Local Church Calendar

Monday pm - Youth and Adult Bible Study

Sunday 10:30 am - Worship Service pm - Howe home group Bible Study

Times are subject to change

Please check with each church for any possible changes

Genealogy Class to meet at library

Are you interested in knowing who your ancestors are? The Genalogy Club will meet in Howe Community Library every Wednesday afternoon until the end of March from 1 pm to 4 pm The remaining dates are March 8, March 15, March 22, and March 29 Everyone is welcome

Last Sunday at the church I pastor, First Baptist here in town, they surprised me during our morning services by honoring me for being their Pastor for 25 years One of the more meaningful things they did for me was to show (a rather long) video with different people saying something really nice about me I ended the day with my heart full of joy and thanksgiving But I began to think about that and realized that thanksgiving is not to stay on our heart, but it is to be expressed So in this week’s article, I would like to talk a little bit about expressing our thankfulness

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you ” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) There are a couple of things that stand out about these verses Like the phrase “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you ” The Bible phrase, “the will of God” simply means the things that God wants us to do I know that people sometimes struggle with the “will of God” for their life They want to know what God wants them to do as an occupation, who He wants them to marry, where He want to go to school and so on I always try to point out that if we will do the thing things we know God wants us to do (His will) then God will show us the things we don’t know that He wants us to do

By being thankful, we know that this is something each of us can do and know that God wants us to do it So being a thankful person is something God wants us to do, it is His will and therefore, we know God is pleased with us when we do it

But here is the kicker the verse says to “give thanks in all circumstances ” All circumstances is a hard pill to swallow! If God had said “give thanks

Monday, March 6, 2017

Faithin some circumstances” we would be okay Or if God had said to “give thanks in most circumstances” I still think we would be okay But God tells to “give thanks in all circumstances ” How in the world can we do that?

Let me suggest the obvious, we can “give thanks in all circumstances” by giving thanks in all circumstances It may help us to understand that nowhere in the Bible are we to “feel” thankful We are to “be” thankful and we are to “give” thanks

Being thankful is something, I believe, we grow into For example, you hear baby crying and you know the baby is hungry So you feed them a bottle After finishing the bottle, a baby doesn’t look up at you and say, “Much obliged” do they? As our children grow, we have to teach them to be thankful Being thankful is not something that naturally comes You have to almost force children at times to say "thank you " One lady gave her little grandson a piece of cake, and the little boy said, "Thank you " She said, "I love to hear little boys say thank you " He said, "Well, if you'll put ice cream on this cake I'll say it again "

So allow me to give you two things that you can be thankful for in “all circumstances ”

Number one, we can be thankful for God’s blessings in our life Do you thank God for the blessings of life; just the simple everyday blessings?

For example, food; do you thank God for your daily bread? Did you know that two-thirds of the world goes to bed hungry every night One-third of the world is underfed and one-third of the world is starving In fact, thirty people starve to death every minute, and we complain about having dirty dishes I say, “Thank God for dirty dishes!” Maybe at your next meal you might give God a “thank you” for the food He has provided

Perhaps we thank God for food, but do how about our water? I read that only 3 percent of the water in this world is fit to drink That only onethird of one percent of the world's water is available to drink, and most of that clean water is right here in the United States of America? Over onehalf of the world has no access to pure drinking water

So here’s a good start, thank God for the simple blessings in your life

Here’s the second thing we can be thankful for in “all circumstances ” We can each be thankful for God’s benefits in our life Psalm 103:2 says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits "

Do you ever thank God for the benefit of living on God's green earth? Aren't you glad that you don't have to pay taxes on sunlight? Aren't you grateful that the air that we breathe is free; that we don't have to pay an admission to see a sunset or to hear a bird sing or to smell a rose?

One of the greatest benefits we have in Howe Texas is living in Howe Texas! I believe each of us should regularly thank God for the benefits of just living in America? So often we gripe about going to work, fighting the Dallas traffic, having to put up with a nasty boss, having to pay taxes Well, the next time you gripe about your life in America, you should think about this In Russia, a man has to work one hour to earn a loaf of bread In America he works only six minutes For a quart of milk, the average Russian works one hour and eleven minutes; an American works nine minutes For a suit of clothes, the Russian must work 583 hours; the American works 38 hours For a plain cotton dress the Russian works 225 hours; an American works four hours

Rudyard Kipling was a great British

Hall of Honor

poet and writer One day a newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over $100 a word " Mr Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, I certainly wasn't aware of that " The reporter cynically reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to Kipling and said, "Here's a $100 bill Mr Kipling Now you give me one of your $100 words " Kipling looked at that $100 bill for a moment, took it and folded it up and put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks " continued from page 2

Well the word "thanks" is certainly a $100 word In fact, I would say it is more like a million-dollar word That is one word that is too seldom heard, too rarely spoken, and too often forgotten If any nation ought to be thankful to God, it ought to be America And if anyone in America ought to be thankful to God, it ought to be you and I, the good people living in the great area!

While owning two downtown buildings, he also operated Allied Office Supply until his retirement in 1989

Gayle Skipworth, first time nominee, was an elementary teacher at Howe for five decades and influenced thousands of students She was Teacher of the Month countless times and Teacher of the Year many many times over including the year of her retirement in 2015 While a teacher, she paired to form a great team with the love of her life Tommy Skipworth, who was a coach and middle school principal for many years at Howe ISD It's hard to imagine one without the other and recognition for one is recognition for both

Leon Thornhill, first time nominee, served as the Friday Night Voice of Howe for four decades by public address announcing varsity football games from Bulldog Stadium Thornhill was elected many times to serve on the Howe ISD Board of Trustees from 1967-1979. He is a 50 plus year member of the First Baptist Church of Howe where he is active in Men's Prayer Breakfast, Men's Sunday School Class and Choir. He was a member of the Howe Masonic

Lodge

Harold Taylor, first time nominee, is the former Post Master of Howe where he served that role for many years Taylor was an active member of the Howe Lions Club and was named the Norma J Wallace Citizen of the Year in 1997 Taylor was very active in Troop 45 leadership in Howe Scouts

Ricky Ake, frist time nominee, has been on the sidelines of Howe football games since 1988 This football season will be his 30th with the team which is longer than anyone has been associated with the football program in Howe Ake also breathed life into the Howe Youth Baseball organization during critical years and helped oversee that volunteer group for the betterment of the youth of Howe

Artie Stockton, first time nominee, was a member of the first graduating class of Howe in 1908 She then went on to become a teacher for Howe and then a business owner of Stockton Drug Co with her husband George Stockton After his death, she became the sole owner Mrs Stockton played a prominent role in the formation of Howe