Kirby Pines Retirement Community | The Pinecone

The Pinecone | January 2026 • 9 • Reflections By Maxie Dunnam January Vesper Services 6:30pm | Performing Arts Center Christians and scholars of the Apostle, Paul's thought are agreed that the phrase "In Christ" is the central category of Paul's thinking. In Colossians 2:6, Paul said, "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in Him." The King James Version has that, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." To be a believer is the identifying fact of one's being a Christian. But the primary aspect of our total existence as Christians is to be in Christ, his body in the world. Being in Christ is more than just another way of talking about the Christian experience; it is the definitive word. To be in Christ is to have our status in the very life of God. It is to live a God- centered existence. We can be in the church the way we normally perceive that without being in Christ. People who are in Christ - and in the church in the truest sense of the word - are people who organize and determine all their attitudes and actions from their new center - Jesus Christ. As we walk into this new year may our walking powerfully reflect our being in Christ . BEING AND LIVING IN CHRIST January 1: No Vespers HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! January 8: Rev Gus Schroeder Central Church, Collierville January 15: Rev Dave Phillips Germantown Church of Christ January 22: Rev Tommy Vinson Tommy Vinson Ministries January 29: Ronnie Stevens Lay Speaker, Harvest Church In 2001 my husband Jack and I went to Hawaii with eight other couples. All went well until we got to San Francisco where we were to change planes and continue to Honolulu. After a reasonable wait in San Francisco, we loaded up to continue to Honolulu. We had left the gate and were sitting on the runway when the pilot announced we were returning to the gate. Another pilot who was leaving just before us had spotted smoke coming from one of our engines. We were really glad that we were not about to crash into the Pacific Ocean, so we settled down to see what was next. The airport was extremely cold and nobody brought anything warm to wear since we were going to the tropics. Some of the women bought very expensive sweatshirts to get warm. The airline did provide us with food vouchers. Nine hours later we headed out again. We had lost a full day of our vacation in that frigid airport. When we finally arrived in Honolulu, it was the middle of the night. There were no pretty girls placing leis on travelers. We found transportation to our hotel. By that time it was about 4:00 in the morning. A bus was to pick us up at 7:00 for an excursion to Pearl Harbor. Most of the rest of our trip was great. We did have a second problem when our plane from Maui to Honolulu was very late. We had to literally run through the Honolulu airport to get the last seats on the plane to the mainland. One good thing did happen. Because of the nine hour layover as we were headed to Hawaii and we lost a day of our vacation, each of us received a voucher for a free future trip. The wait was so long because the airline had a plane full of unhappy passengers and no available plane or crew. They had to call in a crew and a plane from Minneapolis. Then they had to fly to San Francisco where we were waiting. That is why we lost a full day of our trip. One of those couples went with Jack and me the next year to Washington D.C. where we toured historical places from Richmond to Gettysburg along with Washington itself. Returning to Memphis, that trip was overbooked so we gave up our seats. We were getting to be old hands at waiting. Those free tickets got us to California the next year with the same friends. The exhausting wait in San Francisco proved to be worth it. TOPIC: Write a poem or story about An Interrupted Vacation Story by Marilyn McCormick Poetry & Writing Club JOIN THE CLUB January 5th at 9:30 am in the LCR AN INTERRUPTED VACATION MarilynMcCormick As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. COLOSSIANS 2:6-7