In Madison Indiana each Summer, we always looked forward to a couple of events. On the 4th of July, each year, they held a marvelous parade down Main Street. When I was little, little I loved the bands but especially the candy thrown from the floats. Years later, I would march in the local high school band each 4th.
Towards the end of Summer, we had the county 4-H Fair. Now, 4-H, unlike the parade that I would go onto participate in, I never had any urge to join the 4-H. That was for country kids. It involved raising animals and one of my brothers was allergic to all things bearing hair! Nothing against Country Kids … I just wasn’t one of them. It was cool seeing so many of my classmates get so deeply involved. They’d wear their dark blue 4-H jackets even though it was 90 degrees out! And of course my draw to their event was the Funnels Cakes and the Rides.
I still love Funnel Cakes and Carnie food. I’m not so adventuresome with the rides.
I looked into the 4-H in order to write this article. I have always been a fan of Boy Scouts, but had not given the same type of respect to the 4-H. Here’s some stuff I found interesting about them:
4-H stands for:
• Head – Managing, Thinking
• Heart – Relating, Caring
• Hands – Giving, Working
• Health – Being, Living
Their pledge is …. “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, My heart to greater loyalty, My hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world”.
What I got out of my exploration was … that these were more than kids raising goats and pigs. They were learning to mature into wonderful participants and contributors of society.
And then it occurred to me that the best things in life require a bit of framework. Like for instance, this Summer can end up being 6 weeks of lost time. Or 6 weeks of fun and excitement but still not much substance. What if we took a Deuteronomy 6 approach and framed this Summer with God exploration? That every event and effort was allowed to lead to God’s glory. Imagine what an eternally memorable Summer this would be!
Maybe we’ll form the 4-F Club … Fun, Family, Food and Faith!
Happy Summer Church Family!
Craig
Ephesians 4:21 “… to HIM be the Glory …”