VBS @ Enola - We're Traveling to the Promised Land

Hello from up in the country, Enola, Arkansas.  We had a great beginning to our annual VBS this evening with 119 in attendance.  We have sessions for every age; babies, adults, and every age in between.  Our theme is “The Promised Land or Bust.”  We’re studying from the Old Testament this year about the flight of the people of God out of Egypt to the Land of Canaan.  Thank you to every Christian who is so generous with their time and talents to make our VBS the great success it is.  God knows and so do we, what a blessing it is to meet together for Bible study, worship, and fellowship.  We are so very blessed.

Our VBS will continue Monday evening through Wednesday evening at 7:00 each evening.  Maybe you can make the drive up in the country to visit.  We would love to see you.  And the trip would do you good.

Can you believe it?  Our teachers have only three weeks left before the new school year will begin.  Our students have a few extra days of summer break and they’ll be back to school too.  My, my, where has the summer gone?  We are growing.  And that’s a good thing.

We concluded our Sunday morning sermon series entitled “When Faith is a Struggle” today with a lesson about God’s providence.  When we suffer God doesn’t explain it.  People try to explain suffering, but God doesn’t.  When we suffer God usually doesn’t remove it.  We may pray for God to remove our suffering and sometimes He does, but not usually.  He knows that suffering produces perseverance.  Perseverance produces character.  Character produces hope.  The Holy Spirit tells every one of us this in Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 5, verses 1-5.  Read this for yourself and see.  He writes about our faith in Christ that saves us.  Our salvation in Christ makes peace between us and God because our sins have been forgiven.  Because we have peace with God, we have access to His grace and stand in it every day.  Our hope for now and for forever is founded in God.  Then Paul writes about how good it is to suffer and why.  The little phrase “No Pain – No Gain” is true.  Think about this too:  “Know Pain – Know Gain.”  This is also true.  It is difficult to suffer, but let us follow God’s plan and purpose and let suffering produces patience and then let patience have its perfect work (James 1).

I want to say a word or two about the 5^th Annual Gospel Crusade we all enjoyed last week at UCA in Conway.  What a wonderful opportunity the crusade was to showcase the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in such a dynamic fashion.  Every preacher taught the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth right from the Bible.  Every person who attended left encouraged in the faith and motivated to continue the fight for what is good and right.  I know I did.  Every year the gospel crusade gets better and better.  Thank you to my fellow Christians in Faulkner County, Arkansas for letting the light of Christ shine so brightly.  Let’s keep it up.