Sound: J Norris

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Comforting Confidence
By Reggie Robarts

I used part of this article 10 or so years ago but I think it is worth
repeating. It comes from a bulletin that I saved back in the 6o's that
touched me then and it still does. In fact, in view of the last 10 or so
years, it is even more meaningful to me than it was when I first read it. I
hope it will touch you and that it expresses very simply what we all feel
and what we all hope for.

A preacher who had a weekly radio program received the following letter from
one of his listeners:

Dear Brother,

I live far from the church where you preach, but I am a regular listener to
your program. I really enjoyed your sermon last Sunday when you preached
about heaven. Sixty years ago, when I was a young man of twenty, I laid
claim to a place in that heavenly country. I had sowed my wild oats but the
good rearing of a good mamma and papa took hold and brought me back to where
I should have been. They were simple, uneducated people who never had much
of this world's goods, but who loved the Lord and tried to do right as best
they knew how. They took me and my brothers and sisters to meeting every
Lord's Day, and gathered us around them to read the Bible and pray every
night.

I disappointed them for a few years but thanks be to God that I lived long
enough to come to my senses. They were so proud that Sunday morning in that
little country church when I obeyed the gospel and was baptized into Christ.
It's a credit to them that eventually all my brothers and sisters became
Christians. All these years have passed since that day so long ago, and I
have never had cause to regret the decision I made that day. Mamma and Papa
have long since passed from this life and several of my brothers and sisters
are now gone. The ones who are left are all old like me and the end of their
earthly journey is in sight.

My eyesight grows dimmer with each passing year, but my vision of that
heavenly home grows clearer with every passing day. It's funny how, as the
years to by, your vision grows so much more clearly on some things. You see
how unimportant so many of the things are that you have put so much stock in
during your lifetime. You wish you could go back and invest more time in
things that are eternal, things that are really important, things that last.
Although I have read the words many times over they years, I finally
appreciate what Paul meant when he said, "For we look not at the things that
are seen, but the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are
temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal."

When I was younger I thought it was odd that Paul could say, "I am now ready
to be offered." As I have lived now into the golden years, I feel the same
way. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept
the faith, and there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." My dear
brother I am ready for my crown, it's what I have lived for all my life. I
am looking for the grandest reunion of all, when I meet with all those loved
ones who have gone on before.

I hope I can listen to you next Sunday, the Lord willing, but if not then I
hope I can one day meet you on that beautiful shore.

Your brother in Christ


I could have added "amen" to much of what this brother said in this simple
expression of life and faith. He no doubt has long since "crossed over
Jordan" and taken his place in the bosom of Abraham. I hope one day to join
him and his loved ones when I go to meet my own and what a glorious time
that will be. I cannot imagine anyone living without this hope that makes
living this life worthwhile. Paul puts it so beautifully when he says, "For
I reckon the sufferings of this present time is not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Amen!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.


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Money Does Not Mean Happiness
By Erin Roach (Baptist Press)

The common belief that people who make more money are happier is mostly an
illusion, according to a study appearing in the June 30 issue of the journal
Science.

"People with above-average income are relatively satisfied with their lives
but are barely happier than others in moment-to-moment experience tend to be
more tense, and do not spend more time in particularly enjoyable
activities," the study led by two Princeton University professors found.

Researchers examined data gleaned from a 2004 study and a 2005 study of
working women in Texas and Ohio and discovered that higher income played a
relatively small role in people's daily happiness.

"We argue that people exaggerate the contribution of income to happiness
because they focus, in part, on conventional achievements when evaluating
their life or the lives of others," researchers wrote.

Money does not play a significant role in day-to-day happiness, Alan
Krueger, a professor of economics at Princeton and an author of the study,
told The Washington Post. Though money can purchase possessions, it does not
usually abolish the most basic struggles common to people today - concerns
about children, relationship problems and job stress.

In The Southeast Outlook,
July 13, 2006, p A4

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