(Not So) Endless Summer

Let's see.  June - went to Annual Conference in Northern Kentucky for about three days and hung out with my Methodist brothers and sisters.  They are kind and more than tolerate, they welcome the married into the family Calvinist.  Then it was a quick Saturday run down to Nashville to retrieve Eliza from basketball camp at Belmont and swing through the Opry Land Commercial Industrial site.  And eat at the Rainforest Cafe.

Onward to July.  Eliza to Aldersgate and Cameron in Lexington working his summer internship at the Herald-Leader so Julie and I intended to slip away Monday through Friday to the Smokies and Lake Junaluska.  Then several families in the Hebron congregation lost loved ones which took an emotional toll on the church, but they rose to the occasion and embraced the hope in the midst of the loss and extended the ministry of hospitality to the families and friends in their grace filled style.  Then a wonderful Vacation Bible School with a great Middle School group leading to the launch of a new Youth Group at Hebron - very exciting stuff that!  Then Eliza and I off to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue.  Eliza's first and I believe she enjoyed it and my seventh or so and I know I enjoyed it.  Then home for a few days before closing out July and beginning August on vacation at Jekyll Island with Julie's mom and dad and our family.  Jekyll Island is great and the trip was a treasure.  And now Eliza gets ready to start her Sophomore year of high school at Bullitt East on Wednesday.  Cameron has a a little while longer before heading back to Western Kentucky University for his Sophomore year.

June and July - what I have come to think of as the summer months (with August being a transition to fall more than summer because of school schedules) feel at times like the old Mr. Toads Wild Road at Disney when I was a kid.  Kind of a short ride in Fantasy Land that took you here and there and never really felt scary or dangerous, but jerked you around a lot in ways you didn't really anticipate.  Summer lacks continuity.  It jerks you here and there and leaves you both coming and going and feeling like you have all the time in the world and no time at all - all at the same time.  It stretches out in front of you with small surprises waiting along the way - endless like the Beach Boys said - and then, poof, school starts Wednesday.

Crossroads has been doing a study called 24/6 by Dr. Matthew Sleeth around the subject of Sabbath.  The two months of summer 2013 have been illustrative of what folks are up against when we consider Sabbath.  It seems like a great idea.  It sounds wonderful.  Virtually everyone agrees we would be better off being better Sabbath keepers.  But agreement that it would be a good idea and realizing that good idea can be a challenge to bring into relationship with each other.  

As I reflect on the summer I see God all over it.  I look forward to unpacking and considering  some of the events of summer in sermons, in Bible Study, in conversations, at prayer groups, in quiet moments, waiting for the light to change at the intersection....in ways planned and spontaneous.  Looking back at the whirlwind before heading off towards what lies ahead, the ride is occaisonally wild.  And challenging.  And wonderful.