We involved our boys in making plans for vacation each year. For most of their childhood, we spent our vacations at the beach. Until my oldest was in elementary school, we really didn’t have vacations. We were a one-income family, I was finishing a doctorate, and the cost of that was very challenging, so we really didn’t start vacations until then. My experiences of the beach had not been good ones, but my wife was raised in the tropics, and beach life was just assumed. So, year after year, we began our planning and saving early. We had our “100-day party” as we counted down until our departure. We stayed right on the beach, and that was our entire entertainment. We boogie-boarded, chased crabs, snorkeled for sand dollars, and ate so much shrimp that we were nearly exoskeletal! Including them in planning was part of the fun.

This Sunday, our church family will have its greatest involvement in a family decision that could affect us for decades: we will nominate people to serve on our Pastor Search Committee. I have been thinking quite a lot about whom to nominate. That team will work hard to assess our church’s needs and find the right match for those needs. It’s no small matter. So please, join me in praying over those choices. Be sure YOU use the opportunity which God has entrusted to you. Our family is depending on it!

To submit the name(s) of the persons you wish to be nominated, click here.