Keep On Learning

Ephesians 3:14-19

Any date can be used in this message.  The needed statistics and facts may be found by searching your date on https://www.everything-birthday.com.  

Good morning, boys and girls!  Today is August 5.  Some pretty important things happened in different years on August 5.  Let me share with you just a few of them:

• In 1858, the first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed by Mr. Cyrus W. Field
• In 1861, the U.S. levies its first Income Tax
• On August 5, 1884 the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid
• In 1921, baseball was first broadcast on the radio (Pirates-8; Phillies-0)
• In 1057 American Bandstand first aired on network TV
• In 1969 the Mariner 7 spacecraft flies past Mars, and finally,
• I was born on August 5!

I'm not going to tell you in which year I was born, but I can tell you that I am 22,645 days old.  I have been alive for 543,480 hours, or 32,608,800 minutes.  I have spent 21 years of my life sleeping.

All this is to say that I have been around for quite a long time.  

Now, guess what I'm doing at the end of this month.  I'm going to band camp!  At band camp, I will sleep in a bunk bed, eat in a dining hall, but most important, I will learn how to play my flute better.  And next month, I am going to go to a Leadership Institute to learn how to become a better pastor, and hopefully pick up some ideas that will help us all to grow into a better church as well.

I'm sure there are some days that you are kind of tired of school.  But you know what?  There is so much to know in this world that we need to keep open to learning our entire lives--whether we go to classes and seminars or read books or engage in interesting conversations with other people, God wants us to keep on learning even when we are finished with school.  This is also true with studying the Bible.  Even if you read the entire book from cover-to-cover, you will discover new things about God and your relationship with God each time you look at a passage.

Prayer:  All-knowing God, may we always be curious and eager to learn about your world and our place in it, about you and your love for us, about how we might serve you better each day.  Amen.