I absolutely love the summer! It is my favorite season of the year and this month is going to be great! It is also going to be a busy month for Hope Church. Just to run through the calendar, we have our monthly potluck on July 5th, the Ice Cream social is on July 9th, the Crawford County fair service is on July 19th, and Ted Evans will be our guest preacher on July 26th. So it will be a busy month, but I am excited to see what our great God and King does over the course of this month. Friends, God is moving in mighty ways – are you on-board with His agenda?

I would also like to mention that this is a special month in that it marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great reformer, John Calvin. Even though Calvin is one of the most influential men in history, most people are unaware of the significance of his life and many have misconceptions about his teachings. On our July 12th service , I am going to try to answer the question, “Who was John Calvin and What is Reformed theology?” It is not an easy task to answer those two huge questions but I know it will prove to be a fruitful study.

If you have been paying attention to the news lately, you will have probably noticed that there has been a lot of high profile deaths lately. The deaths of TV personality Ed McMahon, actress Farrah Fawcett, pop star Michael Jackson, and salesman Billy Mays have dominated the news media in recent weeks. Closer to home, Skip Rox, friend of Steve and Cyndi Solinger, went home to be with the Lord this past Tuesday. It has been said that most of society lives in denial of death. Oh sure, we know the statistics that 1 out of 1 dies, but we convince ourselves that we don’t have to worry about death. I fear that even during this time where we are hearing more about “death” in the news than usual, that most people will not stop and ask the hard questions about death. Does how I live in the here and now actually matter for eternity? If I died today would I be ready to meet my Maker? Am I truly living for something bigger and greater than my own little kingdom? Folks, it is my prayer that the people of Hope Church would ask these kinds of questions of themselves and also be concerned for their friends who, perhaps, are not asking these kinds of questions. We just never know when our time on this earth will end. Are you making this day count for eternity?