The Thrill of Summer

Catching a good set on the north coast? Laughing your way down the log flume at the theme park? Windsurfing across the bay? Sweating with granny in the tropics at Eden? Sharing a bag of chips in a romantic evening walk around the harbour to catch the sunset? Clubbing the night away at a foam party with a bunch of mates?

Cornwall in the summer – and everyone, from the Prime Minister and his family to the local teenage dirtbag, is looking for that special thrill that will live on in the memory long into the winter.

Solomon was a guy who knew how to party. He loved the wine, women and song. He had his own d-i-y vineyards, he brought in the top male and female singers and he had 300 concubines (just in case his 700 wives didn’t satisfy him!)

But having had the summer of his life, this was the conclusion he came to: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. Yet when I surveyed all that I had done, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.” He realised he had left God out of the picture and so nothing counted for eternity.

So at the conclusion of his book (called Ecclesiastes in the Bible) he offers this advice: “Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement. So then, banish anxiety from your heart, and cast off the troubles from your body, for youth and vigour are meaningless. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.”

So have a great summer. Catch that thrill, gain that memory, but make it count for eternity. God is where it’s at.