Back to School Again!

I'm uncertain as to how it actually happened, but somehow my baby, my youngest child started High School! Its like I went to bed one night planning for a middle of the night feeding and then woke up the next morning with this teenager in my house!

     I'm sure many of you are experiencing something similar to this phenomena, or have at some point in your life. Maybe its even that fascination with the realization that summer is soon coming to a close. Where has all the time gone? Maybe there were some warm-weather projects you wanted to get done around the house and that didn't happen. Maybe there were people you wanted to spend time with and the schedules without school activities in the summer should have allowed for it, but it still did not happen. Regardless of how the time slips away–guess what…IT'S HERE…whether we are ready or not. Summer will soon come to a close and school is starting back up again.

     So, what does that mean for us? Well, for starters it means a lot of our church programs that take a much needed rest in the summer months will soon be gearing up again. Children Worship & Wonder begins anew, our new Wednesday evening Small Group studies will soon start, Chi-Rho and CYF youth groups will resume, children and youth will be promoted to the next level in Sunday School, College kids will be moving into their dorms and beginning a new adventure while parents struggle with the transition, our Children's Sabbath prayer vigil looms ahead in the near future and planning starts for all the holiday–YES, HOLIDAY–festivities! Sounds exhausting just thinking about it, but in reality its quite exciting!

     So many wonderful things await us in the near future, but for now we focus our attention on two important school-year outreach projects. STUFF THE BUS is currently underway and OPERATION BACKPACK will soon begin. (Collection location is in the Fellowship Hall) If you are not familiar with these programs, STUFF THE BUS is an outreach ministry we have with the school systems to collect much needed school supplies for families who cannot afford them. These items are divided up between each school and distributed to children as their needs arise throughout the year. OPERATION BACKPACK is a food program where nutritious, non-perishable food in single-serving sizes is collected and given to the County Extension Office to be distributed to all our local schools. Family Resource Officers and teachers sneak these items into backpacks to ensure that children have access to food on weekends when they are not receiving free breakfasts and lunches at the schools. Please give thanks for your own abundance and donate to these causes so children can focus their energies on learning instead of worrying about whether or not they have the basic necessities to succeed in school this year.

     And, as we start this new school year and our ministries that help support children and families through the school system I leave you with this prayer a friend shared with me…

          I release God’s angels to go before you, to prepare the way for you, to prosper you, and to
        give you the advantage in difficult situations. I speak that they clear the way and eliminate       
        threats that would come against you as well as threatening situations, traps, deceit, and
        unfavorable circumstances. I declare that God’s angels will go with you, keep you, and protect
        you. I bless your minds to expand and that you will enlarge your deposit of knowledge. I bless
        you for information, facts, and knowledge to cling to the soil of your minds. I bless you to
        have the ability to recall information so that you may excel in tests and grade scores. I bless
        you for the Holy Spirit to work in you and minister through you this year unlike other years. I
        bless you to become an effective witness for Christ, that your prayers be effective, that your
        discernment be sharp, and that you receive unction to stand for your convictions and be an
        effective light to those around you. I bless you to gain great experiences this school year that
        will shape your destiny. ~Amen
        (Shawn Sizemore–20 year teaching veteran in Laurel County School System)