You may have noticed that there’s really no formal summer calendar (outside of the Denver trip and senior/college aged boundary waters trip). That’s mostly intentional. Two week long trips involve a lot of planning and require a lot of time from us who lead. Also, (here’s a personal confession because I’ve not always recognized this) our students lives are over programmed, over planned, and BUSY. I’d love for this summer to be a chance to not simply add activities for them to sign up for, spend money on, and commit time to. So are we going to sit and do nothing all summer? Not at all. Yes the summer is relaxed, especially for you who commit so faithfully by volunteering your time on a weekly basis. So take extra time to relax, be the best parent, sibling, friend, child of God you can. But the summer offers so much potential for us to engage our students in different ways.

[begin parenthetical ramble]

Here’s one thing that I’ve taken from the Willow Creek conference I attended a couple weeks ago—and I’m excited to begin sharing some of the wisdom and inspiration gained with you. One amazing thing about God is that he pursues us, and relentlessly at that. I should know because this is so utterly and completely true in my own life. Our ministry to students should model God’s pursuit (desire, longing!) of them. For us (and I’m still wrapping my brain around this) I think this means that we should spend our God given energy and passion on meeting them where they’re at. And, as we’ve noticed, sometimes “where they’re at” is not AT youth group. We’re all a member of God’s family whether we show up or not…and I think we need to think in those terms when it comes to our student ministry. (If you feel I’m being critical, I am. But only in so far as I’m speaking as much or more to myself as I am to you). All this to say, let’s find ways together that engage our students, even if (or perhaps especially if) they’re butts are not in the bean bags on a weekly basis.

[end parenthetical ramble]

So where, was I?…right, the summer. The summer is a great chance to practice meeting kids on their turf because we’re not meeting formally on a weekly basis. Practically I mean things like showing up at their games or events, playing disc golf (or the related game called: “search for my lost disc golf disc in the woods near the fairway”) with them, taking them to Dairy Queen or a Twins game, shopping with them (that’d be a fun one!), playing video games with them, calling them, texting them, writing them notes—real ones; the kind you get in the mail, facebooking them…etc. I’d love this to be a ‘Summer of Small Moments” with our kids.

It gets messy because we immediately want to figure out how to do this efficiently and effectively. (Isn’t that what it means to program?). I’d love your feedback, ideas, suggestions on how we do this well. That is very needed. But it’s likely going to feel rather unorganized, right? I guess that’s what I see, though, when I read the gospels. Jesus’ ministry wasn’t highly organized and planned out. He saw a crowd and he taught them. He came upon a blind man and he healed him. It seems the only thing he really planned on in advance was taking quiet time. I like that!

Let’s commit to pursuing our students this summer together.

I think the closest thing to spring that we have during these awkward brown March-April days is finding a sunny day, parking your car in a wide open parking lot, and taking a nap. Incidentally my wife has discovered this secret long ago (She comes from a family of winter eluders).

My prayer today God is that you’ll resurrect spring like you did your Son…and sooner than later would be nice.

“As a masterpiece opens a window into the mind of the artist who made it, so the universe reveals much about its creator.”  Ric Ergenbright, The Art of God

“I wondered how beautiful it might be to think of others as more important than myself.  I wondered at how peaceful it might be not to be pestered by that childish voice that wants for pleasure and attention.  I wondered what it would be like not to live in a house of mirrors, everywhere I go being reminded of myself.”  Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

1. I don’t have time to waste on things that don’t matter. I have plenty of time for the things that count.

2. I don’t have time to get moody, self-centered, and irritable. I do have time to love my wife and children.

3. I don’t have time to wallow in the past over what might have been. I do have time to focus on what God wants to do in my life today.

4. I don’t have time to play self-importance games (Whom do you know? What kind of house do you live in? What have your kids accomplished? What are you driving?). I do have time to build up others and forget myself.

5. I don’t have time to coddle worldly, immature Christians whose idea of church is getting their way. I have plenty of time to love fellow Christians who may have various opinions.

6. I don’t have time to be a peacemonger (doing whatever it takes to keep others from getting upset). I do have time to be a peacemaker (loving people no matter what).

7. I don’t have time to play it safe and never risk the possibility of discomfort. I do have time to trust God who has promised to never leave me or forsake me.

8. I don’t have time to whine and blame others for being obstacles. I do have time to take responsibility for my own actions and behavior.

9. I don’t have time to complain and focus on the negative. I do have time to speak a word of hope to people who are overwhelmed by heartache.

10. I don’t have time to settle for the mediocre. I do have time to be passionate about what matters most to God.

The first few weeks after Brenna was born, we got lots of cards saying things like “Congrats on the new addition.” It’s not that I don’t appreciate that sentiment but I think ‘addition’ is the wrong word. I think “fulfillment” is more what it’s like. Like God has been preparing Ali and me for becoming parents our whole lives. And on November 8, 2008, there was a fulfilling of what God has been creating for ages and ages.

We are certainly blessed!

Life is full of beautiful things.  Let’s not let our brokenness  black them out, let’s not remain too busy to notice.  Let’s all stop and breathe deep today, the Life that is all around us.

We’ve all noticed how incredibly fast technology is changing the world we live in. During the past quarter century we’ve seen amazing scientific advances, perhaps especially, in the ways we communicate. I remember when my small rural town in Wisconsin first connected to the World Wide Web. Our public library purchased a brand new computer and with it, the internet. Whoa! Suddenly, kids and adults alike (some of whom, I’d venture to say, had rarely ever been to our library) came flocking in to stand in line and wait their turn. Myself and most of my middle school buddies waited just for a chance to see if we could figure out how this new thing worked. None of us knew then the extent to which the internet would profoundly shape our lives.

Fast forward 15 years. We’ve now seen the genesis of email, instant messaging, cell phones, text messaging, online social networking, wireless web browsing…the list goes on. And as we consider how fast things are continuing to change, we wonder and dream about what’s next. It all makes me stop and think sometimes, “Is life better in the ways that matter to Jesus because of all of these new ways to communicate?”

God wants us to live this life in relationship with others. Things like text messaging and social networks online certainly help us connect with our friends. But are they helping us build meaningful community? Are they allowing us to share our lives and our faith with each other? Are they helping us grow closer to Jesus?
God, in whose image we were created, is the giver of humanity’s creative drive. So advances in technology make sense as we use the minds and ingenuity God has blessed us with. And certainly God can use for his glory, all of the things we’ve created. As an example, if you were to log on to your Facebook account right now and type in “on fire for Christ” in the “search for groups” field, you’d find over 500 groups that exist with those words in their name. That’s pretty cool! But there are obvious dangers with all of this too. Like, what are the effects of spending too much time communicating through a cell phone or social network site? Are we losing an authenticity that can only exist in an in-person way of relating? And what about the people out there who use these new technologies for evil purposes? We know the internet is not always a safe place.

I remain hopeful, though, that as God continues to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden, he’ll not forget to redeem the fancy new yuck we get ourselves into. We need only turn to God’s Word to find that he’s in the business of picking up the pieces of the messes we make.