This past week we celebrated our independence as a country.  Many men and women fought to establish and keep the gift of freedom we share.  We received an email from a friend that stated…remember there are only 2 people who laid down their lives for us - Jesus for our souls, and the American soldier for our freedom!  We are thankful for those who have given us this great privilege, but freedom has a price.  Romans 6: 17-18 speaks of how we are set free from sin but are slaves to righteousness.  We as Christians need to remember even though we enjoy many freedoms in this country, we must remain a slave to righteousness.  It is a very hard concept to teach to our young ones.  It is an attribute that belongs solely to God and Christ (John 17:25), but we receive it through our faith in Him (Phil. 3:9).

What we wish you to consider is though we share great freedom in the U.S., we must remember we are still slaves to our faith.  We must fight every day for Christ and the freedom he provides.  How will anyone know about Christ unless we share the good news of this freedom to others?  We must put our lives as Christians first, and use the freedom we have in this country to show our love for Christ.  Our freedom was bought with a special price.  Let us remember to thank God and show him our love.  America was established through the blood of many.  We need to support our leaders, pray for them and teach our children to respect them.  We are truly blessed to live in this nation and we must not take our freedom for granted.  Let us remember our role as a Christian comes first and be thankful every day for the freedom Christ has given us, which will lead us to the greatest home we could ever live in.  Let freedom ring in our home and in our hearts.

-Karen and Kathy

Pacesetters Trip to Merkel Museum
Friday, July 13th. Special tour by Larry Gill.  Lunch will be served.  Leave Woodlawn parking lot at 9:30 AM. See Bart, Jaylene, Bill or Dolores to sign-up for trip.

Wednesday Evening Classes
Glenn Bailey is teaching a compelling series about issues in the Church of Christ every Wednesday for the Summer.  Please attend these scriptural and informative classes.

Welcome Back
We are happy to have Gary Sanders back in Abilene and back at Woodlawn.  His address is 3750 Ambler, 79603 and his phone number is 676-1567.

Operation Blue Jeans Has Begun!
The Christian Service Center at 901 Mesquite St. is offering a new pair of jeans and a week’s worth of socks and underwear to low-income children in Abilene.  Each child is also offered an age-appropriate children’s Bible.  A limited number of backpacks will also be available.  Please refer families to the Service Center for these items.  We welcome financial gifts to help us pay for the thousands of dollars we’ll spend this year on clothing and school supplies.  For the second year in a row the Diane Graves Owen Foundation will match up to $5,000 for every dollar given to Operation Blue Jeans.
-- Jim Clark, Director

STATISTICS FOR WEEK OF July 1, 2007