The Messenger - August 13th

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Pastor's Corner for August 13, 2008

"Whew!"

Now that Vacation Bible School is over, many of our key staff and volunteers will be taking a wel-deserved break. Most Commissions are "dark" in August (no light = no meetings, I guess), and we only have three weeks left to "get away" before school begins this fall. Thus, some of you will probably be reading this from distant cities, while others may not "catch up" till they get home. Still others will read from the comfort of a good desk chair at home. But I hope that all of you will take some time in the next few weeks to "catch your breath."

By "catching your breath," I don't mean just pausing a vigorous sprint. I mean stepping back from the principal thing that drives you: hope, fear, habit, necessity, whatever that might be. Take a moment (if you can) to look at these compulsions and see if they are taking you where you really want to be.

It's so easy to be driven by "necessity," for example: gotta work, gotta run, gotta strive just in order to make ends meet. Sometimes, this sense of urgency is real, but sometimes it is created by our own choices. What do you have to do to get off that treadmill? If you can't get off it yet, what do you have to do to catch a break?

Fear is another force that consumes our time and lives. Most of us have some fear of financial insecurity, and a certain amount of that is probably necessary to curb impulsive spending and plan ahead. But this fear can be excessive, causing us to dwell for countless hours in disasters that are quite unlikely to occur. To what extent is fear a central motivation in your life? And what can you do to control it?

Still another force is resentment. Most of us know people who have deeply disappointed us. And some of us can talk vividly of betrayal. But is that sort of talk really helpful? How do you work through these painful memories? And how do you learn to lay these scenes to rest?

My hope for you is that our current "pause" in obligations might draw you to self-reflection and to prayer. After all, it is God who created us, and it is God who uses us for his purposes in the world. What might God say about the impulses that drive you and the places to which you are being driven? Is that God's destination? Or do you need to make a turn?

My prayer for you is that the academic year ahead might be a time of increasing freedom, meaning, gratitude, and peace. We'll start this process with a look at Psalm 8 this Sunday morning. I'll see you in church!

--Neal

• Aug 25 - Trip to Wild Rivers water park
  
• Sept. 7 - Annual Church Picnic
  

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