Did summer ever really get here? Now, it's almost gone. The Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. Somehow, it slipped by me. I remember as a small child how summer days lasted forever and the summer season was a lifetime. Then, my worries centered around anthills, wasps, blacksnakes, and gaining control of the nightly TV from my three older sisters. Of course, we only had one black and white TV and our rural location allowed reception of only three channels, one of which was spotty at best.

As I grew older, it was those long summer days that made me appreciate work and anything else outside a tobacco field. Laboring in upper 90 degree weather next to a stalk of tobacco will either form or break your work ethic. In my case, it made me be very thankful for any other kind of work.

Now, I still work hard, and even though I'm usually in an air conditioned environment, the heat can still be stifling at times. Now, summers pass without notice of arrival. I'm reminded of Psalm 37:25, " I have been young, and now am old." I used to say how much faster time passes as we age. I realize now it's not that time is moving faster, it's that we are too busy to notice. When we do come up for air, we say, 'How can this week already be over?"

The Book of James is one of my favorites. It contains the passage, in James 4:14, that pretty much sums up everything, " For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away." But before we vanish, and the Lord takes us to our real home, we face things like skin cancer.

There was a spot on my bald head that refused to heal, so a few days ago I visited a dermatologist. The spot turned out to be pre cancerous, so Doctor Tart sprayed the freon like solution on it to freeze it. He said there is a 92% chance that will take care of it. He was such a nice man and a Lutheran. Upon leaving, I was struck by the number of elderly patients in the waiting room. Then I realized, I'm very close to that group.

From slow, lazy summer days to pre cancerous spots on my bald head.

...and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver. Isaiah 46:4

Praise the Lord!

Jim Jernigan