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Planning for vacation
Our family tries to go camping at least once a year during the summer. We often take between ten to fourteen days to camp at a National Forest or State Park. One of our favorite spots is at Emerald Lake State Park in Vermont just outside of Manchester on Route 7. This year, however, we're just taking a short camping trip. My wife, Kathy, is taking summer classes to finish her M.A. and my youngest daughter Julie has marching band practice, so we can't all go as a family on an extended vacation. I'm trying to plan day trips and a few short overnight get-aways. Next week I plan to take the four kids and go camping for two nights at Spruce Run State Park outside of Clinton, New Jersey. One of the hardest aspects of going camping is the planning. We have to make sure we have tents, lanterns, cooking utensils, stove, food, sleeping bags, and a bunch of other equipment that makes camping possible. It's a lot of work to gather everything, make sure the equipment works properly, and plan meals, etc. But the time and effort spent in planning is always rewarded by a much more pleasurable family-camping experience. Planning is essential not just for camping but for virtually everything we do. Ministry in the church requires a lot of planning and preparation. Every Christian who has a ministry needs to prepare his or her heart in prayer. When we pray God gives us a vision for our ministry, and we are able to plan for the future. Through prayer and planning we can "visualize" what God wants to see happen in our ministry; then we can begin to get excited about the future. This excitement will give us the energy and motivation to work hard, and this contagious enthusiasm will spread to the rest of the congregation. The Bible calls it "revival", and it begins one person at a time. The spark for revival comes when on our knees God gives us direction for the future. The challenge of ministry today is to plan for the ministry needed for tomorrow. When Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem he spent much time and effort in prayer and planning. We read:"I arose in the night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon's Well and on to the Refuse Gate inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. . .and [I] inspected the wall. . . Then I said to [the elders], "You yourselves see the bad situation we are in. . . come let us rebuild . . . And I told them how the hand of God had been favorable to me." . . . and they said, "Let us arise and build." (Nehemiah 2:12-18).1May we, like Nehemiah, seek the Lord in prayer and make plans to build for tomorrow. Asking God to help me plan for ministry, Pastor Steve August 3, 2007
Footnotes 1 Nehemiah 2:12-18, NASB (New American Standard Bible). Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
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