by Kevin Burton
Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year by at least one measure. Don’t blow your opportunity.
And I’m sure you won’t, dear reader, miss out on your annual “fall back” extra hour of sleep.
Yes, tonight’s the night. Turn back your clock an hour and enjoy an extra-long rest.
But you know, stuff happens. We all have our best intentions. A million things can demand our attention, uproot our focus. You might forget something important like that until the next day. It happens.
If you should forget though, don’t worry. I’ve got your back. You know you can always count on Page 7 to bail you out of a jam.
We have news you can use, and it comes straight from the home office in Ogallala, Nebraska. It’s the top ten things for you to do if you show up at church an hour early.
Have I mentioned I was a big fan of David Letterman, especially the NBC show? Don’t get me started! But this format is obviously borrowed from Letterman.
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He’s been known to borrow gags from others.
So here we go fall back forgetters, you’re an hourly early for Sunday School:
#10 Start the coffee. You’re an hour early, how long can you wait for coffee? If it isn’t already brewing, get that process in motion. This also serves to make it look to others as if you were supposed to be in church an hour early and not that you are just clock-impaired.
#9 Re-set the clocks. If any of the clocks in the church are set manually, fall them back an hour. It’s obviously a service and it reinforces why you are an hourly early. Bet you won’t forget next year will you?
#8 Read the bulletin. You never know what you might find there. There are prayer concerns, opportunities for fellowship and to use your spiritual gifts to meet the needs of the church. The individual members of the body of Christ must work for the spiritual health of each other.
#7 Practice the hymns. They are listed in the bulletin you just read. There is a message in the words. What is that message? How does it apply to you right now? How does it spill out into your week? What Bible passage was the hymn drawn from?
#6 Introduce yourself. Is there anybody in the building you don’t recognize? Say hello. They may need encouragement or just that little bit of human contact. Once in a while it’s just nice to be acknowledged by someone.
#5 Have a cookie. It goes with the coffee. Surely that’s ready by now. The people you just introduced yourself to were probably over by the coffee and cookies.
#4 Pray. Pray that God would open your spiritual eyes to the needs around you, in this church service and in general. Ask God to give you something to do and to prepare you to do it.
God wants your company. He loves it when we pray. Jesus died on the cross to eliminate the separation between God and man.
#3 Talk to the pastor. He is a shepherd by nature, looking for contact with the flock. He may need encouragement too. There are a lot of demands on him.
#2 Write a “to do” list. Is that list any different from the one you might have written yesterday? How many things on your list benefit the kingdom of God?
#1 Clean the bathroom mirror. It’s probably clean already but either way, go through the motions of wiping away any dirt or streaks. Then take a good look into it.
This is self-evaluation. Now, examine the part that no one but God can see.
Take this prayer from Psalm 139: 23-24 (KJV) as your guide:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Maybe you should have done this one first! It would have helped with some of the other tasks. But there’s no time to reflect on that now. It’s almost time for Sunday School.
So you forgot to fall back into bed this morning. But with your extra hour at church you can spring forward in the spiritual sense, always looking to God, relying on Him.
Now you’re ready to hear God speak through the Sunday School lesson and sermon.
Maybe you weren’t really early this morning. Maybe you were right on time. Why not have another cookie?
And, if anybody in Ogallala is reading this, no offense.
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