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Hours of Operation
The
Child Care Center
is designed for children between the ages of
2 to 5.
We are
open
Monday - Friday from
7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information about our facility,
please call us at
(941) 484-4415.
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| It Depends
Whose Hands It's In |
This was part of a sermon by Kenneth
Ulmer at Promise Keepers in Dallas,
Texas. During
the introduction to the speech he discusses putting your
marriage
or whatever is troubling
you in God’s hands, and he closes with the following
statement: |
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A basketball in my hands is
worth about $19.
A basketball in Michael Jordan’s hands is worth about $33
million.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Mark McGuire’s hands is worth $19 million.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Pete Sampras’ hands
is a Wimbledon Championship.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy.
A sling shot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands
is a couple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God’s hands will feed
thousands.
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce
Salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it’s in. |
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As you see now, it depends whose hands
it’s in. So put your concerns, your worries,
your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your
relationships in God’s
hands because it depends whose hands it’s in. |
Jesus Saves
Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who
managed to get
the most
out of his computer. This had been going on for days and God was
tired
of hearing all of
the bickering. God said, “Cool it. I am going to set up a
test that
will run two hours and I
will judge who does the better job.”
So down Jesus and Satan sat at the keyboards and typed away.
They moused
away.
They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They sent faxes. They
sent
e-mail. They
sent out e-mail with attachments. They downloaded. They did some
genealogy reports.
They made cards. They did every known job.
But just a few minutes before the two hours were up, a
lightening bolt flashed
across the
sky. The thunder rolled and the rains came down hard. And of
course
the electricity went
off. Satan was furious. He fumed and fussed and he ranted
and raved. All to no avail.
The electricity stayed off. But, after a bit, the rains
stopped
and the electricity came
back on. Satan screamed, “I lost it all when
the power went off.
What am I going to
do? What happened to Jesus’ work?”
Jesus just sat and smiled. Again Satan asked about the work that
Jesus had
done. As
Jesus turned his computer back on, the screen glowed and when he
pushed “print” it
was all there. “How did he do it?” Satan asked. God
smiled
and said, “Jesus Saves.”
~ Author Unknown ~ |
Just Checking In
A minister passing through the church in the middle of the day,
decided to pause
by the
altar and see who had come to pray, just then the back door
opened, a man
came down
the aisle, the minister watched as he saw the man hadn’t shaved
in a
while. His shirt was
kinda shabby and his coat was worn and frayed. The man knelt,
he
bowed his head, then
rose and walked away. In the days that followed, each
noontime
came this chap, each
time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his
lap.
The old man said he worked down the road. Lunchtime was half an
hour. Lunchtime
was
his prayer time, for finding strength and power. “I stay only
moments, see,
because the
factory is so far away; as I kneel here talking to the Lord,
this is kinda
what I say:
“I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE
WE
FOUND EACH OTHER’S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON’T
KNOW MUCH OF TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO JESUS,
THIS IS JIM, CHECKING IN.”
The minister feeling gladness told Jim that was fine. He told
the man he was welcome
to
come and pray just anytime. Time to go, Jim smiled and said,
“Thanks.” He hurried
to the
door. The minister knelt at the altar as he’d done many times
before. His glad
heart melted, warmed with love, and met with
Jesus there. As the tears flowed in his
heart, he repeated
old Jim’s prayer.
“I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I’VE BEEN, SINCE
WE
FOUND EACH OTHER’S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON’T
KNOW MUCH OF TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO JESUS,
THIS IS ME, CHECKING IN.”
Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn’t
come. As more days
passed
without Jim, he began to worry some. At the factory, he asked
about him,
learning he was
ill. The hospital staff was worried, but he’d given them a
thrill.
The week that Jim was with
them, brought changes in the ward. His smiles -- a
joy
contagious. Changed people were
his reward. The head nurse couldn’t
understand why Jim was so
glad, when no flowers,
calls or cards came, not a
visitor he had.
The minister stayed by his bed and he voiced the nurse’s
concern: No friends came
to show they cared. He had nowhere to
turn. Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up
and with a winsome
smile said, “The nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know that in
here
all the while everyday at noon He’s here, a dear friend of
mine, you see. He sits
right down, takes my hand, leans
over and says to me:
“I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM, HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN,
SINCE WE
FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN. ALWAYS LOVE TO
HEAR YOU PRAY, I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, AND SO JIM, THIS IS
JESUS
CHECKING IN.”
~ Author Unknown ~ |
Keep the Fork |
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The sound of Martha’s voice on the other end
of the telephone always brought a smile
to
Brother Jim’s face. She was not only one of the oldest members
of the congregation,
but
one of the most faithful. Aunt Martie, as all the children
called her, just seemed to
ooze
faith, hope and love wherever she went.
This time, however, there seemed to be an unusual tone to her
words. “Preacher,
could
you stop by this afternoon? I need to talk with you.” “Of
course. I’ll be there
around three.
Is that okay?”
As they sat facing each other in the quiet of her small living
room, Jim learned the
reason
for what he sensed in her voice. Martha shared the news that her
doctor
had just discovered
a previously undetected tumor.
“He says I probably have six months to live.” Martha’s words
were certainly serious,
yet
there was a definite calm about her.
“I’m so sorry to…” but before Jim could finish, Martha
interrupted. “Don’t be. The
Lord
has been good. I have lived a long life. I’m ready to go. You
know that.”
“I know,” Jim whispered with a reassuring nod. “But I do want to
talk with you about
my
funeral. I have been thinking about it, and there are things
that I know I want.”
The two talked quietly for a long time. They talked about
Martha’s favorite hymns,
the
passages of Scripture that had meant so much to her through the
years, and
the many memories they shared from the five years Jim
had been with Central
Church.
When it seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt
Martie paused,
looked
up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added, “One more
thing,
preacher. When they
bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in
the
other.”
“A fork?” Jim was sure he had heard everything, but this caught
him by surprise.
“Why do
you want to be buried with a fork?”
“I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and
banquets that I attended
through
the years,” she explained. “I couldn’t begin to count them all.
But one thing
sticks in my
mind. At those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was
almost
finished a server or
maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes.
I
can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody
would lean
over my shoulder and whisper,
‘You can keep your fork.’ And do you know what
that meant?
Dessert was coming!
It didn’t mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice
cream. You don’t
need a
fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or
cherry pie!
When they told me
I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come! That’s
exactly what I want people
to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all
the
good times we had together.
That would be nice.
But, when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue
dress, I want them to
turn to
one another and say, ‘Why the fork?’ That’s what I want you to
say. I want
you to tell them
that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come.”
~ Roger William Thomas ~ |
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Always live a righteous life
even if
you're the only one; it will be noticed.
Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
Stay fit. When you're 600 years old,
someone might ask you
to do
something REALLY big.
Don't listen to critics - do what has to be done.
Listen to what God tells you - your life depends on it.
Put action to your faith. Noah could have believed God,
yet
still drowned
if he hadn't built the ark.
Finish what you start.
Two heads are better than one.
Speed isn't always an advantage.
The cheetahs were on board,
but
so were the snails.
Don't forget that we're all in the same boat.
Remember that the ark was built by amateurs
and the Titanic by
professionals.
Remember that the woodpeckers INSIDE
can be
a bigger threat than
the storm outside.
Don't miss the boat.
Have patience! The ark wasn't built in a year.
The flood wasn't
finished in 40 days & 40 nights.
If God is with you no matter how bleak it looks,
there's always
a rainbow at the end.
When God has brought you safely through the storm,
don't forget
to praise and thank Him.
~ Author Unknown ~
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