If you’re anything like me, summer means less structure. That might equal more free time, but it also might mean your group Bible study has taken a break till fall. Or maybe your church holds a group study, but your VBS commitment,  kids’ softball schedule, or a road trip make participation impossible. How will you stay in the Word when pools and grills are in use? Whatever your situation, get active, not passive. Here are my suggestions for a great summer in the Scriptures:

Perspective is everything. The lens we use to see will determine how we prioritize our activities, our necessities, and our indulgences. Recently a friend shared with me an illustration used by Francis Chan. He pointed to a rope on the stage where he was standing. It began on one side of the stage and extended across the stage and off the other side as though it went on forever. The beginning section of the rope was dyed red. It was just a tiny little section of a very long rope. He asked the audience to imagine that this was the extent of their life on earth. The rest of the rope represented eternity.

The political pressures on the people described in 2 Chronicles 10-12 resonate with today’s realities. In 2 Chronicles 10:6-16, newly-crowned King Rehoboam chose the bad advice of his peers rather than the wisdom of the elders who were the advisors and leaders of people in his land. There was already bad blood between the northern 10 tribes and the southern two tribes (Judah and Benjamin). The farther away the tribes settled from the central point of worship first at Shiloh then at Gibeah and now at Jerusalem, the less the people were engaged in true YHWH worship. Eighty years earlier, the northern tribes took 7 years to embrace David as their king. Finally they did. David and Solomon maintained unity through victory over enemies, resulting in peace and prosperity. But, was it ever unity of heart to serve God together?

So teach us to consider our mortality,
so that we might live wisely. –Psalm 90:12 (NET)

When my father-in-law was about to pass away nearly eighteen years ago, he tried anxiously to explain his finances and how to access the files that would help my husband help his mother, but cancer had this special man and veteran in such a grip, that he couldn’t communicate well. Untangling the finances and getting things set up for his mother fell to my husband.

A real question from a real mom: "Sue, my daughter insists she's a boy. She has rejected all things feminine since she was a toddler. Now as a 15-year-old she says there's a mismatch between her brain and her body. She wants "top surgery" (a double mastectomy) and testosterone to bring her insides and outsides into alignment. She says God made her this way and He doesn't make mistakes so she is embracing a transgender identity. What do I do?"

Many of us have had the experience of asking our kids "How are you?" or "How was your day?" and gotten a simple "Fine" or "I don't know."

It's a question that doesn't usually get much of a response, and if I am being honest, I don't really like it when others ask me that question either.

Seasons of life change, careers change, organizations change, and relationships and friendships change. Change is—as they say—inevitable. How do you deal with change? Do you embrace it, reluctantly (and stubbornly) submit to it, or run full-speed in the opposite direction of it?

Which of Paul’s letters did he write? In a 2018 OnScript podcast, that question was addressed by Scott McKnight, professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary.[1] The context for the question was McKnight’s recent NICNT commentary on Colossians and Philemon (Eerdmans, 2018).
 

Exodus depicts the story of what God did when he heard his chosen people crying out for justice and deliverance from Egyptian oppression. Enter: the burning bush in Exodus 3. God commissioned Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to save them from the Egyptian tyrants. He told Moses to request Pharaoh's permission to let the Israelites leave Egypt. And Moses answered God’s call saying “Here I am.” But did he mean it?

The Lord’s mission of reaching the lost through Paul (Saul) began with his conversion from Christian-hater to devout disciple. The account, which forms a significant part of the apostle’s life and legacy, is described in three places in Acts (9:1–19; 22:2–21; 26:9–18). The basic narrative is the same in each case, but there are slight differences in the details in each telling of the account.