From the Pastor’s Pen… Dr. Jon Stubblefield

The summer vacation is almost over and schools will be in session in a few days. It is also time for us to gear up for our fall programs. Perhaps you have been absent from Sunday School. It is now time to get back in class. Why not join a choir? We have choirs for all ages. Consider also getting involved in our missions organizations. There are many ways you can exercise your gifts for the Lord.

Consider the following example of sharing and caring. Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to climb Mount Everest. He was 33 years old when he and a Sherpa guide named Tenzing Norgay made the final ascent to the top of the world 29,028 feet above sea level on May 29, 1953. They spent only 15 minutes on top, but news of their accomplishment soon spread around the world. After climbing Mount Everest, Hillary devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal. Through his tireless efforts, many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. One biographer wrote: "Sir Edmund Hillary's status as a hero in Nepal was not about what he did when he stood on the top of the world, but what he did when he came back down."

We may never reach the peak of Mount Everest, but as Christians we have had our own mountaintop experiences. But these will not last forever. At some point we have to come down from the mountain. What then? What are you doing in the valley of service for Christ?