Sigh

Sigh. Guess we’ll remove the cool, wet towel and take a little time to contemplate the month of August – which we earnestly hope will bring a drop in the temperature and humidity – and perhaps bring a few drops of rain. According to the newspaper, this is turning out to be one of the hottest summers all around the world. Alas, all that heat has brought parching drought to some parts of the world, and devastating storms to others. Insofar as we have very little control over things like the weather. it is probably wise to just cope and accept.
August, no matter the weather, to some passes by way too fast At the end of the month lies the start of school, the end of vacations, and the resumption of the busy schedule that occupies us the rest of the year. On the other hand, while it’s here, it’s the month of harvest – sweet corn, ripe tomatoes, cool watermelons. The month when creative cooks come up with delightful salads – and ice cream, and we all enjoy swimming parties and picnics, and long hours of daylight. At least, that’s how summer months are portrayed on TV. The reality may come up a little short of the idyllic. Health problems, times of grief, and all kinds of concerns and difficulties don’t take a summer vacation. It is, for all of us, a time of sharing the good and the bad.
In a multitude of places in the Gospels, we see that Jesus “had compassion” on people in various situations and troubles. We read how, using parables, He taught His followers to help those we see or know about when trouble arises. We have seen this compassion and caring over and over within our Holland Church family, and we praise the Lord that we have seen this Christianity in action within our own church family. We are a small congregation and cannot take on some of the major projects we read about in the mega-churches. However, through our benevolences and our actions, we have continued to provide a source of worship and fellowship and proclamation for 175 years in this little church on the corner. We’ve helped support missionaries to foreign lands, missions in our big cities, nutritional and medical support for the health of folks near and far, scholarships for our students, good fellowship and more. We’ll never know how many lives have been saved. We’ll never know the peace we have brought to troubled hearts. We’ll never remember how much enlightenment has been received through the many sermons preached here by dedicated pastors.
We are like a lovely summer flower. The beautiful appearance of our sanctuary and friendly faces gives pleasure and peace. The Word is preached here, and like a sweet aroma it drifts far beyond this little corner. Members and visitors come and carry away, like busy honey bees, the riches we have to offer to this neighborhood and beyond. And undergirding it all, is a complex Scriptural soil providing rich nutrition for hungering souls. Unlike that flower, however – which will fade – we, in full confidence, shout our praise to God, Whose wisdom and Word will never fade. Virginia
                                                                           Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9