Not forsaking our assembling together. . . Hebrews 10:25

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Thinking of summer brings to mind many memories. I think of hot days sitting outside under the big oak tree in the evenings to get out of the heat and of hot nights when window fans drew the cooler night air through my open bedroom window providing some relief. Thinking of summer reminds me of the lazy days when as kids we would climb our favorite trees in the woods and sit for hours in the cool shade on big limbs talking about whatever kids talk about. I think of pesky gnats that added insult to the injury of the heat as we chopped long rows in the garden or picked butter beans. Later we would sit under the cool shade of that oak tree shelling those beans, shucking corn or snapping beans for what seemed like eternity. I think of hours spent at the neighborhood ponds hoping to catch that legendary big bass or riding bikes or roaming the woods looking for salamanders or wading the creek looking for crawdads. We anticipated the week in June when we would visit grandparents on their farm in North Carolina and sometimes take a short trip to Carolina Beach or to the Beaufort Inlet to fish. We also looked forward to our grandparents, aunts and uncles visiting us on the 4th of July. For the Bachelor boys (there are 4 off us brothers) shirts and shoes came off when school was finished and didn't go back on until school started back except for Wednesday nights and Sundays. Kids these days don't grow up with tension between hard work, discomfort and adventure that we did. Those were good days.

One thing about those days is that our family kept priorities in order through the summer. With all the disruption to normal schedules that summer brings, it didn't distract our family from church. If we were in town, we were at church. My father made church a priority for our family and he made sure it remained that way in the summer. When the door was open we were there. We were there not only because we out to be but because we needed to be. Somewhere along the way my parents figured out that 4 active boys needed to be in a place where they would be a part of appropriate worship, receive the teaching of the Word and be surrounded by other faithful believers. As we enter the summer season, remember that it is still church season. Stay faithful in attending, inviting, giving and praying even when your regular patterns are disrupted.