July Reflections

 

God led us through VBS

We had a wonderful Vacation Bible School. It was a small school but that was all right. We had 14 to 20 students over the three nights. Two of our workers did double duty. They made a video of the songs the children sang. The backgrounds they used were scenes from our prayer walk, our children’s playground, an area near our pavilion, and in our children’s classroom (the Happy Jesus Room). On the last night of the school, we had a party, with hamburgers and hot dogs and picnic food. Someone made cupcakes. Another lady brought bananas. Our Children’s Ministries Director heads up the VBS. This year was the first time as our director, a man, had not done anything like this. He was thankful for all the help he received.

Children’s Message

Once a month, usually on the second Sunday, I give the Children’s Message to those up through the fifth grade. The children in the nursery are brought in, as well. I usually talk to them about something related to the month. July was a tough month for me finding something to talk about. I have several different months of them stored on my computer’s external hard drive, I even have some printed out to use during those talks. I found one on prayer and how we have our hands to guide us through who to pray for.

B and B Women’s Group

I participate in the women’s group at church. I thought I was signing up to be co-hostess in July. When the June newsletter came, I saw that I had signed up for June. I was aiming for July. My lesson for July is on the American flag. I discovered some things that I didn’t know about our flag.

A Plumbing Emergency

One evening Jim was in the basement and though he saw water leaking from the floor of our bathroom. In the prcess of trying to fix it, one of the anchor bolts on our commode broke. The next morning I had to call a plumber. We had one in mind who fixed our shower back the first of the year. The woman to whom I talked at that number said they were booked for 10 days. I had to call another one. This company was out of a nearby town. (I prefer to deal with local firms when I can.) The gentleman came shortly after I was told he was on his way. Once he got here, he fixed the issue and was gone in under an hour.

Working on a Prayer Vigil

Each local church in our Movement has been asked to participate in a 40 day prayer and fasting vigil for our convening general conference. I finally took our interim pastor a copy of the Prayer Vigil 40 Prayer Guide. I started talking to our church treasurer and he came into the room and said he thought we should participate as a church. His idea was to ask the congregants to sign up to pray for at least one day. He would announce about it and tell them I would give those that chose to participate a piece of paper ( I used card stock.) with that day’s guideline.

This turned out to be a tedious procedure. However, God guided me through the steps and I was able to set up the informtion and the container with the prayer requests on a Friday afternoon. On the last Sunday of July, there were several people sign up to pray one day during the 40 day prayer vigil.

Stormy Weather

We had at least one tornado go through our county recently. The only damage besides trees was the administrative office building of a school corporation to the west of us. This tornado came through at night. No one was in the building. The roof was torn off. Damage to one wall of the building. Damage was done to some school buses. The part of the building damaged had been the gymnasium

of a closed middle school.

Please Pray for Us

I had an eye exam late in July. I get new glasses very soon. The doctor who saw me told me I would probably need cataract surgery next year, if not before. I know that this procedure is not what it was 50 or so years ago, however, that is the good news.

Neither of us is getting steady sleep. For me, it’s feast or famine. Jim might get a couple of hours good sound sleep a day.

A Good Thought

I want to leave you with a good thought. God guides us through each day of our lives. He answers our prayers according to HIS plans for us and according to HIS timing.