June 22, 2022
Leadership Notes
"Summer Breeze" Edition
I love the changes summer brings. There's a different ebb-and-flow to our longer days. Schedules are less pressing. The rope holding our responsibilities together seems to slacken a bit. For most of us, most summer months are a welcome change.
One of the best summer songs of all time debuted in 1972. "Summer Breeze," by Seals and Crofts, reached #6 on the Billboard charts. It was a lovely, gentle ode to the beauty of summer. Here's my favorite section:
Sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom July is dressed up and playing her tune And I come home from a hard day's work And you're waitin' there Not a care in the world See the smile awaitin' in the kitchen Through cookin' and the plates for two Feel the arms that reach out to hold me In the evening when the day is through Summer breeze makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind Summer breeze makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Give me a warm summer day, sitting in the shade, drinking a favorite cold beverage, and I could get lost in that song. Or "Blackbird," by The Beatles. Also, any music by Nat King Cole, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, or Sam Cooke. How about you? What is your go-to music for a relaxing day?
{Side note - Jim Seals died earlier this month at the age of 79. He was born on my birth date, October 17, and died on my youngest son's birth date, June 6.}
These songs of summer make me think about a great hymn of praise - "Great is Thy Faithfulness":
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father There is no shadow of turning with Thee Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
I don't know why, but that song puts me in a summer place. It gives me a sense of peace like a gently flowing river. The Bible captures the moments when Jesus took breaks away from the crush of life. It is a reminder we need to take advantage of more simple things. We know God in these places and moments.
Staying with pop culture for just another moment, one of the most enjoyable and hugest summer movies was "Back to the Future," released in 1985. If that movie came out this summer, it would have taken place in 1992.
Here's a passage which goes well with a warm summer day:
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called
he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
- Romans 8:30
That brings such contentment and peace of mind! Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed, "The very fact that we are told that we are already glorified is a guarantee that salvation is all the result of God's purpose and God's action. So we cannot fall out of it; we cannot finally be lost…" That is as fine as a summer breeze, but magnified to the nth degree. God is good all the time…
And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:
Jesus did not die for our righteousness, but He died for our sins.
He did not come to save us because we were worth the saving,
but because we were utterly worthless, ruined, and undone.
SOLI DEO GLORIA…
To the Glory of God Alone!
With Much Love and Affection,
Richard