Well school is out this week and we start our Summer Break here in Fernley. I love my summer break. I always take the month of July off as a sabbatical and use it to refresh, travel, read and plan. It is important to do that periodically.
Breaks are good. It changes things up, recharges the batteries, and can give us some time to reflect as well as look ahead with anticipation. I like to take breaks.
There is one thing that troubles me though. Many take their summer breaks and they take their break from work, school, daily routines and unfortunately church. Of course, you know what I am going to say, it's not healthy to take time away from the church too often. Especially the whole summer. When we get away from the church we miss out on so much God has in store for our lives. Church should help us in our refreshing. It should contribute to our rest. God wants you to rest, He expects you to rest, but He can help you rest through worship, fellowship and time in the word.
There are other reasons that we should not forsake the assembly of ourselves together...(Hebrews 10:25). It can teach our children that church is an elective to our christian walk. If its convenient then we go, but there are other things equally or even more important, such as trips to the lake, little league, or even lazy Sunday Mornings. Making God's time elective time is a dangerous and damaging habit to the faith of our children as well as our own walk.
Another reason is that the church still has to go on, even during the summer months. We still serve, still have need of nursery help, someone to work with the kids, and other ministries. We also still have expenses. While people may take a break; rent, utilities and salaries must go on! So our expenses don't change during this summer break! Often when people choose not to attend church for a while, they also choose not to tithe and give for a while.
So this summer, I want to encourage you to take your breaks, but don't break from the fellowship of God's church. If you are traveling then visit a church in the area you are staying. See what's out there. Perhaps you will see or hear something that can help out your local church. Or perhaps it will even make you appreciate your local church more.
I got to go...it's break time!
Take care,
Rod
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Amen, my pastor! Spot on! In fact, time off from work and other things that pull at our time can free us up to participate in things with our church. These breaks can become ministry opportunities! This month I'm taking a day and a half from work to go camping with our youth. Even more than that, we have people taking weeks out of their months to go to Mexico. There are a lot of ministries we can't do as a church during the winter. So we have work to do and fun to have! Thanks for the enty!
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