January 25, 2012

On Sunday, we continued our 14-week series, The Key to Happiness: A Journey through Ecclesiastes by covering Ecclesiastes 1.12 – 2.26. If you missed it, you can hear the message by clicking here.

We discussed the cold reality that if we pursue happiness in this world, we’ll never find it. However, God gives us today as a gift – with no promises that our earthly life will continue – therefore, we should take time to enjoy it, to live in the moment, and to seize the day! Here are three practical ways we can do that: 1) Find a job you love. Don’t settle for making money; Discover what you love to do and then find a way to make a living doing it; 2) Make time for people. Stuff is temporary, but people last forever. Enjoy your spouse (if you have one), your kids, your friends and all the special people God places in your life. We’re all living on borrowed time; and 3) Create margin for rest and recreation. We need “white” space in our lives to enjoy the world around us, do the things we love, and reflect on God and His leadership in our lives. Life’s too short to live it at a breakneck speed! Stop and smell the flowers.

This month our home churches are going over their membership covenants and asking you to make a one-year commitment to one another. If you haven’t done so already, commit to love and serve others in a home church. It’s one of the ways God grows us.

A few quick reminders: 1) We need nominations for servant of the year. Please send an email (dgainey@juno.com) with your nominee and why you think he/she deserves the honor this year. 2) The deadline for high school youth to register ($50) for Fuge (July 9 – 13) is THIS Sunday. 3) Learning to Love the Master retreats (part two of our mentor path) are scheduled for March 9 – 11 (men only) and May 4 – 6 (women only). The cost is $60/home church members ($120/non-members). Please save these dates – LLM has the tendency to transform your walk with God!