The Thursday Update

MAY 30, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

Can you imagine having God ask you to do something that you could do and is reasonable and then responding to Him, “I’m sorry God, I’m just too busy.”?  It would be hard to say that to God, if we had a conversation with him.  Just the thought of saying “no” to God for a request like this would be unthinkable.  It would seem so wrong for many reasons, like:

1. Well, because He is God!

2. Imagine if God were too busy for us?

3. Our belief that God is good leads us to the conclusion that all He asks of us is good, for Him and for us too.

4. Maybe, it would reveal that our fellowship with God is not that strong.  Or worse, that we really do not have a relationship with God that is genuine.  Yikes!

I think you can see that for these reasons and more, it would be wrong to say no to God.  Even if we are busy… really, really, really busy!

Yet, this is what people do all the time to God.  They say “no” to Him at various times and in various ways.  And when you boil it all down, when we say no to God we are saying we know what’s best for our lives more than He does.  Double yikes!

Being busy is never an excuse not to do what God wants.  Being tired isn’t either.  Neither are the cares of this life.

As crazy busy as life gets sometimes, learn to say “yes” to God every time if you want to live a life worthy of His calling of you.  On Sunday, along with 8 exciting baptisms and testimonies of people who said “yes” to Jesus and baptism, I’ll share a story Jesus told about the importance of saying “yes” to God, and the danger of saying “no” to His commands.  As challenging as saying “yes” can sometimes be, it beats losing out by saying “no” to the God who always says “yes” and “amen” to us through His unbreakable promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

I hope you’ll say “yes” to being here on Sunday.

Warmly,
Vince

MAY 23, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

This weekend is what many call the unofficial start of Summer.  Right on cue, the weather has finally started warming up and we just broke 80 degrees for the first time this year (yeah, late May is waaaaaay toooooo late for that to occur in my opinion).  We all look forward to this because, well, we live in Rochester and warm weather isn’t something we get a lot of.  So I am encouraged by thoughts of summer!

With all of that said, this weekend is more important for something we should never take for granted.  It’s Memorial Day weekend, a time we set aside as a national holiday to remember and honor those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  This holiday has been a part of our national calendar since 1868, around the time of the Civil War, though its original name was Decoration Day.

I hope that you’ll remember those who have given their lives for their country this weekend.  After Jesus, no one has given up more for our freedom than those who died to preserve it.  So make sure you thank God for our brave servicemen and women who make our land the land of the free.  We can never be sure how long we will have this freedom.

This Sunday, we’ll remember those who died in service to our country as part of our services, as we continue “I’m Just Too Busy."

And remember that while some people rarely attend church during the summer (something known as the “summer slump” in church lingo), church attendance is something mature Christians who love Jesus always pursue first above everything else.  I hope that will describe you this summer!

“Thank you, Lord, for giving us a great nation filled with heroes willing to sacrifice for all of us in the United States.”

Warmly,
Vince

MAY 16, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

This week, my next door neighbor was putting up a fence.  No, I didn’t do anything to provoke this, but the arrival of a new puppy may be the reason.

When we heard the noise of fence posts being put in the ground, we looked and saw where the fence was going up.  And as most people who live next door to this do, we wanted to make sure the fence wasn’t over onto our property.  After all, we have surveys that show where our property begins and ends on all four sides.

When it comes to being too busy, we need to make sure we do the same thing with our time and our involvements— namely, that we ensure we’re not crossing property lines.  It’s so easy to take on things that are not within our own boundaries, and to add to an already busy list of activities when we really don’t have to (or even shouldn’t in the first place).

Do you have clear time and involvement boundaries in your life?  Do you know how to establish them, and then stick to them?

Just like in life, you need them if you want to avoid the “I’m Just Too Busy!” lifestyle.

Warmly,
Vince