It may be a little early to celebrate, but there's no denying that the air is a little cooler, especially in the morning.  It's amazing how a little change, just a few degrees, and our thoughts race ahead to cooler weather, fall activities and the joy of just seeing a different season come along.  The same may be said for our walk with Christ.  At times we can get into a rut where we feel nothing is really happening, "I'm not experiencing the closeness and joy I thought I would."  And then something happens, maybe even just a little something, and we feel his renewing spirit in our hearts. 
     One of my prayers is that Sunday mornings will be that time for you.  That our worship is a time for you to feel God's spirit as a gentle breeze and your life is just that much better for it.  To help make this happen there are some things that you need to bring to worship with you.  Your Bible is one of the first things you need to have.  With the new powerpoint tools I can show and discuss scripture right there for everyone to see.  I think it means even more if you will open your own Bible and read along.  You might even make a note at a certain scripture to come back too later and think about that scripture more.  Bring a smile with you as well.  If you don't have one when you get here, I'm sure someone else in the service would be glad to share with you theirs.  I've noticed on most Sunday mornings there are plenty of smiles to go around.  Most important, bring an open heart and mind.  You may even wish to pray as you are coming in that God would bless you and impress on you a thought or scripture to help you in the coming week.
     It may not sound like much, coming to church each Sunday, hearing the same old preacher you've heard for 26 years, but when God is the one behind the breeze, be careful, powerful things are about to happen.

See Ya Sunday!    Don

Funny question and yet the answer is serious.  How is your relationship with Jesus?  I'm not suggesting a marriage counselor, however some time spent with him would be time well spent.

We understand relationships here on earth.  A husband who spends no time with his wife probably isn't much of a husband.  A Christian who spends little time with Jesus is in the same condition.  As a marriage counselor I often ask couples what's wrong and what can we do to make things better.  Communication is often a key and so is commitment.

A relationship without communication is like a body without blood.  There's no life in it.  For couples that means literally having time together, time to talk, time to enjoy doing something together, time just being together.  As Christians we communicate with Jesus through prayer and Bible study.  Prayer is our time to talk with him, to tell him what's been going on in our day or just the little things that bother us.  So might think that that is a trival waste of Jesus's time.  Not so!  That is the very life blood of a relationship.  Time spent in Bible study is the primary way Jesus has to talk back to you.  Sometimes he uses situations and other people to bring home a lesson to us, but that lesson never contradicts what he shares with us in His word.

Research into successful relationships tells us that the glue for keeping a marriage together for the long run is commitment.  We tend to think that love is the most important thing.  However love is a feeling.  At first it is that feeling which draws us into a relationship with a person, why we want to know them or to be with them.  But feelings are like the wind, they blow in and then they blow out again.  Love as commitment hangs in there, even when the emotions have drifted off.  The good news is that those same emotions also drift back in.  It is the commitment that hold us together.  You may have had a rush of emotions when you became a Christian and thought "Yes, this is what I've been looking for."  And then when the emotional high wore off you were tempted to think that so had Jesus' love for you.  Not so!  He will not leave you nor forsake you.  In other words Jesus is committed to you.

So how is it going with you and Jesus?