On Sunday morning the attendance was good with visitors. We pray they received a blessing by being with us today on Homecoming. The service was opened with “Surely, the Presence of the Lord is in this Place.� The choir’s special, “That’s why we Praise Him.� Special music was “I Bowed on my knees and cried Holy,�by Annette Duren. Bro. Ron’s message, “Three Imperatives Must Happen to Have Salvation,� John 3 and other scriptures. Ye must be born again, the Son of man must be lifted up and He must increase but I must decrease. Nicodemus lived a good life but he needed Jesus; he knew about the miracles of God; he kept asking questions; he knew Jesus had the answers and he wanted his eyes opened to the truth; one has to be willing to come to the place where we say to God we need more of you. After the service the Homecoming Day meal was held in the Family Life Center. A large attendance was present and enjoyed the food and fellowship together.

On Sunday night I attended the AWANA Awards Service at Centennial Baptist Church.

Brownwood Brotherhood will be having breakfast on Sunday morning, August 12 at 7:30 a.m.

Julie Phillips, Ansley Shultz and Rachel Wood had supper with Margie Ward Thursday night.

Millie McNair, Norma Young and Margie Ward were among the Morgan County School Cafeteria workers that traveled to Fairburn on Thursday to tour the USP Food Service Warehouse. On the way home we stopped at the Golden Corral in Conyers for lunch.

Those visiting Jodie Harrison and Ann Harrison during the week were Gene West, Billy Phillips, Carrie Knight, Eric, Peyton, Ella and Anna Ulrich and Jerry Studdard.

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Zach Wood visited Margie Ward on Friday night.

Next Sunday, August 12, Centennial Baptist Church will be celebrating Homecoming and its 131 years of ministry in their community. Please join them for the services at 8:30 a.m. or 11 a.m., fellowship and a meal afterwards. They look forward to a full house.

There’s going to be a new Ladies Bible Study beginning Tuesday, September 4 at Centennial Baptist Church from 9:30 a.m. â€" 11:30 a.m. The study will be “Discerning the Voice of God,â€� by Priscilla Shirer. This is a seven-week study! Please call Rhonda Duren at 770-385-0648 if you have more questions or to sign up. The deadline to register is August 19. You may also call the church at 706-557-2120.

God and the Spider

During World War II a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific Island. The fighting had been intense and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited he prayed, “Lord if it be your will please protect me. Whatever your will though I love you and trust you. Amen.�

After praying he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one.� Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.“Hah,� he thought, “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.�

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however after glancing in the direction of his cave they moved on. Suddenly he realized that with the spider web over the entrance his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while.

“Lord, forgive me,� prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall.�

We all face times of great trouble. When we do it is so easy to forget what God can work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. And remember with God a mere spider’s web becomes a brick wall of protection.

Lord, I thank you for all our Military and their families. I pray for your brick wall of protection to protect them everyday! AmenÂ