By Doug Creamer

We had our annual spring work day at church last Saturday. Our leadership team created a long list of things that needed to be done around our church. If given a choice of working inside or outside, I will always choose working outside. There were quite a few things that needed to be spruced up outside and I was looking forward to getting them done.

Our pastor was concerned about the weather forecast for Saturday. Most of my loyal readers know about my love for weather, so I’m considered our church’s meteorologist. I follow the weather daily, and sometimes, hourly. My weakness is that I do not follow daily highs and lows. I am more interested in the next weather event.

Back to Saturday’s forecast. We knew rain was coming, but we were unsure about the timing. The front that came through last weekend was the one that brought the tornadoes to the Deep South. Pastor wanted to know if we needed to be concerned about getting a shower or the possibility of severe storms during our work day. I studied the models and forecasts and thought the rain would hold off until after our work day.

I rolled out of bed Saturday morning to the sound of thunder. I knew I was in for a good ribbing from my pastor and the congregation. I tried to hide when I arrived at church but my pastor announced my arrival with some healthy teasing and lots of laughter. I laughed the hardest and pointed out that the rain stopped as I walked in. We were able to get a lot of work done outside despite the fact that we had a couple of light sprinkles pass through while we worked.

Some people chose to work inside, changing lightbulbs, cleaning up areas, getting the nursery ready for a couple of new babies that will be arriving soon, and a number of other things to make our church more inviting. The crew that worked outside got the weeds out of the flower beds, cleaned out the gutters, put out new pine needles and trimmed up some of trees, among other things, to make the outside welcoming.

We had lots of fun laughing and talking while we worked. I love my church family. We are always there for each other. We are also blessed to have a nice place to call our home. Just like the places we all live, our homes, our church home needs to be maintained. We have to consider what people might think when they visit us. We want to make the best possible impression on our visitors.

Maintaining our churches is important if we hope to attract new people to follow Christ. One of our main purposes is to attract new people to the faith, to reach out to the lost. We need to work at keeping our churches up-to-date and well maintained. The same can be said for ourselves in both a physical and spiritual way.

My dad who is now #*% years old (I am not allowed to print that number) does a lot to stay physically active. He goes to the gym regularly, walks multiple times a week, and plays golf multiple times a week. He has been a good example to me about taking care of himself physically. He has cheered me on since I began walking on a regular basis. He will tell you that staying physically active will help you stay healthy.

Equally important in my mind is maintaining our spiritual lives. Our spirits can’t thrive without a regular intake of God’s word. There is so much wisdom available to us about how to live our daily lives. It’s full of promises to help us through the dark times in life. We also need to pray, not just for our needs but for the needs of others and for our churches. Our spirits really need to be in fellowship with other believers. You can encourage and be encouraged. It is vital that we maintain our close relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I want to encourage you to work on maintaining your physical and spiritual well-being. God calls our body a temple. He comes to reside in us, so He wants a well-maintained home. He also wants to work through us to reach the lost and hurting with His hope. There are people all around you who need the Lord. A well-maintained life prepares you for those opportunities. I encourage you to maintain your relationship with God, take good care of your spiritual and physical body, and be an active part of your church family.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.