I do anticipate and enjoy the autumn season of each year! School resumes for young people, signaling a return to normalcy in the family unit and in its daily routine, as opposed to a relatively fragmented summer schedule. Though I certainly enjoy the summer months and am appreciative of the added time that families may spend together, it is encouraging to know that families are once again following a fixed schedule of waking at a certain hour, eating breakfast together, praying together, leaving the house either for school or work, and retiring in the evening at a reasonable time. And while this shift occurs in the home, a greater transition may be found outdoors. The deep green leaves of spring and summer fade to rich shades of gold and auburn, artistically littering the sidewalks and streets. Mornings and evenings are cooled by traveling winds, yet unusually warm weather—traces of a pending Indian summer—may still be felt at times.

The autumn season is just one of four that our Lord designed for us, and I regard each one as an opportunity for a fresh, new start in areas of my life and ministry. In fact, I find it amazing the number of opportunities we may find to “restart” our lives: a new decade, a new year, a new season, a new month, a new week, a new day, a new hour, a new minute, etc. Regardless of where we find ourselves at the end of each season or allotment of time—at a position of victory or one of defeat—we should take careful inventory of these areas in our lives and ministries and determine if each one requires a restarting:

  • Personal Prayer and Bible Study Time (How is our daily walk with God?)
  • Family Devotions (Refuel it with new energy and fire.)
  • Christian Service (Consider where the Lord has placed us: Sunday school class, bus route, church choir, church maintenance, etc.)
  • Soul Winning (No doubt, our soul-winning times were interrupted during the summer months with COVID. Perhaps your area has reopened, and you can use this fall season as an opportunity to restart your personal soul-winning endeavors. Line up a soul-winning partner and commit to reaching the lost for Christ Jesus each week. In addition to that weekly time of service, consider carrying church tracts with you every day and passing them out at every opportunity. A preacher friend of mine mentioned that it would be wise if all Christians distributed about ten tracts a day. Let us keep that in mind as we seek to do the Lord’s work.)
  • Personal and Family Budgets (Let us make sure that we are properly using the funds that God has entrusted to our care.)

As the fall season begins, let us remember that it is a time when we can restart our lives and move forward by the grace of God. Though these are just my thoughts on restarting our lives and are simply here to provoke your thinking, my prayer is that God’s people will seriously think about what they have read and then apply it to our lives.

Allow me to end this article by thanking each of you for being a blessing to me. How I love the members of the North Valley Baptist Church as well as our friends around the world who have been an encouragement to me and to this ministry. God bless each of you.

Your friend,
Bro. Trieber

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Pastor Jack Trieber

Pastor Trieber

Pastor Trieber has served as the pastor of the North Valley Baptist Church since March of 1976. He is also the President of Golden State Baptist College.