The Thursday Update

SEPTEMBER 4, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

As school bells ring and backpacks are zipped up, families everywhere are shifting from the carefree days of summer to the more structured pace of the school year. While this season often brings a mix of excitement and chaos, it’s also a golden opportunity to reset, realign, and rediscover the rhythms that give your family life meaning and momentum. Yes, back-to-school season is more than just sharpened pencils and early alarms—it’s a chance to cultivate habits that nurture hearts, minds, and relationships.

One of the most life-giving rhythms families can embrace this season is simply showing up—at the dinner table, at bedtime, and yes, even at church. In the hustle of practices, homework, and packed schedules, it's easy to let spiritual growth slip to the back burner. But carving out time to attend church regularly can anchor your family in ways that go far beyond Sunday morning. It’s a place where values are reinforced, community is built, and kids grow up knowing they belong to something bigger than themselves. Attending church isn’t about adding another thing to your to-do list—it’s about starting your week with intention, connection, and purpose.

This fall, consider making church attendance part of your family's weekly rhythm. Even if you're not a morning person or your Sundays have been filled with errands or sports in the past, a small shift in priority can have a big impact. In Lakeshore Kids, we are walking your kids through God’s Word in ways that allow your kids to connect what they learn to the life they are living. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s presence. Even showing up imperfectly teaches your kids that faith matters, and that your family makes time for what’s important.

Beyond church, this season is a great time to reestablish other family rhythms that may have slipped during summer. Try bringing back consistent mealtimes, reading together in the evenings, or having a short weekly family meeting to talk about the week ahead. These small practices create stability and connection—two things children crave as they adjust to new teachers, friends, and expectations. And don’t forget the power of rest. Protecting family downtime, especially on weekends, helps everyone recharge and reconnect.

Parents, you’ve got this. Back-to-school season can feel overwhelming, but it’s also a fresh chapter—a chance to lead your family with clarity, grace, and renewed purpose. As you juggle schedules, lunchboxes, and carpools, remember that what your kids need most isn’t perfection, but presence. With a few intentional rhythms—like regular church attendance, shared meals, and open conversations—you’re laying a foundation that will serve them for years to come.

So, take a deep breath, pack those backpacks, and step into the school year with hope. Your family’s new rhythm doesn’t have to be hectic. It can be holy. And it starts now.

Jill Freese
Children's Director

AUGUST 21, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

In less than two weeks, my wife and I will celebrate 40 years of marriage. It’s hard to believe that well over half our life ago, two young Christians pledged our love to each other for life. And by God’s grace we have had a great marriage, at least I think so. 😊

But our marriage, like all marriages, has required lots of hard work. It’s also required so much more from both Sue and me than we fully realized back on that Saturday in late August 1985. Sacrifice, apologies, surrendering, forgiving, and pride swallowing have been a part of my role as a husband. By the grace of God, we’ve done what we needed to do to keep our love alive.

So often, we get the Hollywood, fairytale narrative of romance and marriage. It goes something like this. Love at first sight. Expensive dates together every night for a year. Laughing and loving each other as we talk about life, agreeing on almost everything we discuss. Never having to argue or fight because everything is just flowing so easily. Then we get married, thinking that all our problems will now go away. We have kids, buy a house, never have financial problems, keep agreeing on everything, never arguing, and the like. Then we retire together and live to 100. It starts so easy, operates easily, and ends happily ever after with few problems to speak of.

While I wish that were true, it’s not.

Unfortunately, it's easy to glamorize marriage as the cure for all our desires for happiness, not realizing how hard it is and how much work it takes to create a great marriage. One line I have used in many wedding ceremonies that I have performed is that, “Marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly…” How true that is. Or, as one person put it, “Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener!” How true.

I’m excited to talk about how to marry well from Proverbs on Sunday. I want to both explore the myths of an easy marriage and yet provide the skills needed to make sure you marry the best person you can and stay married to them for all the days of your life. That’s no easy task, but it is very possible when we apply what Proverbs says to our romantic and marital lives.

I hope you’ll be here on Sunday, no matter where you are in this incredible pursuit.

Warmly,
Vince

AUGUST 14, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

With every year that passes, we’ve become more of what I call an “instant” world. It seems like everything we desire must be delivered right away.

Think about all the things you use each day that are instant. You wake up to instant coffee, heat your breakfast in the microwave in an instant, and get instant news on anything using your laptop or phone. You can talk to anyone for free—instantly—on that very same phone. You can order almost anything and have it delivered in a day, and sometimes it can be stolen off your front porch just as instantly. You can pay your bills online in an instant. You can also rack up really large credit card charges, too—in an instant. So much of our lives are conditioned to focus on finding “the instant” solution to whatever we can, even when it’s not the best or right solution.

In many ways, instant can be a good thing. It creates convenience and helps ease the demands that can wear us out. But in other ways, it can erode our patience for the good things in life that require time. Things like dating, friendships, family life, and our walk with God are never instant. They take time because “time” does what “instant” cannot do—build perseverance, character, and strength. That’s why we need to develop the virtue that runs counter to instant gratification.

It’s called delayed gratification.

The Bible talks about this over and over again. If we can delay our gratification in life, we’ll often find the results more satisfying. That’s what we’ll be looking at in our current series on Proverbs this Sunday.

Are you ok when God delays His blessings in your life? Are you ok when you have to wait on Him while He builds your character during seasons of delay? Do you believe that in many areas of life “good things do come to those who wait”? The more you can answer yes, the more you’ve discovered the power of delayed gratification.

Warmly,
Vince