On some level, the transition from school year to summer-time is an opportunity to trade out one set of concerns for another.  Time works a particular way during the school year: the days are packed with routines and habits that don’t really show up during the rest of the year.  So I have to come up with other routines, other habits, that will help carry me through the six weeks in between semesters.  This year, I’m particularly blessed with some 2019-particular concerns.

1.  Our church has been without a pastor for just over a year.  I’ve been serving on the pastor search committee, which has been an interesting blessing.  Our candidate and his wife arrive Wednesday night for a week-long visit.  After a series of meet-and-greets, the candidate will preach in a service and then we will vote.
2. At school we hired a Christian Ministries coordinator.  That means I’ll be handing the chapel piece over.  But it also means that I’ll be taking on some new responsibilities (that I’ll talk more about later).  This summer is my opportunity to reflect on the last two years of work that have taken me beyond the classroom.  I’ve got three categories of things that sum up my thoughts; I hope to get to them here soon.
3. If you’ve been able to tell from my last two “current status” updates, I’ve been reading (and reading about) Augustine.  It goes back to a comment made by Jamie Smith at last summer’s Laity Lodge retreat.  I’m using Augustine as a kind of sounding board/filter for my thoughts about the last couple of years.  I just finished a reread of his On Christian Teaching, which is where my status quotes have been coming from.
4. Beyond those particulars, summer-time allows me to retool and retune some of my regular, school-year routines.  I’m able to be more consistent in getting to the gym.  I can rethink my diet (still eating well at places I only get to eat during breaks while also eating well at homer).  I’m able to strengthen my Bible reading (right now in Deuteronomy, 2 Corinthians, and Luke).  And hopefully, once I get into an evening routine, I can get to bed early and sleep well.

So lots of ingredients in the summer stew.  I hope to revisit many of them over the next few weeks.  And then there’s always stuff that I’m reading and watching and thinking about that doesn’t quite fit the mold of the moment (like the great British cop series I just started reading).  I just hope that writing here will be a good habit for me these next few weeks, particularly since posting here became a rarity this past semester.