Vacation Time!

Yea, it’s vacation time. Summer is here, the kids are getting out of school and the grill is going full blast. It doesn’t matter if you are a mom, dad, grandparents or aunts and uncles, the fact that school is out will affect you. Kids will be in the neighborhoods, at the malls and at the pools. Your traffic patterns will be different, no more getting caught in the wrong lane on the road to find out you are in a carpool lane.

We're getting ready for a summer vacation also and I think we are more excited than our grandchildren. A week at the beach with our daughters and their families which will be six of our grandchildren, three boys and three girls, ages ranging from 13 to 4 yrs. old.

The preparations are being made along with lists of who brings what and which meals and snacks to prepare. Plans, emails, text messages and phone calls consume our time and thoughts. What places to visit while we are in the area and of course which restaurants we will visit?

It was last year that we started planning this vacation, picking out the place and having it fit all of our family and needs is not an easy task. We rotate that job each year to one of us. Each time we learn a little bit more that makes planning an event like this easier.

The one thing we always make sure and bring with us is God. Our plans include looking for a local congregation to attend or holding a simple service among ourselves. Either way, we know and understand God is with us.

As we enjoy our vacation we try and talk to the kids about life lessons and enjoying Gods beauty that surrounds us. Every moment is a teaching moment. But first and foremost I have to be in God’s word to be complete.

Don’t take a vacation from God, take Him with you.

Memorial Day

by Lillian Humphries

Memorial Day is next Monday, May 25th, 2015. How will you celebrate? Gather with family and friends for a picnic/cookout? Go to the beach or the lake? What memories can you pull from your memory file about Memorial Day?

When I was working and raising my two daughters, Memorial Day was a paid day off of work. A day I could sleep in. A day I could maybe catch up on some things around the house or finish a project.

I knew the real meaning of this special day. I would always stop and teach my children why we had a Memorial Day and to honor the men and women, who gave their lives for us and then go on with my plans. Maybe include a parade later in the evening. Who doesn’t love a parade?

The older you get the more you think about things. I think about things a lot, maybe sometimes too much. That can be another blog sometime. J During this upcoming weekend and the celebrations, I ask you to take a few minutes and ponder some thoughts.

Nothing is free in life. We live in the land of the “free and the brave” What is the “cost” for American freedom”?

• American Revolution: 25,000 lives lost
• War of 1812: 15,000 lives lost
• Civil War: 750,000 lives lost
• World War I : 116,516 lives lost
• World War II : 405,399 lives lost
• Vietnam War: 58,209 lives lost
• War on Terror: 6,717 lives lost

Most likely there is not one of us who has not been touched by one or more of these lost lives. These numbers do not include those who were wounded physically or mentally by the search for our freedom.

There is one more statistic I would like us all to consider.

One life was given on the cross of Mt. Calvary. God’s only son, Jesus died for all of us. Jesus died so we could be free from “sin” and spend our life in eternity.

So this weekend during your festivities, remember those that gave their lives for our country, but also remember Jesus who gave His life so you can be free from sin.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.