All summer the date of August 17 has been standing out in my mind. Why? It's freshmen move in day at Appalachian State University here in Boone, home of the mountaineers. Why would I be looking forward to this day? I anticipate it will be at least a hundred degrees, even in Boone on that day, and the town will be flooded with five times the normal amount of traffic, and campus will be full of lots of new students and new parents dropping off their kids for the first time. I look forward to this day because I have never seen such hospitality on freshmen move in day as I did last year here at ASU. Several folks from our church and I went over to the campus to help freshmen move their things into the dorm that day. What was so great, was the awesome hospitality of other students who had already moved in, or upper class men, who came to work for the whole day helping students haul in their things for the very first time. It was a time to share the love of Christ with service and talk to lots of young people and invite them to church.
I share a picture today with you of the ASU football stadium as a hint of a great season to come. Fall is close at hand with cooler weather, and yes, the start of football season. Anticipation of a great new season is in the air and in the paper with record preseason sales! Best wishes to the leader of the team, DeAndre Presley, who is the quarterback for the ASU Football team. Having had the opportunity to meet with DeAndre, I know that he has great potential on the football field, and off the field as a strong leader and witness for Christ. Our church is literally in hearing distance of the football stadium. Living in the parsonage here at Deerfield, on game day, I can stand outside on my front porch and hear the band practicing before the game, just how awesome is that? I am looking forward to the return of the students, the arrival of new students and the opportunity to share the love of Christ with tons of young people that God has arranged to be right at our back door.
In the mean time, we want to give the Lord praise for the opportunity to return the gift of hospitality to the First Presbyterian Church while they are rebuilding from a small fire a few weeks ago that delayed their being able to start worship in their new facility about a mile down the road from us. Deerfield is truly gifted in the area of hospitality, and in our time of need, we surely received it, and now we are more than glad to be able to pass it on to our neighbors. To any new ASU student coming to Boone in the next couple of weeks, please forward this article to them and tell them, there is a United Methodist Congregation praying for them already and looking for the opportunity to serve them while they are living here in Boone. When it comes to making you feel at home, Deerfield is on the ball! The phone number to Deerfield UMC is 828-264-7130. Call us for more information about our services and upcoming Bible studies.
Let's pray our way forward
Let the children come to me. Jesus
