Okay, now that I'm posting it on the Internet, this info isn't top-secret anymore. But that's assuming that anybody actually reads this blog. :) Anyway, plans have finally come together for The Youth Group's Great Summer Getaway...

announcing:

4 days/4 nights in "God's Country"

If you are in The Youth Group and you can tell me where we're going, without asking anyone related to me, I just might give you a prize on Wednesday. Haha. Cheers!

Last night was the first Sunday-night home prayer meeting that we've had in a loooong time... and I was so happy about it!! As I looked around the circle, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or pray harder. (I just prayed harder) Prayer was fervent, white-hot, positively vibrant with the life of God!

How can mere words describe spiritual things? The Scriptures speak eloquently because they are the words of God. But my words fall short in telling of His glory.

"The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much." James 5:16
I am holding to His promise that He remains faithful to His own Word. That He will perform His Word. That He will soften hearts of stone. That He will accomplish that which seems impossible to me. That He will strengthen the weak. That He will uphold the stumbling. That He will grace those with only inability. That He will glorify Himself!

It's not official yet. There are three more weeks until the calendar agrees with me, but I'm sure that summer is here.

Why do I think it's summer?
It is HOT. Yesterday it was 89 degrees. And humid. There is RAIN. Not just any rain. Not the cool spring rain, but the true summer thunderstorm. Preceded by random forked lightning in a gray-and-white sky and the distinct, overpowering smell of rain in the air. There was a brief downpour, and then the rest of the evening was filled with ominous rumblings of thunder. Well, ominous to some people. I was happy to fall asleep to the rolling thunder. :)

Yes, summer is here.
I know it because the college students are gone. One of the beauties of living in a college town is that the population suddenly diminishes on the day finals are over. All of the sudden, the streets are empty! The restaurants are empty! The stores are empty! In the morning, during my drive to work, I drive straight through town--just to gloat over the fact that the only pedestrians I see are the occasional street cleaner or meter maid. And I am the lone runner on the track in the IM building. Oh yeah!!... but then, the summer campers arrive. Like the 25 tennis players doing drills in the IM building. I would run a lap and wonder, "is that red-headed kid the red-headed girl's brother? They look related. Hmmmm." It's food for thought anyway. :)

Summer is my favorite time of year.
But my definition of summer; the time when plants are so green that the world seems almost technicolor... Surreal summer... what I think heaven will look like.