"Longest Day of the Year"

Well, you did it!  Great job!  I knew you could! Pat yourself on the back...you deserve it! That's right...yesterday was the longest day of the year and you made it!  The sun's position in the sky yesterday gave us our annual longest day of sunlight, which constituted the start of summer.

If you know me any at all, you will not be surprised to hear that yesterday was my favorite day of the year.  I have a deep gratitude for sunlight. I enjoy soaking up its warmth as I take my daily walk.  I love that dusk isn't until after 9 PM.  I just love the light!

The truth is, the older I get the more I appreciate the opportunity Jesus, the Light of the world, gives us to live in the light every day of the year.

Here are a few lessons on Light I am learning to love to live in:

•  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105.  I am learning to trust God with the light he gives me.  I may want to have the next 1000 steps lit up like a run way, but he does not promise that because he knows what I really need. What I really need is to learn to trust him one step at a time.  People often ask me, "What is the 5 or 10 year plan for LH?"  To be honest, if I am to answer that question, all I would be doing is giving my projections because I do not know what God has planned for the next 5 or 10 years. All I know is the light he has given us for the next step he has for us. Friends, it is freeing to continue to learn that you do not have to have everything figured out.  Just follow God with each next step and you will have all the light you need.
• "Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord." Isaiah 2:5.  I am learning that having God's light for the next step is of no value, if I do not walk in it.  I get very concerned for those, who have been around the church for very long, that we will know about the light at the expense of actually walking in the light we have.  We must hear Isaiah's plea to Israel as a warning to us today, lest we become a people who know a lot about God, but do not respond in loving obedience to God.
• "You are the light of the world...in the same way, let your light shine before men and women, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16.  Jesus, the Light of the world, says you are the light!  The only way the darkness of this world (violence, poverty, disease, hunger, abuse, human trafficking...) will ever be chased away is if we who bear the light of Christ in us let it shine!  I thank God that you are a church that shines your good deeds so that others can see the Father.  Food 2 Go, Kids Against Hunger, Men of Action Movement, Pine Ridge Reservation, Encouraging our Military Group, our teens preparing for their summer mission trip, the poured out fund pledges, shopping with GL scrip cards and designating your Kroger rewards cards to donate to our Poured Out Fund, investing in our children and teens and even bringing orphans from Ukraine here next month are just some of the examples!  Keep shining LH!
• "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness instead of light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19-21.  Jesus is constantly challenging me and changing me by these words of his.  The older I get in Christ, the more I value the light of truth.  Truth may not always be comfortable or easy, but it is always good.  More and more God is freeing me to speak and to hear the truth.  I do not want to ever be among those who "love the darkness."  Christ came to set us free from the games the world plays.  The world justifies manipulation, political power plays, half-truths, gossip and lies as the way one must operate in business and relationships.  That is a lie of hell that we the church need not accept.  The truth always set us free...embrace it, receive it, give it as the powerful light it is!

These are a just a few lessons on light I am learning to live.  What lessons are you learning?  I would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, the SON is shining and I can't wait to see what Light Jesus has for us as our Summer of Love continues for the adults and the Beach Bash Summer camp surfs on for the kids!  Invite a friend!