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16 Things You Can Do To Beat The Blahs

I have had one of the craziest summers of my life!

Man Hanging His Head In Despair

I’ve been busy with summer church camps. I served at three different weeks at our camp, and was on the schedule for a fourth but couldn’t make it.

I traveled to west Texas and back for a friends wedding… in 48 hours.

I experienced the deaths of both my father and step-father… on the same day. And, of course, both funerals took precedence over my final week of church camp.

I led 24 teens and adults on a mission trip to the White Mountain Apache Nation, near Show Low, AZ.

It’s been a busy, crazy summer.

Outside of the deaths in the family, this summer schedule is pretty normal for me. As a youth minister, I find summer to be the busiest part of the year.

As a result, when August rolls around, I’m ready for a break. I’m worn out. I’m overwhelmed. I’m exhausted.

And I just feel…. blah.

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Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 26

This week’s passage is a longer one, but it’s a section of the Sermon on the Mount that is very well-known: The Lord’s Prayer.

It’s found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Matthew 6:9-13

I can remember standing and reciting this as a class prayer before lunch every day in Mrs. Moyel’s class when I was in third grade…. in a public school.

It’s a prayer that many people have learned by heart as children. And, as a result, it’s become almost too familiar, and we glance over it without really reading it or paying attention to it.

My challenge to you this week is to really think about what Jesus is saying here. Dwell on it. Pray over it. And then pray more like him…

Did you memorize this passage as a child? Or is this a new one for you? Let me know in the comments.

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Top Posts For July 2011

With July over, my summer is starting to wind down a bit. That means my schedule will be returning to some semblance of normal. And that means that I’ll be able to dedicate more time to writing.

But just because summer required a lighter writing schedule for me, that doesn’t mean that my site wasn’t active. July wasn’t quite up to the level that I’ve seen over the past few months, but I expect that to rebound throughout the fall.

Here’s a quick look at what July looked like.

Wordle.net Word Picture for July 2011

In case you missed them, here are my top six posts for July:

  1. Hubble Deep Space Field
  2. 11 Things I Love About Field Notes Brand Journals
  3. Two Funerals And A Wedding
  4. Book Review: The Little Red Book Of Wisdom by Mark DeMoss
  5. 8 Reasons Why I Love Summer Church Camp
  6. Book Review: Eat Mor Chikin; Inspire More People by S. Truett Cathy

Once again, two of my book reviews made the list this month. I’m glad to see that my reviews are being read frequently.

My personal favorite post this month was 9 Things You Can Do To Eliminate Stress. Which one was yours?

If you are a blogger, leave a comment with your top post for the month. If you don’t blog, leave a comment with a favorite post or blog that you read this month.

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Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 25

Last week, we saw the first example of how not to pray that Jesus gave before he gave the model prayer.

In this week’s passage, he gives us another bad example.

Take a look at this passage in Matthew 6:7-8.

Matthew 6:7-8

It seem like our pride, and our desire to hear our own voices can be a deterrent to effective prayer.

In this week’s passage, Jesus informs us that God already know what we need, even before we ask him. That should keep us from being too wordy.

Do you ever find yourself being too wordy in your prayers? What do you do to combat this? Let me know in the comments.

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How God Gets Your Attention: Things We Can Learn On A Summer Mission Trip

We are about to wrap up our trip to American Indian Christian Mission, our mission trip for this summer. If you haven’t read my first post about this trip, you can see it here.

It’s been a really great trip. There are 24 people from our church on this trip, mostly teens. And they’ve been stellar on this mission trip.

I’ve watched teens step up do things they’re not comfortable doing.

Mason and an Apache boy

Each morning, we work around the mission campus, painting, cleaning, fixing fence, clearing brush. Later in the afternoon, we head out to Canyon Day for a tent revival, where we are responsible for the children’s activities. We are doing it VBS style.

Each night, we’ve seen 40-50 Apache kids of all ages come and join us. And our teens have reached out and developed some great relationships.

They’ve also stretched themselves in directions they’ve never imagined. I’ve watched some of our teens teach lessons, lead worship, assist kids with crafts and playing games with them. I’ve seen teens fall in love with Apache kids, knowing that they may never see them again, at least this side of heaven.

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Mission 2011 – Summer Mission Trip To American Indian Christian Mission

For the last several months, I’ve been planning and putting together a youth mission trip for our church. We are on that trip right now. As I have the opportunity, I will post updates on our trip here , so that you can follow along.

AICM - Mission 2011

We left last Friday morning and started our trip to American Indian Christian Mission, in Show Low, Arizona. AICM works primarily with the White Mountain Apache and the Navaho tribes in north eastern Arizona.

There are 24 in our group. We are getting quite a bit done.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

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Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 24

Prayer.

Out of all the instructions that Jesus gave, this is perhaps one of the most important.

The model prayer that Jesus taught us appears in Matthew 6, and this weeks passage introduces that entire section. You can find it at Matthew 6:5-6.

Before Jesus gives us a model prayer, he gives us a couple of examples of what not to do.

One of those we see this week; next week we look at another.

Matthew 6:5-6

Jesus viewed prayer as a crucial part of his life and ministry. And it seems as if he views it as important for us as well.

What do you do to maintain humility in prayer? Let me know in the comments.