DOG DAYS

Are you familiar with the expression?

"Dog Days" are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, they usually fall between early July and early September…. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress. The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, was somehow responsible for the hot weather.

We are in the “Dog Days” literally and figuratively! It’s time to shake out of the doldrums and get back to making some progress. Spiritual stagnation can never be the will of God. As a mariner comes into dead calm, and prays for a fresh wind to blow, so we must set our sails and cry out to God for the wind of heaven to come!

I understand that it is hard to build any momentum in the life of the church during summer. It can be a season to catch your breath and God is not opposed to that—after all He designed the concept of Sabbath! We need a vacation from time to time. I’ve taken one myself.

But now, the summer is nearly spent and it’s time for what comes at the end of summer—the season of harvest! There is work to do in the Lord’s field and it is now time to roll up our sleeves and let scriptural inspiration move us to spiritual perspiration!

I want to challenge you to reconnect to your church family. Don’t let a time of being away become a trend of being absent. Habits of worship, Bible study, prayer, witnessing and giving are holy habits—spiritual disciplines that need consistency if there is to be maturity. Bad habits can become ingrained easily, too, if we let them. We are creatures of habit, aren’t we?

The Lord Jesus who walked the weary way to Calvary, wounded and bleeding, to die for us, deserves our absolute allegiance and affections. His mission to the world calls us to give and go that all may hear the good news that Jesus saves.

God has done, is doing and will do great things through Pole Creek, but that means that each of us needs to do what we can. A little lad’s lunch—only five loaves and two fish—placed in the hands of Christ can feed thousands!

Let’s seek God’s blessing in unprecedented ways! I’m dog-tired of dog days!