Coop's Corner |
August 2004 |
Random Thoughts
Do you ever just have random thoughts? Of course you do. As I was trying to decide a theme for this month’s Coop’s Corner, I had a bunch of random thoughts, but no theme. Ah, but who says there has to be a theme anyway? This is summer and we do things much more casually and laid back during the summer, right? So here are some of my random thoughts, but no theme.
For example, I was thinking that we are now just a little more than half way through our Summer Sermon Series on the 10 Commandments. So far, so good. I may even have the whole ten memorized by the end of the summer. It would be nice to have them at my mental fingertips to remind me of what God expects of me. And I must admit I am enjoying fleshing out the deeper implications of what we are learning. My thanks to all of you who have shared your insights!
Then there is summer itself. Only 3˝ weeks left till school starts again. Yikes! Didn’t the kids just get out of school? For some the approach of summer’s end may be a big relief, but for some of you it may be sad. The end of summer means that some of our kids will be off to college or other adventures (now that could be a relief or sad, depending on your point of view J).
The approaching end of summer may also mean that for many of us our vacations are now over and it is back to the “real world.” Hopefully, you were able to take a vacation – we all need them. Unfortunately, not everyone gets a vacation (DeLynn doesn’t “earn” vacation time until January 2005). But even if you didn’t get a long vacation, I hope you were able to take weekend getaways. They are not good only for our bodies and our minds, but they are also good for our souls. We need to take a Sabbath rest now and again and just relax and rejuvenate. If you haven’t done that yet this year – schedule it in. It is that important.
I am also on a diet …again. I’m not a very good dieter. I’ve even tried to frame it as “healthy eating” instead of dieting, but then I let myself get stuck into the mindset that apple pie and ice cream is healthy – I mean it does have fruit (remember an apple a day and all that?) and it has dairy (isn’t that a rich source of calcium – I do need strong bones!). See, I am just too good at rationalization. Thank goodness for a wife who reminds me (usually gently) when I start to stray.
As I thought about that, I thought: Isn’t that kind of like our relationship with God sometimes? We want to go to church, read the Bible, keep the commandments, love one another and love God … all those things that strengthen our spirit and keep us in close communion with God and one another. But it is so easy to rationalize our way out of coming to church when the bed is so soft and we stayed up way too late Saturday night. Or we convince ourselves that we are just too busy to devote even fifteen minutes a day reading the Bible – but, interestingly, have time for TV, the newspaper and our favorite novel. And then that “loving” thing. You first! Oops… God did and continues to love us first. Good thing we have the Spirit to remind us now and again to stay on track. And the truth is, when we do, just like when we eat healthy, we feel better, look better, and perform better. God is good!
Well, I have run out of room. And I have so many more unconnected thoughts. I’ll have to save them for another month.
Have a great month. And, as always, I’ll see you on Sunday!
Pastor Tom |
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