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Is there a blessing in $4-a-gallon gasoline? Before I pull up to the pump, I have to consult my banker, just to see if I can. While at the pump, I have to avert my eyes. It is just too painful to watch! While driving away, I pray that my trip will be downhill in both directions!

How will we live with gas at these record levels? (Somehow the rest of the world has figured it out, but it will be new ground for us!)

Will we conserve more? Will we take our gas money from our tithe? Will we stay home or close to home more? Will we move worship into Fellowship Hall this winter? Will we do more tele/video conferencing?  Will we spend an inordinate amount of time grousing or will we look for God's lesson in the midst of the pain?

This disruption in business as usual may cause us to evaluate what we have been taking for granted. If we must decrease our busy-ness level, will we increase our relational functioning? Do we remember how? (I drove by a duplex the other day, and there must have been 10 people on the front steps talking and laughing? What could they find to talk about?)

  • Can your church help us to live in personal relationship more?
    (To paraphrase John, if we can't relate to those whom we see,
    how do we think we can relate to God whom we don't see?)
  • Can we do more basic, "be-ing" type things and less "do-ing"
    type things?
    Can we expand our meditation, prayer, conversation and good
    old-fashioned covered dish suppers?
  • Can we get further by not driving farther?

I hope so. 

Now let me offer one very practical suggestion: camp! That's right. Tucked in the woods at Groton and Ocean Park are two wonderful camping programs for youth and whole families, and grandparents, too! Drive once, and enjoy a week of blessing and growth, fun and faith, fellowship, and food! Your car won't waste any gas while in sits in the parking lot at GrotonWood or OceanWood for a week! And you will have the time of your life! I am going myself—The week of July 20th at Oceanwood. See you there!