Joy in Everyday Living

     For most people and families, the Summertime is a time of relaxation and renewal.  Kids spend carefree day swimming or just hanging out around the house.  Families look forward to vacations.  It’s normally a time we look forward to all year long.

On the other hand, there is the church.  The church also has special events during the summer like youth trips, Vacation Bible School, Water Days, and a plethora of other activities.  But even with all the summer activities, the church is one of those places that many times takes a back burner to all that is going on in our families.  It can even get to the point that causes some “blues” for staff and lay people alike in the church.

I remember moving into a new church one time and being excited about new ministries and all that was ahead.  That kind of fell apart when one of the members told me that they were a pretty going church during the summer and for me just to enjoy my summer and everyting will get going in the Fall.

     It’s hard to get too angry about a statement like that because most churches feel the same way even if they don’t vocalize the words.  But in all the activities, let us not forget the church.  Aside from the normal bills that don’t get to take a summer off, we also need your presence for worship services, bible studies and the like.  We owe it to God to remain faithful .

     So have a great summer.  Enjoy swimming, riding all the new rides at amusement parks and spending time with family.  But in all the hustle and bustle - remember the church with your time, your talents, your gifts and your service.

We have started a new Sunday School Class at Hazlehurst 1st UMC.  The class is aimed at young adults just out of high school who are either in college or working.  Normally this would be ages 18-25.  If you are interested you can call the church office for more info or just come on Sunday morning.  Ken Sellers is the teacher for the class.

You know - I was thinking the other day about the way things are these days.  I read the other day that the Dow Jones has now lowered to 1997 prices.  Real Estate prices in Atlanta have dropped to 2002 levels - and if that’s not bad enough there are 4 cities in the US with even bigger drops.

Some people are complaining because of the digital switch for televisions that were supposed to begin in February - and now because some couldn’t get with the program with the some 5 years of warning it’s been extended to June.  The jury is still out on whether or not that will be extended to infinity to accomodate those that refuse to get with the program.

And don’t get me wrong - I love my television.  I love that I can find something to watch at any time of the day.  When I was a kid we had 3 or 4 channels.  And that’s if the weather was good.  And also - I was the remote control.  I mean - when my father wanted to change the channel he told one of us boys to get up and go change it.  Eventually the knob broke and we had to change the channel with a pair of pliers.

It all got me to thinking about whether or not we as a nation have become a spoiled nation.  I remember a pastor friend I had several years ago that was forced by her church to carry around a beeper.  They wanted to keep in contact with her no matter where she was.  Of course, when a beep did come in she had to stop what she was doing and go find a phone.  Of course, now cell phones have all but eliminated beepers.  Most families have a cell phone for every member of the family.

As late as the early 1980’s we had a rotary phone in our home.  For those of you too young to know what a rotary phone is - that’s where every phone had a dial on it and you had to turn the dial around for each number.  And if you started with one number and your finger slipped before you got that dial all the way around - then you had to hang up and start over.  And if someone was on the phone - then that was just too bad - the only other option was a pay phone down at the 7-11.  If someone was on the phone then you had to do something that most people today don’t even understand the word to anymore - you had to ………………wait!

There’s another thing that today’s generation will never understand.  I have become addicted lately to Facebook.  Some even call it Crackbook because it’s so addictive.  I now regularly talk to or read about people that I haven’t seen in over 25 years.  There are some people who I have actually had to pull out the old yearbooks to see who someone is.  Then I’ll see the picture and think - “oh yeah - he/she was great.”  But today’s generation really has no excuse for losing track of people for such extended times.  Facebook - and other pages like it - will forever keep us linked to each other.  In many ways - that’s not a horrible thing - but will generations to come really know what it means when someone says, “absence makes the heart grow fonder?”

I don’t know - I’m not saying we are spoiled - I’m just posing the question.  I remember a pastor I know in Plains who was talking about “The good ole days.”  He said once that he had lived in the “good ole days” and he preferred running water and indoor toilets.  The world is different and in some cases it’s great - and in others - well not so much.  But the question remains - how will future generations look back on us.  Will they be so spoiled that they think we are humble - or will we be a people who learns to appreciate every day we have as a gift from God.  Will we learn to never take things for granted?  Will we learn that living is not a right - but a privilege?

I went to Savannah yesterday to see Jared and Robin’s new baby.  Jared says things are progressing well with the baby and hopefully they will be home by the weekend.  His name is Caleb and I know that all of us in the church are so excited for them.  Let’s all remember to keep them in our prayers.

It’s funny what sibling rivalry will do.  I was looking at my young brother’s church website this morning and I saw that he has a blog.  And not being afraid to “borrow” an idea from others, here I am starting mine.  There’s no telling what I’ll do with this.  My mother always told me I spoke too much before I thought.  Maybe this is the perfect avenue for me - I can actually give thought to what I want to say before I put it out there.  Who knows - maybe this will be the start of the new church.  We can all put on our Elvis gospel music and read the sermons here. (-; - That’s probably not likely to happen any time soon so I guess I’ll just stick to meandering thoughts - then again - that might not be much different than my sunday morning sermons.

So much for this being “the perfect avenue.”