First, a word of confession.  I have always hated summer.  Well, not always, just the last 16 years.  When I turned 20 I began working on a church staff.  That was when I realized just how many people were gone from church during the summer months.  Growing up in church I didn’t pay attention to how many people were in service or the holidays affect on church attendance.  When I began working at church, it became amazingly evident that with all the joys of summer brought massive slides in church attendance.  So, I began to dislike summer.  Thirteen weeks of low attendance, week after week of people being gone and you don’t know if they are on extended vacation, spending the summer at the lake or have just quit coming to church.

Second, another word of confession.  When I began pastoring six years ago I would have a countdown of exactly how many Sundays were left before summer ended and school began.  I would eagerly check off each Sunday as it came knowing we were one week closer to school starting and everyone being back.

Then, last year, I decided to change that.  I got tired of being frustrated 25% of the year.  So, I decided to have a better attitude towards summer.  I wasn’t going to complain about it.  And, I didn’t.  I started to enjoy the summer.  People in our church office can testify that I was much better last year.

This year, I’ve really turned a corner.  I now have grown to love summer.  I am enjoying staying up late with my kids and swimming at the pool with them.  I am really enjoying not having to help get my boys up early, fed breakfast, dressed and out the door so early.  Marcy and I are doing landscaping, staining the deck and we even built horseshoes pits two weeks ago.  I am having a blast this summer!  I am excited every Sunday morning to come to church and worship, knowing that God is good and worthy of our praise regardless of how many cars are in the parking lot that day.

So, why in the world am I sharing this?  First, they say confession is good for the soul.  More importantly, to try to share with you something important I have learned.  I want as many people to be in church every Sunday as possible.  I want to see our worship services full and our hallways crowded.  But, because summer attendance is always so much lower than the school year, I was letting that bother me too much and it affected my attitude.  There is nothing wrong with wishing more people were in worship, but the decisions or circumstances of other people should not keep me from giving complete worship to the Lord.  God is just as deserving of my praise on Sunday morning whether we have 700 people in the church building or 1000.  I am enjoying preaching now more than I ever have.  I am being more blessed through our congregational worship the past few weeks than ever before. 

So, what about you?  What do you let hinder your worship?  Does the stock market keep you from giving God all your best in worship?  Does the record of your favorite sports team hold too much influence on the level of your participation in worship?  Maybe there is someone that you allow to have too much control over your attitude and it is a hindrance in your relationship with the Lord.  Does your satisfaction in Christ during worship rise or fall based on if your favorite song is sung that day?  There are 10,000 different things that we can let rob us of our complete joy and satisfaction in Jesus.  He is greater than those things and He is worthy of our very best praise! 

I want to encourage you to enjoy your summer (every single day of it!) and also to not let anything get in the way of loving the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength!

I’ll see you Sunday at 10 AM for our One Combined Worship Service this Sunday, July 5^th,

Michael