• August 9, 2025 - Frontier Texas (Legends, History, Adventure). Abilene, TX
• The bus will leave at 8:30am from the GMBC Education entrance and return mid afternoon. Lunch will be in Abilene, TX.

• October 4, 2025 - Mills Trade Day, Mills, TX.
• The bus will leave at 8:30am from the GMBC Education entrance. Lunch will be in Mills.

Earnest and the devil

Over the years I’ve heard lots of stories of different people that fought with the devil. Charlie Daniels sang a song about a boy named Johnny that had a fiddle contest with the devil and won a golden fiddle. I want to talk about Earnest and the devil. A lot of the time when we pray, we follow some kind of pattern or prayer guide. I have a list of people and groups that I pray over. I have come to realize that a lot of time, I simply go down the list reciting the name or group and ask God to bless or guide that person or group. I forgot about Earnest. Earnest has a real conversation with God and doesn’t recite a list. Earnest prays form the heart. Earnest doesn’t care about the list, it’s about what the Holy Spirit is leading the soul to be concerned about at the time. Christ gave us instructions on how to pray:

Mat 6: 8-13 – Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (KJV)

This is a good starting point and gets us in the right mood to really pray about what is on our heart.

Now is the time to let Earnest take over and really have a conversation with God. I don’t think God wants us reciting a list or any kind of formal prayer. I believe that God wants to hear what is on our hearts. That is where Earnest comes in. When we listen to our hearts and lift those thoughts to God, we are being Earnest. Earnest makes the devil shudder and flee.

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. Calling, “Oh, sinner, come home.”

James Lively

Faith, Fun, and a few laughs

Sending a kid to college is sort of like a do-it-yourself recession.

Exercise is good for you. So is laughing and you don’t have to ask the doctor before you start.

The achiever never knows whether he is succeeding or failing, only that he has not finished.

The plumber finished repairing the basement pipes, and told the lady of the house, “You can avoid future trouble by doing one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Hide your husband’s wrenches.”

Grace

Someone once said that grace can be defined as “an undeserved favor.”

Unfortunately, in this every-man-for-himself-world in which we live, grace is an attribute that is slowly, but surely, dying on the vine.

Here are some simple ways we can all practice being gracious to others:

The next time it snows, take the time to shovel the widow lady’s drive-way next door.

When a friend has lost a loved one, take them a meal, give them a call or offer your shoulder to cry on.

Take $20 out of your food budget each week, and take some canned goods down to the local food bank.

Consider giving your kids that famous second, second chance.

Don’t always fight to have the last word in an argument.

Becoming gracious to others really isn’t that tough. All you have to do is be tender-hearted by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.

You might be saying to yourself, “They don’t deserve it!” But you know what? None of us do. That’s why they call it grace.

kids

On the first day of school, the Kindergarten teacher said, “If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers.” A little voice from the back of the room asked, “How will that help?"

I've learned - That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

I've learned - That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his or her little fist, that you're hooked for life.

I've learned - That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

I've learned - That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

faith and freedom

On the day we all think about the founding fathers and what they gave up securing the freedom that we enjoy today. My mind is also drawn to the many men and women that have given their all to preserve these freedoms. Do we deserve them and are we doing all that we can to make sure that they are around for future generations.

The Prophets of the Old Testament prayed for the freedom of their people and most of the time the answer that God gave them was an answer that was to take place in the distant future.

Hab 2: 2-4 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plan upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk was told that “The just shall live by Faith”. Our Faith is what carries us through the hard times and our Faith in God is really the only thing that we can depend on.

When times are good and the going is easy, we tend to forget about Faith and just coast along, letting life take us wherever it will. It is when the going gets tough that we always cry out to God and wonder why things are happening the way that they are. God doesn’t make our life hard, but he uses the hard times to strengthen out faith and help us to grow in him.

Always pray for help in the hard times, but when it doesn’t come immediately, don’t get discouraged. The prophets of old, prayed for relief of their trials and the answer was shown to come many generations in the future. They didn’t live to see their relief, but it didn’t diminish their faith.

Trust God and remember the ones that have paid their sacrifice to ensure freedom for us today.

"And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me

And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land

God bless the USA" (Lee Greenwood)

James Lively