For the past few weeks Luke and I have been spending the majority of our spare time building some new pens for the kids 4-H pigs.  We both enjoy these kind of projects, so it’s something we are eager to work on.  One evening while we were hard at work I noticed  a lot of "complaining" coming from Madelyn's two heifers.  I ignored them and kept working because we were eager to reach a certain point in our project.  Next, one of the dogs kept coming up behind me and sticking her nose under my arm.  I batted her away a few times and kept my focus on the matter at hand.  When we finally finished up for the night and prepared to go inside, I realized why the animals had been acting so weird - it was much later than I thought, and they were trying to tell me it was past time for them to eat or go in!!  By this point in the day I usually would have already fed the livestock and gathered all the dogs into the house.  I was so focused on my project that I had neglected my regular daily duties, and as I finally walked back to the house I noticed a few other things that  needed my attention as well.  

So where am I going with this?  I know we are all looking forward to and eagerly anticipating the new education building.  It’s a project that has been a long time coming and we are finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  But, as the church and followers of Christ, we also have certain duties and responsibilities that Jesus expects us to keep up with.   We have a duty to serve each other (1 Peter 4:10),  a duty to encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), a duty to help carry each others burdens (Galatians 6:2), and a duty to pray for each other (James 5:16).  Unfortunately we all live way too busy lives, constantly have a hand held device barking at us, and a lot of other things competing for our attention.  And it’s very easy to be so focused on one thing  (or too many things)  that we forget about our service responsibilities to God and to each other.  Sometimes we feel that we aren't adequate for the job, but the best thing about serving God is that He does the heavy lifting, we just need to make ourselves available to be used by Him.  

As we continue to plan, anticipate, and look ahead to a new facility that hopefully will be used for Gods service for years to come, I would encourage us all  to stop,  and look around for opportunities to serve, encourage, carry, or pray for each other.  It will bring us closer as a church family, and closer to God. 

Matt Saxe

Elder