I’ve written about this before but I believe that it bears repeating. The weather is beautiful. Vacations are beginning. Kids are full swing into sport and other activities as well as day camps and more. The question is – what will the summer bring for your life and your relationship with God?

I was reading today in 1 Peter: “Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk, so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”

As you consider the summer ahead of you as well as the summer that already has been, how is the “crave” factor in your life? What are you “crying out” for? The way that you choose to spend your time will be indicative of what is happening in your heart. Have you really tasted “the Lord’s kindness” that propels you forward?

Now I fully recognize that summer routines are very different than the routines of the rest of the year. Mine are different just like yours are different. And yet, does a different routine mean that God is put on a shelf until the fall when “normal” routine return?

As a pastor of 10 years, I have seen far too many people come back to church in September spiritually anemic due to lack of spiritual nourishment all summer. Some of them are craving God in a new way, mostly due to starvation all summer, and yet others have simply petered out and have lost any craving, some never come back to any church after the summer. This is always a sad part of my role as a pastor, to watch someone slowly fade away, not because they don’t believe in God anymore, but because they have never spent any time developing their relationship with him. They don’t know or forget what they are missing. Other life experiences get in the way, and they believe that that’s all there is, so God is put aside, perhaps for a season, but sometimes for life.

Now recognizing the uniqueness of summer, you very well may need to find some new routines to seek God. In fact, that may be a good thing. A new method of scripture reading, a time to memorize some verses as you go for a walk, prayer time as you sit out on the deck, a time to worship as you watch the vastness of creation in full swing, plants and birds and other animals. Interestingly, so far this year I have experienced seeing 3 robins go from egg to full growth in a nest under our deck. I have watched a snapping turtle lay its eggs near a swamp on the way to work. I have watched an osprey care for its young in a nest atop a pole. I have witnessed a bird land in the river by our home and come up with a fish in its talons. All of these events have moved me to worship the God of creation.

Perhaps the summer can be an opportunity to have more focussed time with your children and let them into you bible readings and prayer times. After all, they don’t have any homework responsibilities anymore.

As you lead others on the journey of discipleship, you are modelling for them what a vibrant relationship with God looks like. You are modelling “craving” and “crying out”. Talk this through with those you are engaging with. Help them to think through their summer routines. September should not be a “restart your faith” month, but simply another month in the calendar where you are seeking God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Blessings for a great summer with life-giving routines.

I have had a few conversations in the past few weeks with discipleship leaders who have had people remove themselves from their groups. And when you only have 3 people connecting, losing one person means that you are losing 33% – Yikes. The reasons have varied – some have given “legitimate” reasons, others just aren’t calling and showing up.

Some of the conversations I’ve had with these leaders have to do with their own self-worth – are they failing in what they believe they are called to do. Others have questioned whether they moved to quickly in inviting someone in, that perhaps they weren’t discerning enough. Others are wondering if there really are people “out there” that want to take their relationship with God seriously or not – is it worth their time to engage in such an intentional way.

I will offer some simple guidance on this from my experience:

1) It won’t always be smooth sailing. I have had discipling relationships that were amazing right through and I’ve had others that were cut short for many different reasons. I have had times when the guys I’m with didn’t want to commit, and I’ve had times when I wondered if I personally still wanted to commit. This is just the reality of relationships – messy and often confusing.

2) My role is obedience to the process, my role is not life change. I love 1 Corinthians 3 when Paul states: “It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” Believe me, I don’t always think this way. I want to control the life change, I want to determine what the person learns next, I want to control the rate of change. But I don’t and I can’t. My role is the planting, the cultivating, the watering. The mystery of the growth has nothing to do with me. This can be both comforting and frustrating all at the same time.

3) Know when to move on. To many times I have wanted to “save” someone.  I believed that I knew what they needed and I was going to drag them along whether they liked it or not. The reality is that sometimes I need to cut someone lose. They just aren’t at the place to receive what I believe I have to offer, for whatever reason. This is not for me to always understand. I do know however that at times I simply need to move on, and that there is nothing wrong with this. I didn’t fail, they aren’t bad people, but it just isn’t moving in the direction I believe it should be moving.

Faithfulness to the process, that is all I can control. May God grant us the strength to keep moving forward, and may we always be humble to keep learning as we continue.

For the kingdom.