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Newsletter June 2007

Summer In Alaska

Well, here it is…Summertime in Alaska. It is always a beautiful sight to see the trees begin to produce those little lime-green, mouse-ear-sized leaves and the Fiddlehead Ferns begin to poke their musical heads up above the decaying leftovers from last summer’s crop. After a dark winter, even the green leaves on the devils club stalks and the dandelions look good to me. And, of course, the tools you left in the yard that got buried in last fall’s snowfall are now right where you left’em and ready for use. If it seems a little bit harder to bend over to pick up those tools, I guess that signals another rite of summer…walking off the winter accumulation of lard and stiff joints. I’ll see you on the bike path or down by the beach.

Another sure sign of summer is that the activity level for all of us seems to hit hyper-drive as we try to cram nine months of outside activity into five or six. Relatives will begin to pay their annual visits with us or we will head for family reunions and weddings down there in that hot, humid Lower 48. Commercial fishermen and their families, along with cannery and construction workers are gearing up for the trademark frenzy of hard work and sleepless nights that define “summer in Alaska.” Personally, I hope you have a great summer…catch lots of fish, find the mother lode of blueberries, and have your best garden ever.

About two thousand years ago, in a land and culture far away from Alaska, another rite of spring was that many Jewish families made the long trek from their rural villages to the big city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. They didn’t travel in motor homes or on four wheelers, but took the slower method of walking or riding on donkeys or camels.
When he was twelve years old, Jesus and his family were among the thousands of trekkers working their way along the dusty roads for this celebration. The story is in Luke Chapter 2 and is probably most familiar where Joseph and Mary somehow got lost sight of young Jesus and it took three days to finally find him. He was, as he put it, being “about his father’s business.” I can imagine Mary and Joseph were more than a little upset worrying about how they would explain to God that they had lost HIS SON.

While there are many applications of this story that are helpful and instructive for us, I just want to make the point that in the hubbub of activity and busyness that are earmarks of summer, it is easy for us to also lose sight of Jesus. When fatigue and must do projects are jostling to see who can be first in line, it is very easy to set our personal and intimate relationship with Jesus on the back burner of our camp stove. All I am saying is this, be sure to take time to read God’s word and spend some time talking with God. After all, He is the one who created this “land of the midnight sun” and it would not surprise me that He would enjoy going on one of those sunset walks along the beach with you.

God Bless You.

Wayne Coggins

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