7/7/2013

Summer doldrums can be the worst of all ailments.  Sailors suffered from this when the winds would stop blowing on the seas.  All ship traffic would come to a end when there was no power for the sails.  We now use motors in our boats but the doldrums remain.  Churches hit the month of July while ending up stuck from various reasons.  People are in the middle of vacations.  Others are away with one event or the other.  School activities kick into gear in August but this month can be the longest of all.  That's why when an idea came to my mind it seemed worth the effort to try something new.  Never did it ever occur to me there would be the level of success experienced tonight.

One of my neighbors is actually a church.  Their pastor and I usually meet as we mow our respective yards.  It was while mowing that the thought came across my mind that perhaps we could get together for some Sunday evening worship and fellowship.  I walked over after we completed our manual labor to ask him about that possibility.  We agreed to give it a shot tonight and next Sunday.  All went far better than one could ever expect this evening.  Our four regular churches came together for a time to just encounter God in a new way on a summer Sunday.  My task was to preach the sermon but the truth is it was mostly rambling from my mind and heart.  What made the occasion great wasn't anything to do with my words but it was just being a united gathering. 

Small towns do have some natural advantages.  Getting together for special events is not nearly as difficult as it would be in a city.  Counting the crowd is not too difficult but there is the plus of already knowing most people.  Maybe it becomes easier to say some things in that setting than it is in others.  So many of those who attended walk together in times of crisis or loss without regard for denominational ties.  Most reared children together in the schools here.  Relationships run deep after years of living in one place.  We just made the time to be God's people and not just people who go to church. 

It is true that we return to the real world once a time such as that is over.  But for this one evening we got an extra lift from being together.  We even get to do it again next week at my church.  Duplicating what happened tonight is impossible.  But we can hope and pray for whatever God may want to do then.  My one desire is we learn to be unified in our hearts and minds.  God does amazing things even when we start with nothing.  Maybe this will be something He builds into a new renewing of hearts.  Stranger things have happened.

Bro. Trey