Posts tagged summer
Don't Waste Your Summer: 4 Ways To Vacation Well
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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:

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What is the most exciting thing you look forward to when your on vacation? For some people their answer will be relaxing and reading a book, for others it's making memories with friends and family. But when it comes to vacations, I don't know about you, but I always feel like I do either one of two things. One, our family planned too much to do and I come back feeling more tired than before the vacation. Or two, I didn't plan anything and I come back feeling lazy and unaccomplished. 

Vacationing means a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel. But lets be honest you cannot suspend everything while your on vacation. Life still goes on and things need to get done. 

In this post from our blog series, "Don't Waste Your Summer," we will give you 4 ways to vacation well. You may have more to add to this list, but hopefully this list will get you in a good place to enjoy your vacation well.

Your Family Gets A Say

When you hear the word family what do you think of? You are probably thinking of your mom, dad, siblings, etc. And yes your right, these people are your family but what about your church family? If we look at what the bible teaches about family, it would include your brothers and sisters in Christ (The Church).

When deciding a place and time of year to go on vacation, why wouldn't you include your church family in on your decision? Here is what I mean, say there is someone in your Gospel Community who is going to be graduating and would really like you to be there for that moment to celebrate with them. Why wouldn't you want to be there to celebrate with them? I guarantee these memories you make with them will out way an hour on the beach on Mexico.

So before you request your vacation time off and plan your trip. Go to your Gospel Community and ask if there is any big event that someone in your GC wants you to be at. For leaving for vacation, you will feel much better about resting by knowing that you were their for the ones you love and care for from your church family.

Plan, Prep, Stop Working

I like working, well that is an understatement. I love being busy and feeling like I am accomplishing things. The problem I find when I go on vacation is I don't plan and prep well enough before I go on vacation. So I end up using some of my vacation to work.

For my job, I have many day to day tasks and many projects that I am constantly doing. If I don't get these things squared away before my vacation, my vacation will turn into work. I don't know about you, but I like to not think about work related things while I am on vacation with my family. My family deserves my full attention.

My suggestion is start planning and prepping way before you have to leave for your vacation. What I like to do is write everything down that I need to get done a month before my vacation. This includes finding people to cover some day to day tasks I normally do. This also includes getting projects done before I leave so I stop thinking about them cause I know they are done. Once your on vacation, put your cell phone away. Stop checking your email. Don't answer the phone. You are on vacation to rest from the very thing you do on a regular basis, so actually vacation. And you can't vacation well unless you prepare well.

Don't Take A Break From Corporate Worship

Sadly in our culture we think we need to vacation from gathering as the church family for corporate worship. When I say corporate worship, I mean hearing God's word preached, taking the sacraments, and joining in singing with the body of Christ. The reason we do these different types of worship towards God is because they remind us of the reality of who God is and reminds us of His grace towards us in Jesus Christ. The truth of the gospel needs to be continually put before us so we may not drift from the gospel. 

When you are planning your vacation, where ever you go, look for healthy gospel centered churches that you can join for a cooperate gathering on a Sunday away from your regular local church. Make it a priority on your vacation to gather amongst God's people. Parents your children will begin to see and learn that being apart of corporate worship is a benefit and an opportunity to be reminded of what God has done and continues to do. Vacation well by not vacationing away from the church.

Here are a few places you can look for good gospel centered churches in the area you plan on vacationing in:

The Gospel Coalition

The Acts 29 Network

The Sojourn Network

Every Moment Is An Opportunity 

Every moment in life is an opportunity to learn or teach something. As a parent, you have opportunities to teach your kids or learn a few things yourself. As a kid or young adult, you have an opportunity to learn from experiences and others. Every moment, whether you're on vacation or not, has an opportunity to be a special moment. 

Great memories of past experiences shape our lives over time. And vacations are a prime opportunity to seize these moments to create memories. Memories are events and moments in life that shapes who we are. Don't use your vacation as a time to not do anything.

Parents your main call is to disciple your children. Your not raising children, your raising adults. Embrace the moments that a family vacation provides you and create those lasting memories with them. 

Kids and Young Adults, embrace the opportunities that are provided on vacations with your families or friends to seek to grow. 

You will vacation well if you intentionally take moments to create lasting memories along your vacation. 

To Conclude

Vacationing isn't a time to stop life in its tracks. Life continues to move forward whether we like it or not. From this list you have an opportunity to plan, prepare and pursue lasting memories on a joyous vacation with those you love and at the same time not neglecting the life you left back home. Enjoy your vacation!

 

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Don't Waste Your SummerDane Burgessvacation, summer, planning, family, Jesus, Bellingham, WWUComment
Don't Waste Your Summer: Plan Your Seasons

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:

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Does your summer ever feel like it flies by and you didn't get a chance to accomplish any of the projects that are on your list of things to do? Or, do you ever feel like your summer flies by but you didn't get a chance to rest and rejuvenate before the upcoming year starts up again because you had to much on your schedule?

Sadly, these two instances are exactly how our culture handles summer. 

My hope from this blog post is that you would get a clear picture to how you can plan the different seasons of your life, specifically summer. But first, we’re going to look at some common objections to planning in general. There may be more, but these are two of the most common.

Objection #1: I Don't Want To Be Tied Down To Any Plans

When you hear someone say to you, "I don't like to be tied down to plans." What they are saying is they don't like to think about their next move. Unfortunately in this day and age, you can not throw care to the wind and wing everything. Everything in this world requires a plan. For example, children's school year is planned, college students are working for a degree that is planned out, parents who stay at home with their kids need plans to keep sane and lastly people who work in the business world know that if you don't have a plan you don't go anywhere.

Everyone plans, and I mean everyone. No one ever can just wing life. But plans you make show off your priorities. 

Objection #2: I Am So Busy

Some people really love having a busy schedule, and when they're not busy, they don't know what to do with themselves. 

We all want to be fruitful in our lives. Fruitful literally means producing good or helpful results. But before we can be fruitful in anything, we first need to be faithful. Faithful literally means loyal, constant, and steadfast. 

Do you know what spheres God has given you to be faithful in?

If you don't know what spheres God has called you to, then it will be hard for you to determine what areas you are suppose to be faithful in. So make sure to write them down. Tell them to someone, so that they can keep you accountable. 

Gospel Oriented Faithfulness Then Fruitfulness

Exert taken from a book "The Gospel At Work" by Sebastian Traeger & Greg Gilbert pg. 91 -92

"Every sphere that you have in your life, you can find in the Bible both a minimum standard for faithfulness and operating principles for pursing fruitfulness. By a minimum standard for faithfulness, we mean the basic requirements Scripture gives to our different spheres of our lives. If you are not accomplishing the basic requirements of your different spheres, then you are not being faithful in this area. Most of the time, this means you need to double-down on your attention there before looking anywhere else.

By principles for pursuing further fruitfulness, we mean those ways in which you can grow beyond this minimum expectation of faithfulness. Once you think you're meeting the Bible's standard of faithfulness in all your assignments, you are free to dream and consider how you can best invest your extra time and energy.

On either side of faithfulness and fruitfulness we will find the two pitfalls that tend to define the sinful patterns associated with our work (or spheres) - idolatry and idleness. Fail to meet the minimum requirements of faithfulness, and you fall into idleness. Push beyond fruitfulness, and you fall into idolatry. 

So here's the guiding principle: pursue faithfulness, then fruitfulness, but not idolatry." 

So, here are some things to think about when planning out your season:

  1. Pray and ask God to help you list your spheres He has called you to.

  2. List Your Top 5 Spheres (Example: God, Family, Church, Work...etc.)

  3. Make a list from the different spheres in your life that God is calling you to be faithful in and write down what the baseline expectations are for you to meet these different spheres. 

  4. Determine if you're being faithful in the priorities within the spheres

  5. Consider where you might be able to invest for greater fruitfulness

  6. Avoid the trap of idolatry, where you are measured by your work instead of serving the Lord.

Accomplish And Rest

Yes this blog post is geared towards the summer time but you can take these principles into any season of your life and be able to plan well so that you can stay faithful to the calling God has for you. 

As Christians, we are not called to be idle, but we are also called not to make things we do our idols. Applying these principles will help you to plan well and also rest well. And as always  remember that the priorities that you accomplish will never make you right with God, it is through Jesus perfect righteousness and obedience that anyone will be right with God. The priorities that you try and accomplish are simply principles that God has called you to be obedient to do but rest well in the finish work of Jesus on your behalf.

 

photo credit: Jasmic via photopin cc
Don't Waste Your SummerDane Burgesssummer, Church, Jesus, Season, Family, Gospel Community, GospelComment
Don't Waste Your Summer
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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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Don't Waste Your SummerGuest Usersummer, WWU, Parenting, Family, Church, Jesus, WasteComment
Recommended Books from the Staff (Summer Reading)

Summer is a great time to get reading in. There seems to be many more opportunities to read when summer is here. We all seem to have time off during this time, and as a staff we wanted to benefit your time off by recommending books to read over the summer. These books are just some of the staff favorites that have greatly benefitted them over the years and they hope they will benefit you as well.

Rob's recommended books to read this summer:

Dane's recommended books to read this summer:

Kati's recommended books to read this summer:

Claude's recommended books to read this summer:

If you end up reading any of these books or any other books this coming summer, let us know what you thought of the books by either emailing us (info@redeemernw.org) or tweet at us (@redeemernw) by using the hashtag #RedeemerSummerReading .

LearnersDane Burgessreading, summer
Gospel, Community, Mission and Summer

Community, Mission and Summertime

Blog Post by Todd Engstrom of Austin Stone Church.

For everyone summer time is coming up soon and Gospel Communities seem to take breaks for the summer or rhythms get messed up and all that momentum that was gained over the year dies off, well here is a great blog on how to continue to keep rhythms through the summer even if they change but communities can continue to be on mission together in our city even through this summer. If your in a Gospel Community at Redeemer Church you should read this blog by Todd Engstrom cause it is truly helpful.

Community, Mission and Summertime

 

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Gospel Community Practical HelpsDane BurgessCommunity, Mission, summer