Ahhh summer at last

Summer has come to Sweden. This cold country has warmed up to the point where a few minutes ago I heard someone in the distance doing a karaoke of the George Gershwin Song, “Summertime”. Let’s see, “Summer time and the living is easy, fish are jumping and the cotton is high…” Yes, the person I heard singing did butcher the song, but being a Southerner my self raised in Florida, the song still brought back good memories for me.

I love summer here in Sweden. Growing up in Florida the sun was an enemy. Here in Sweden the sun is definitely a friend. You don’t always see it a lot and when it comes you feel like dropping everything else you are doing and just enjoy it. I once heard about missionaries who lived in the jungles working with tribal people. In the middle of an important moment when the missionary was talking with a native and felt like he was really getting some place a bee would fly by and everything would stop because the natives wanted the honey and so they left everything (including the conversation) and went after the bee. Well that’s the way it is with summer here. When summer comes you just want to enjoy it. Soon the warm days of summer will be over and winter will come again. If you don’t take the time to enjoy it, it is all gone.

A lot of life is that way if you think about it. The older I get the more I realize that if I don’t take the time to do something I really want to do right now I might not ever do it. Sometimes in life you just have to stop what you are doing and take the time to do the things you really want to do. I have read e-mails that were sent to me where someone wrote saying that if they had life to live over again they would spend more time doing this or that. I hope that I won’t have to write such an e-mail at the end of my life. I want to enjoy life today and at the same time plan for tomorrow.

The Bible verse that I think about today is Psalm 37:4 where the Psalmist writes, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When the sun shines I need to take the time to enjoy it, but I can’t control when it shines. It comes and goes when it wills. But I can delight myself in the Lord. This is one thing that I can control. No, I can’t control the Lord, but I can take the time each day to delight myself in Him. When I delight myself in Him He promises to give me the desires of my heart. Wow, that sounds even better than a sunny Swedish summer.

Saturday night live in Vårberg.

One of my favorite times of the week in Vårberg takes place late Saturday night. A few friends and I like to put up a table on the sidewalk between the two Vårberg pubs. We bring coffee and tea in thermoses and serve hot drinks to people between 12:00 midnight and 3:00 am in the morning. As Christians we desire to share God’s love with people by serving them a hot cup of coffee or tea as they are coming home on the subway or visiting a local pub in our community.

Vårberg has been given a lot of bad publicity recently in Stockholm. It is known for acts of violence near the pubs on the weekends. Some Vårberg people are actually scared to be out at night on the weekends. I have read some articles in the local newspaper that makes our community sound terrible.

We desire to be part of the answer to Vårberg’s problems instead of sitting back and reading about them in the newspaper. No one can force people to behave well! But we believe we can be a good influence on the behavior of others. We believe that our lives can make a difference in our society. We have met some really wonderful people late at night on the streets of Vårberg. We have enjoyed a cup of coffee or tea with many of them. If you are up late in Vårberg on Saturday nights come by and join us for a cup of coffee or tea. We want to get to know you and share God’s love with you.

Check out the pictures under Links and Saturday nights.