Summer Is Here

It seems as if summer has just started and yet we are halfway through the official summer break from school. The meteorological start of summer is June 21st which coincides with the longest day of the year. More specifically the longest day of daylight and if you haven’t noticed the minutes of daylight have slowly been reducing. The total amount of daylight hours is not real noticeable day to day, but by the end of summer (officially September 21st) it’s 50/50! 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Even though were only 30 days through summer, for those of us who live in northwest Wisconsin, we hold on tight to summer, it truly is a precious commodity! I personally want to hold onto as many great days as possible, as I write this article it is spectacular outside! (It’s 2pm on Thursday, 80° and very low humidity.) August is only 15 days away and soon will be seeing the “back to school” advertising, with all the new fashions and supplies kids will want for this upcoming school year. Enough about school….let’s focus our attention back on summer and vacation. Prayerfully consider how you can be involved with our upcoming VBS. Our theme this year is: ROAR – When Life Gets Wild God Is Good! August 11th through the 15th, everything starts with supper at 5:30pm. I’m believing for a number of children participating from within our church and the surrounding communities. Diane Kangas and her group of volunteers (which hopefully you are part of the team) have great plans to make this year’s VBS a huge success. A number of animal props have already been constructed and decorating with colorful paints is the current focus. It takes lots of hours behind the scenes getting ready for this ministry outreach to children. Part of our focus will always be the next generation. Yes, we believe and we preach the imminent return of the Lord Jesus, yet we continue to prepare for future generations of soul-winners. No one knows the day or the hour when Christ will return, so we keep our hand to the plow! Specifically we keep digging up the ground for children and VBS is one of our tools. We need volunteers, even if for one day, two days, setting up VBS, during VBS, cleanup after VBS, whatever you can do will be a huge help. Summer will inevitably come to a close, until then, we (especially school age kids) want to stretch it out as far as we can. When they think back to the summer of 2019 and VBS, their daily experiences with us need to be memorable, a time of great fun but more importantly a time of spiritual growth. I still remember as a young boy singing songs like, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”. In a very healthy way it seared into my memory eternal values. Positive, eternal values are the kind of things we want children to remember as part of their summer experience.

We are also excited about an upcoming weekend with Roger Albaneze, August 4th & 5th, the week prior to our VBS. Men we will be meeting with Roger at 8am on Saturday morning. He is a great historian and does a fantastic job of weaving American history into his sermons. His knowledge of the Word of God is amazing and you will want to be part of our Sunday morning service.

The following scripture sums up what my words are trying to convey. “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk — not as unwise people but as wise — making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”

Ephesians 5:15-16 HCSB