Date: 7/18/2010
<br>Author: Devin
<br>Title: Encouragement
<br><br>July 14, 2010<br><br><br>Any amount of encouragement received is like food to the impoverished or water to the thirsty.  I was the recipient recently of a tremendous amount of food for my soul while sitting on a bench outside a grocery store.  A person who I have always had a great deal of respect for pulled me to the side to chat for a few minutes.  And, though I don't think the intended purpose of our conversation was for the benefit of my encouragement, it ended up being that way.  Even though I was already having a very good day, this person brought an extra ray of sunshine into my life that I appreciated far more than they knew.  Well, you know who you are.  I know you receive a copy of the bulletin each week and are probably reading this right now.  I would mention your name but I know you would just as soon me keep your anonymity.  So for today, I will just give you the name Barnabas.  Thank you Barnabas for blessing my life :)<br><br><br>While we are on the topic, a number of encouraging things seem to happen on a revolving door around the good family of God at Fairfield.  On a regular basis we are having new families place membership and others responding to the call of the Lord for baptism and restoration.  Rodney and Sheila, along with Steve & Teresa Craft, continue to do an awesome job with our young people.  There is never a shortage of things for these folks to be involved in.  Rodney is doing a great job of balancing fun and fundamentals in the lives of these young'uns.  Our Honduras mission group returned recently with yet many more stories of lives being changed thousands of miles away.  We are so proud of Sarah Hinson, Terri and Whitney Barber and Nathan Carroll for their servant attitude to so many.  By the way, one of the biggest bits of news on the Honduras trip was the fact that Nathan gave his life to the Lord and was baptized into Christ.  Congrats Nathan and welcome to the Family of God!<br><br><br>Report is that 27 people donated their time and blood this past Monday during the blood drive here  at Fairfield.  We really appreciate the good hearts of so many who serve their fellow man in such a way.  I might also mention that Mrs. Charline Gossett visited with us a couple of weeks ago.  It was very good to see Ms. Charline who was such a blessing and faithful wife to one of our former elders Bro. Edward.  If we will just choose to open our eyes, the Lord places abundant blessings around us on a constant basis.  They come in different forms, but however they come, they are a gift from God.  God bless you all and hope you have a great week!<br><br>Go the extra mile - Devin  <br><br>