Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
While many of you were using your rakes to clean up the leaves in your yard, SIU men’s basketball coach Barry Hinson was using his a foot and a half above the rim to get his team ready for No. 2 Kentucky.
Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.
The light at the end of the budget tunnel is a train that’s picking up speed.
Here’s a link to the editorial at the Southern Illinoisan.
The smoke is clearing tonight for the most expensive mid-term election in American history. The outlines are just becoming visible. The results, it turns out, are confusing.
Here’s a link to the story at Fox News.
A Prayer of Surrender
By Dr. James MacDonald
“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27, NASB).
One of the great hymns we sang two or three times a month in the church where I grew up was the old invitation chorus, “I Surrender All.” But despite all the earnest intentions evoked when you’re with your congregation belting those lyrics from your heart, something’s almost deceptively easy about surrendering our “all” to Jesus. Christians are quick to sign up for the comprehensive, no-holds release of a generic, theoretical “all.” Feels good just saying it. Take it all, God, all of it. I surrender everything to You.
The problem comes when “all” becomes specific. We may be up for surrendering “all” to Him, but perhaps not surrendering . . . this.
· My stuff. How strong of a hold do your possessions have over you? If faced with the loss of something valuable to you, how resistant would you be to living without it?
· My health. How much time do you spend fretting about how long your life is going to last or whether your health is going to hold out? While some of it can obviously be affected by lifestyle choices, many aspects of what’s to come in our medical histories are beyond our control. With how much faith, grace, and gratitude could you surrender to the ordeals of walking through a health scare or trial?
· My family. We generally understand the idea that our spouse, children, and grandchildren belong to God, not to us. But what if His plan for them should conflict with our own desires and expectations for these precious individuals, or for how we wish the dynamics of our relationship to continue?
See? That’s harder . . . when the surrender is specific, when it’s not an abstract all, but a concrete this.
Like when Christ—in the days immediately preceding His arrest, torture, and eventual death on the cross—saw the sun of His suffering begin to rise above the horizon of His thoughts. In seeing it, He could feel the full weight of what His atoning death would cost. No wonder He was “troubled”—even as the Son of God. Yet what did He do with the anguish, anxiety, and horror of the situation?
He surrendered. He surrendered Himself to the Father’s will and purpose. And in doing so, He left us an example, that we might “follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21, ESV). When everything inside you is saying you can’t do thisor get through it—“Please, Lord, get me out of this!”—observe the Second Person of the Trinity silhouetted against the God-darkened sky late on a Friday afternoon, and behold what can be accomplished for God’s glory and purpose through a single individual who not only surrenders everything from a distance, but surrenders one specific thing at close range.
Pray:
Lord God, thank You for showing us the ultimate example of what surrender truly is, through the gift of Your Son, and through the surrender of His life for our sins. You’ve called me to surrender my all as well, and You’ve heard me say that’s what I intend to do. Help me put my zeal into practice—even when surrender has a name and a face and a measurable cost. I surrender all, and especially that one thing, trusting in the name of the One who surrendered all for me, Amen.
by Rick Warren
“I am not trying to do what I want, but only what [my Father] who sent me wants” (John 5:30 GNT).
If God can’t please every person, it’s foolish for us to try.
If you don’t know whose approval you’re living for, stress will always follow you.
Jesus models this for us. I’ve been sharing with you Jesus’ seven principles of handling stress. Yesterday, I discussed the Principle of Identification.
Next is the Principle of Motivation. You must know what (and more importantly, whose approval), you’re living for.
Jesus showed us this in John 5:30 when he said: “I am not trying to do what I want, but only what [my Father] who sent me wants” (GNT).
Jesus wasn’t trying to win a popularity contest. He lived for an audience of one. He had a simple life in many ways. He just did what God put him on Earth to do.
Jesus never let approval or rejection of others control him. It’s part of the reason he lived without stress.
In fact, Jesus reminds us in Luke 16:13, “No one can serve two masters” (NLT). You can’t live for the approval of others and live for God’s approval at the same time.
Whose approval are you living for?
As a result of Tuesday’s election, a new county clerk, state’s attorney and sheriff will join the incumbent treasurer as office holders in Saline County.
Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.
In addition to giving Illinois a new governor, Tuesday’s election gave Illinois a new political balance.
Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.
Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that dealing with the state’s financial problems will be a top priority.
Here’s a link to the story at Illinois News Network.
INA, Ill. – Rend Lake College Radiologic Technology students celebrate National Radiologic Technology Week (NRTW) by delivering cookie cakes to area hospitals. The sweet treats are a thank you from the students to their clinical sites for the hands-on training they receive throughout the semester.
NRTW is celebrated annually during the week of Nov. 8 to commemorate the discovery of the x-ray by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen on that date in 1895. The week-long celebration calls attention to the important role medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals play in patient care and health care safety.
Pictured are second-year Rad Tech students. They are, FRONT ROW, FROM LEFT, Rachel Buretta (Bluford), Madalyn Toombs (Energy), Jessie Chandler (Marion), Jade Garner (West Frankfort), Brooke Akers (Christopher), and Cathy Graves (Galatia); BACK ROW, Hayden Jones (Mt. Vernon), Blake Johnson (Marion), Jessica Roberts (Opdyke), Claudia Spotanski (Ashley), Jayme McDonald (Murphysboro), Paige Rich (Johnston City), Megan Purdie (Benton), Hillary Ingram (McLeansboro), Charles Adelsberger (Herrin), Jamie Droge (Murphysboro), Jamie Veach (Carbondale), Justin Restoff (Pinckneyville), Dustin Engelhardt (Pinckneyville), and Brady Louis (Pinckneyville).
(RLC Public Information)
