A Good [Wo]man Is Easy To Find: So often when we seek a mentor what we have in mind is a unicorn. We want them to be tender and firm, gentle and wise, learned and simple—we want a man or woman who fully embodies the Christian ideal. The problem is: that man or woman doesn’t exist. That person is Jesus, our only Savior.

Parenting Well In A Digital World: Even at the best of times there is nothing simple about raising children. But throw in a million new technologies—new devices and social networks and apps—and things get far more complicated still. This is every parent’s challenge today.

Looking Forward To A Heaven We Can Imagine: I have every reason to believe that in heaven, I will be closer to my wife and kids and grandkids than ever. It won’t be the end of our relationships, but they’ll be taken to a new level. Our source of comfort isn’t only that we’ll be with the Lord in heaven but also that we’ll be with each other.

The Gospel According To Pinterest: Pinterest has given me some wonderful recipes and household tips that have blessed my family. Yet I must remember that my salvation is in Christ, and in Him alone. My salvation is not the result of my own efforts; it is because I was chosen in Him (v. 4) and accepted in Him (v. 6), because I have been redeemed in Him (v. 7) and have obtained an inheritance in Him (v. 11), because I have trusted in Him, and have been sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of that inheritance (vv.13-14).

One Bible, Many Interpretations: When I teach theology courses, I always make a point of telling my students that a number of the things I’ll teach them will be untrue. I never intend to teach wrongly, of course, and I work hard to ensure my teaching is as accurate and helpful as possible, but the reality is that I will teach some things that are incorrect. When that happens, though, I don’t want anyone to think it’s because the Bible isn’t clear where it intends to be. It may be that the Bible wasn’t intended to address the particular question I’m asking, or it may be that I’ve been waylaid by some combination of ignorance, carelessness, and sin. It certainly won’t be because the Scriptures are an incoherent mess.

Living Well In A Digital World: I am thrilled to live in this time, and eager to use all of these new technologies for good. But I know, and you know, that we need to use them well, and to use them for God’s glory.

SAE And The Lynching Tree: The solution to racial tension is still, and always will be, the gospel of a bloody, crucified, resurrected, and glorified Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, a Jewish Messiah, died and resurrected from the dead to unify all things and all people to God and to one another.

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During the busy summer season, we’re taking some time to look at some ways we can strive to use our summers intentionally, for the glory of God and the good of others.

Here’s what we’ve covered thus far:

• Don’t Waste Your Summer
• Plan Your Seasons
• 4 Ways To Vacation Well
• Snapshot
• Rest Rightly, Rest Well
• Reliving And Living

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One of the things I love about living in Bellingham is the weather. Yeah. I know. I’ve either been here too long, or I’m crazy. Or both. But, we do have four distinct seasons, with four distinct weather patterns. Having lived in places where it’s either “hot” or “cold” I appreciate the change of pace that the seasons bring.

Fall is a time for reflection, looking back at the year past. In winter, we plan for the year ahead and look forward to the sun’s return. Spring is a time for growth, as the flowers bloom and birds return to singing.

When summer returns, we rejoice: The “Orb” has returned! But even as it spreads its warmth, it keeps moving. It’s difficult to remember that summer is not a pause button on normality. Our lives keep going, just like the sun does.

In the midst of this fantastic season of the year, we face the temptation to pause the “normal” lives we lead, prone to either complete independence or overload. As we discuss these, prayerfully consider where you fall on the spectrum, and to which side you are inclined. It may be a mixture of both, or it could be one or the other. The goal here is not to incite defiance or guilt. Rather, our desire is for you to have a fantastic and fruitful summer, making the most of every day as it is given, whether spent in labor or rest.

Independence

When I was in grade-school, summer vacation was about me. I fought every chore I was given, every errand I ran. Looking back, I see that these things were in place to keep me from wasting my summer, providing much needed structure to our family of five. But I didn’t care. After nine months of school, summer vacation was something I had earned, and no one should be able to tell me how to use it.

Certainly, we have many demands of our effort and on our time. After laboring in what feels like a perpetual freezing mist for the dark months of winter, we can feel like we have a right to spend our sunny days however we desire.

In some respects, we do have a right to spend our days as we want. But, if you belong to Jesus, everything in your life is His. Every day He gives is grace to you. And because we’re His people and His witnesses, to only think of summer days as license to lives free of responsibility is a denial of our mission statement: “Go, therefore, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you”. (Matt 28.19ff)

As tempting as it is to make this time of year all about us, it’s just as easy for us to only ever look for the next thing to do, rather than taking the time to recharge.

Overload

There is always something going on in the summertime. Barbecues, weddings, parties, vacations, day trips, picnics, on and on the list goes. Often, we approach the summer with the mindset that we must seize every opportunity. So we overload our schedules, and we look back at the end of summer having had a lot of fun, but exhausted and unsure of where all the time went.

Whatever the reason for the breakneck speed, when we overload our schedules this way we tell ourselves that we can handle more than we can handle. We forget that we, too, need rest.

Maybe we’re afraid we’re going to miss out on great memories, or that we’ll hurt the feelings of a friend or loved one. And either of those things may be true, perhaps both of them. But we must remember that as our lives belong to Jesus, so does our time. Certainly He wants us to work hard. He also wants us to rest.

Now, everyone’s different, and can handle differing flows of activity. Some, hearing that they must rest will embrace it, even to the point of unintentional laziness. Some will fight it and press on, simply preferring the faster pace of life. Where do you land on this spectrum?

Don’t Waste Your Summer

Due to these proclivities, it can be a challenge to use our summers intentionally. Whatever our response, we need to remember that while summer does offer a new rhythm of life, it does not put the rest of life on hold. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll be discussing some ways to prepare for the summer season and to plan to the best of your ability so that we can learn to use summers our wisely, for the glory of God and the good of others. We don’t just want good memories from our summers, but God-given growth as well.

We pray that as you enter and leave this season, you can reflect and see evidence of God’s work in our lives as we look to the future.

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Discipleship In The Teen Years: Some of them get it. Their little hearts embrace the truth and they ask Jesus to save them. We rejoice, knowing that their future is secure and that the Father holds them close. But our job doesn’t end there. What happens when that little heart grows into a bigger heart and questions the gospel he learned and believed as a kid? What happens when the joyful little girl who knew the love of Jesus begins to look shadowed and burdened, wondering if it all makes sense?

What Is Prayer? And Why Should We Pray?: What exactly is prayer and why should you do it anyways? Is it just for those people who don’t have any friends because they think they are too holy to interact with others, or is it for the rest of us as well? Prayer is simply talking with God. When God created us, he made us with the ability to do something amazing, by actually being able to talk personally with him.

Be Strong And Courageous - Literally: So Scripture may not mandate fitness, but we should regard bodily strength as normal, wise, and good. When professionals sit at desks all day, we can lose contact with our embodied nature. Exercise helps us recover our whole self, so we can heed the call to be strong and courageous.

Full Of Grace And Truth: But he didn’t come simply to give us an example of grace and truth.  He came to save us in grace and truth.  It’s only after we’ve been saved and made right with God, the God says, “Alright, now that I have saved through Jesus, you need to know that I have saved you to look like Jesus.”  The motivation to be full of grace and truth is not because we need to earn God’s favor, but because being a follower of Jesus Christ, means we look like the one we follow.

Ordinary People, Ordinary Mission: There is great appeal in pursuing exotic or “extraordinary” mission. But the Bible calls us to look a little closer as we live out Jesus’ mission: those in need and our neighbors.

Without This Your Missional Movement Will Fail: From all my experience leading my church and working with other churches, I’ve seen in us a tendency to play this either/or game with discipleship of our own and evangelism of the masses. We’ll either spend all our time developing our own, shutting off outsiders, or open our doors wide to the world and keep it shallow with our training. But what do the Scriptures say?

Be The Father You Want To Be: Most guys fail to parent their children well because they don’t know how to parent themselves. Men that don’t know how to handle their own immaturity and failings are at a loss when it comes to their children’s immaturity and failings. Men tend to go in one of two directions. They either fail to appropriately grieve their brokenness or they fail to acknowledge their brokenness.

Does God Care About Productivity: I would argue that the call to be productive (Genesis 1:28) also implies the need to learn how to be productive. Yet, this is a slightly different question from the first, because one could presumably say “Yes, God wants us to be productive, but he doesn’t want us to fiddle with things like workflow systems and productivity tips and tools.”

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