A CALL TO PRAYER

Summer is almost over and our lives are moving into renewing focus on the 9 month formal education cycle of our children and grandchildren.
Families are readjusting schedules to match the flow of attending
classes, moving to new daily routines, and encouraging lifestyles to
balance sleep, doing homework, packIng lunches and preparing to walk with
their children through the uncertainties of change.

We are directed by God to constantly impress upon our children to "love God with all our hearts and with our souls and our strength." It is at
this time of the year that we add a special group of people to assist us
to fulfill God's commandment of how to live for him to assist us in our
mission to teach our children to "light up His path for living for
God." These special people are our childrens' teachers, school
administrators, board members, bus drivers, crossing guards, social
workers, financial supporters and all others who are involved in the
education process in our schools, churches and special settings. They
have choosen to answer God's call for their lives by educating our
children with a dedication exceeds the energy, gifts and training that
we may not possess.

So it is this morning that I call on each of us to lift each of these special people up in prayer as they revamp their schedules, prepare lessons, sharpen
their skills, and accept the challenge to join us in training our
children. I encourage you to pray for wisdom, God's leading, patience,
gentleness, strength, teaching skills, and balance in their own lives to
enable them to fulfill our mutual resposibility to teach our children
to follow God.

The ministry of educating our children to "love God with all our hearts and with our souls and our strength" is a team effort. Make this the first day of
each day of this school year to pray for our ministers of education as
together we "bring up our children to walk in the ways of the Lord."

in His name, Steve Schoon