It seems a good idea today to blog early. There are times a late post can't be avoided but today I thought it wise to blog early. Yes, I am still under the influence of pain medicine but the back is showing slow signs of improvement. Granted that back pain is not on the same level as the ailments of some of my members but it still hurts! There was one Sunday about 15 years ago that I basically leaned on the podium just to get through the sermon. All should be better by this Sunday.

We are closing in on the full beginning of our 40 Days of Love campaign. Let me take a minute to explain some of where we are and where we are going. It is no one's fault but mine that I didn't take the Super Bowl into consideration for a real start. The good thing about the material is we do not have to lock ourselves into a definitive date. If we get rolling this next Sunday that is all right. I understand this kind of thinking may seem unusual. Programs are supposed to have a clear date to start and end. Let me give you insight into my approach. People cannot be programmed like a computer. If we take an extra week to initiate the full methods of this time then we can adjust. I like to call it not letting the shoe determine how large the foot becomes. So we are flexible and look at getting more involvement over the next few days.

We are also a different church than the one that went through the pilot program. We are not huge or in California. We are the typical red brick First Baptist of many East Texas towns. It is more important that we get the message of the books, discussions and sermons down. The mechanics can be flexible enough to adjust to our setting. It does surprise me at the names who signed up and paid for the material. It also surprises me the names of those who seem to be choosing not to participate. I hope and pray if anyone reads this blog among those who have not committed yet that you will. After all, who couldn't use a specific time to let God teach more about loving Him and others?

If I were Paul, I would say in my 1 Corinthians 13 that love is not simple, shallow or always neat. Sometimes love is tough. More times than not love can be a challenge to our typical self driven existance. But I would agree with him that love is so vital that it cannot be ignored or set aside as an option. We can do lots of good stuff as a church without love. But we cannot do the very best stuff without it. My hope is we choose to learn more about love as well as put it into practice more.

Bro. Trey