August, 2006
What if
by Pastor Dave Speicher

Amy Morris gave me a cartoon recently that shows the boss greeting an employee one morning. The boss says, “You are late for work today!” The employee says, “Am I?...or am I actually early for tomorrow!” The boss is shown standing there with a puzzled look on his face. I don’t recommend that anyone use that line with their boss, but the way the summer is rushing by I sometimes wonder if I am late for one day or just early for the next or late for this month or early for the next. At any rate, the summer months are going quickly. The All-Church Family Camping weekend has come and gone (which was a wonderful time), teens and children have been to the district camps, Vacation Bible School is coming August 7-11, which is just around the corner, band camps and sports practices will begin very soon, children and teen quiz meets are being scheduled, and on it goes. I am so thankful for the constant faithfulness of God’s love through everything.

We are living in uncertain times as we continue to watch events unfolding in the Middle East with the escalating crises between Israel and Hezbollah. As I have been preaching from Revelation 2:1-7 about the Church at Ephesus and the absolute necessity of being sure we are daily living out a First Love Christianity, I have been reminded again that no matter what kind of crises we are facing, we just need to keep focusing on what Christ has done for us and renew our devotion to God so we are experiencing a First Love relationship with Jesus. God’s Word is a crucial part of a First Love experience and we must be letting the Bible speak to us daily. Someone gave me an email entitled “Cell Phone vs. the Bible” which goes like this:

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones.

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we could not live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
Something to make you say hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,
and where is my Bible?

Don’t forget to use God’s Word each day to give you strength and courage for all that you need in the middle of very busy days. In fact, Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is living and active”, or as some translations put it, “living and powerful”. The Bible also says “The Lord is my strength and my shield” (Psalm 28:7), “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1), “The Lord is my strength and my song” (Psalm 118:14), and “Great is our Lord and mighty in power” (Psalm 147:5). All of these verses are promises we can depend on each day. When our devotion and commitment to God is of First Love quality and we are reading God’s Word, we can trust Him to make us and keep us courageous, strong, and mighty in Spirit for the purpose of offering His love and forgiveness to others and to glorify Him in all we do.

I pray that God will bless you with His power and strength. I look forward to seeing you Sunday as we celebrate who God is and all He has done in us through Jesus Christ.