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Local garbage service company stays strong after office fire

ART AFTER DARK

Austin Doolittle III, 84, of Austin, passed away Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. He was born Jan. 9, 1940, in Longview, to Austin Doolittle Jr. and Alice Dickerson Doolittle.

Matthew Crandall, 27, of Elgin, passed away Tuesday morning, Jan. 23, 2024.

Margarito Gonzalez Rodriguez, 33, of Elgin, passed away Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 23, 2024.

Valencia Ronette Hatch, 53, of Taylor, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024.

Janakiraman Swaminathan, 88, of Leander, passed away Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Frances Sotelo, 91, of Elgin, passed away Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 23, 2024.

James Lee Kanada, 85, of Bastrop passed away Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

John Penny, 76, of Mc-Dade, passed away Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

Edward Lee Sewell, 80, of Elgin, passed away Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.

God has given us the New Testament to bring us to faith in Christ, and then to teach Christ’s disciples about life in His Kingdom. We are Christ’s disciples because we have been baptized into His Kingdom, and we remain His disciples throughout our lives by continuing to hear Christ’s Word and receive His sacraments for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith in Him. As His disciples, we have received the gracious promise from Jesus, “Behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), so we can confess, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Psalm 46:13). Come what may, we have nothing to fear. But as sinners, we do fear the changes and challenges of life, and we lose hope, just as the earliest disciples did in Matthew 8:23-27.