I have always believed that the year for most people begins when school starts.  Sure, I know that has does not jive with the calendar, but it is true just the same.  For some reason, we have the tendency to make major adjustments when school starts even if we do not have kids.  All of us seem to get caught up in the moment.
This becomes a time of new opportunity.  It is important that we make the best use of these opportunities.  Some of them you have seen before.  Perhaps you are going through the same routine that you did last year.  It becomes easy for us to treat some of these opportunities as a part of the status quo.  That is not the case.
This week I was taking with our staff about some activities here at the church.  I was taking about our high attendance day, the beginning of discipleship and Awana, the start up of Mops, the beginning of school and the planning for our Missions conference.  All of these we have done before.  We know what to do but we should not take those opportunities for granted.  We will run across people that are experiencing these events for the first time.  They come with a whole set of needs and desires.  This is our chance.  What we do with these days is important!
What we do is important because it touches people’s lives for all of eternity.  There will be people that walk into these activities and we will have one chance to make a difference in their lives.
This Fall will be unlike any we have ever had.  We need to act like it.  When you come to church, “come prayed up” expecting God to do something in your life and the lives of others.  We are not interested in maintaining the status quo!