Summer Plans

If your home is like ours, your summer calendar is filling up quickly. There is the family vacation, sports camps, Bible school, music festivals and many other worthy adventures. It seems that our summer calendar becomes more full each year and at times it is busier than the school year.

This summer our oldest daughter has the opportunity to go on a mission trip with the church youth group. Although it is going to be difficult to squeeze it in between other already planned activities, we are going to strive to make this happen. Our children do many different service projects throughout the year, and our oldest has gone on a mission trip before with her father, but this will be her first trip without another member of our family with her. We are all filled with excitement and apprehension at the same time. 

When I was in college, there was a poster hanging in a room I visited often. The message from the poster has stayed with me all these years. It went something like this:

 A missionary received a box from the states filled with items that were collected for children in Africa. These boxes came 3 or 4 times a year. Each time a box came a group of children would gather greatly anticipating what items had arrived. The missionary unloaded the box one item at a time generously giving each child something they had been waiting for. When the box was empty a young boy still waited. The missionary apologized for not having the pair of shoes he was desperately needing. The boy replied, "Don't worry sir, God  has told someone in America to send me their old shoes, they just aren't listening yet. Maybe they will be in the next box." What is God telling you? Are you listening?

Let me encourage you to schedule some serving on your summer calendar before it gets too full. It will actually impact two lives...the one you serve and your own. There are many times when we plan to serve that the children start to question why we need to go. However, by the time we are finished, they have enjoyed themselves and have a renewed sense of gratitude for the blessings that they have. God has truly blessed us, and it is a great privilege to share those blessings with other.