I’ve been quite swamped lately.  Summer is supposed to be a slow, relaxed time.  But I find that that thought only serves to deceive me and make me mad that life didn’t slow down as I had assumed it would.  I’m very involved at church right now.

I lead an adult growth group that studies the Redemption Story.  We are reading through the Bible and seeing God’s redemptive plan throughout.  We have already read through Genesis and we are now on Exodus.  That is time consuming to prepare for properly.  And if I don’t prepare for it properly, I get depressed afterward, which takes more out of me than if I had prepared well.

I chair the Adult Growth Leadership Team.  My observations on preparations above definitely apply to this role as well.  I’m also finding I’m not good at coordinating people now.  I often just say I will take care of it myself.  Which is winding up killing me.

I do child care on Wednesday nights.  The youth group and several adult growth groups meet at that time but there is no developed plan for the children at that time.  So, I volunteered to carry that burden till we found someone else to take over it.  I have been doing it since Easter.  I usually have around 8-10 kids from toddler up to 5th grade on Wednesdays.  The most I’ve had is 15 I think.  And I am doing this on my own.  I don’t just watch them, I teach them. I don’t have curriculum.  Lately I have been teaching them about sin and how we are saved through Christ (naturally I teach it in a way that they can understand yet still be challenged).  It is a joy to see a child’s eyes light up and hear them say “Oh, so that’s who Jesus is” or “So that’s what Jesus did” or any other response that shows they get it.  I always ask them the next week if they remember what they learned last week.  I never expect much, but I am almost always pleasantly surprised.

And while life continues on this summer and the fall semester begins (which puts me officially on the back half of my MDiv), I long to be here…

in a hammock in Playa Grande, Honduras