Upcoming Events Upcoming Events CalendarCalendar

Mark your calendar...
On Saturday, July 18th the Seasoned Saints will carpool from the church at 10:30am and drive to
Melbourne for a dutch treat lunch at Meg O'Malley's. Lunch reservations are for 11:30am. The menu
includes salads, sandwiches and burgers, along with traditional Irish pub fare of Irish Stew, Bangers
& Mash, Paddy's Pot Pie and Corned Beef & Cabbage. RSVPs are requested because we have to
make a group reservation. After lunch, the group may check out some of the shops in the area
before driving home.
To RSVP for these events please call or email Linda Huett at 407-791-7025 (linann@usa.com).
Upcoming Events
Calendar
Seasoned Saints Luncheons cancelled
until further notice. Any questions call
the church office at 407-892-7125.
July 18
Lunch at Meg O'Malley's
10:30am carpool from church
July 26
Communion and Missions Offering
Ongoing Events
Calendar
First Friday 10 - 4 Ministry
July 3
St. Cloud Police Department
Dress a Girl
Resumes in the Fall!
9:30am in D - 104
1717 13th Street
St. Cloud, FL 34769
As God adds years to your life, ask that he would add life to your years!
The Newsletter First Baptist Church of St. Cloud
July 2015 | The Senior Ministry
The Seasoned Saints
Sentinel
Jim’s Jottings
What is your name? Over the last 45 days, I have been asked many times for my full name. Each time I would say, “My name
is James Herbert White, Jr.” That is the normal response when someone asks for our name. But I want us to look at that
question a bit deeper. Allow me to give you an appropriate backdrop for our thinking. I recently had surgery that required postsurgical rehabilitation. As many of you probably know, I spent 32 days at Plantation Bay doing both physical and occupational
therapy with the hope to increase my ability to walk and to carry out basic daily activities. Twice a day, sometimes VERY early
in the morning, the therapists would come and wake me to go for therapy. Let me tell you, they did not go easy on me, not even
once. There were days that I came back to my room after the second therapy and all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep.
They worked me very hard!
But do you know what else they did? They encouraged me. There were more days than I want to admit when I did not feel like I
was making much progress. But no matter what happened at the end of each therapy session they spoke words of encouragement
to me.
“Mr. White, that was very good”
“ You did that very well!”
“Mr. White, you walked further today than you’ve ever walked!”
“You aced that exercise!”
And on and on…….
Then there was the day when I was feeling particularly down about my progress. My OT therapist, Ken, could tell that I was
disappointed in my slow progress and he stopped in the middle of the exercise and almost shouted at me, “Mr. White, do you
know how much progress you have made since your first day here? You are doing VERY well!” I needed to hear that. I needed
that encouragement. And at that moment, he could not have said anything more powerful than that to me. In Acts 4, Luke
introduces us to a man whose name was Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus. Interestingly, the apostles changed his name. They called
him Barnabas! Why would they do that? Barnabas means “son of encouragement”. Joseph was an encourager! In this
particular instance he sold a piece of his property and brought the money from that sale to the apostles so they could use it to
spread the gospel. What an encouragement that must have been for them!!
STOP HERE!! Read Philippians 2:1-9 before you read the last paragraph.
The reality is, we come into contact with persons almost every day who need a word of encouragement. When is the last time
you spoke a word of encouragement to someone? When was the last time you met someone’s need by an act of kindness that
became an encouragement to someone? We can all be Barnabas. We can all be sons (or daughters) of encouragement!
Encourage someone today. It may be exactly what they need…..it may be exactly what YOU need!
In Him, Jim White