Welcome, October

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 “The skies they were ashen and sober;        The leaves they were crispéd and sere—        The leaves they were withering and sere;  It was night in the lonesome October        Of my most immemorial year;  It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,        In the misty mid region of Weir—  It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,        In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.” (First stanza of “Ulalume” by Edgar Allen Poe)

Hope and Change

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Some thoughts from my friend, Dr. John Williamson at the First Baptist Church of Ridgeway,
SC:

"Last Tuesday, our nation inaugurated a new president amid shouts of 'hope' and 'change.' I don't mean to sound cynical, but didn't we hear this before about two years ago, and two years before that, etc. Any candidate wins an election by promising hope and change. No one has ever
run on a platform of: 'Let's keep everything just like it is.'

For the Christian, our hope for change is not found in any human political leader as well intended as he or she may be. Our hope is in the Returning Lord, 'Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence' (I Peter 3:15).

I'm also very glad that our God never changes. 'I the LORD do not change' (Malachi 3:6). Whatever He was; He still is! Whatever He said, He'll still fulfills."

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