Made

Here is my column for tomorrow. We are starting a new sermon series: Made.

Is it just me or is it hard to believe that summer is almost over—at least as far as the schools are concerned? It seems like it was just the other day that Amber and I were picking Benjamin up on his last day of school?

It is equally hard to believe that Benjamin is going to be in 3rd grade. I look at him in disbelief at how big he is growing—physically and mentally. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I would put him in his pajamas, lay him down to sleep in his crib, and smell his freshly washed hair when he slept. Now he is staying over night with friends, watching television shows that aren’t animated, and asking me questions where I have to look up the answers.

All this personal nostalgia actually has a purpose. One of the points is that life goes on. Summers end, kids grow up, and life happens. I have been thinking a lot lately about life. I don’t want to reach the end of my days and wonder what might have been. I don’t even want to go to bed at night thinking something like:

• If I only had more time I would have…
• If I only had more energy it would have been fun to…
• If I could have been more organized and efficient I would have had the time and energy to…
• I’ve always wanted to do … but I’ve just never got around to it.

And I think that many of you are probably pretty similar to me – you don’t want life to pass by without experiencing feelings of contentment and fulfillment. But life keeps moving: day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute.

During the next three weeks we will be looking at what it means to live a life of fulfillment and contentment. I don’t suspect that all of us will have everything figured out by the end of August, but I do pray we will be on a journey together that leads us to higher, deeper, and wider levels of life. I pray that the world is a little better because of us. I pray that we are part of somebody’s testimony. I pray in the mornings that we wake up and are eager to live. I pray at the end of the day we sleep well because we know we didn’t just go though the motions, but because we lived.

In Christ,

Craig