Chances are, you are going, or have already gone, on a vacation this summer. Maybe you took a day trip to a state park; maybe you’re flying to Europe for two weeks. Whatever you have planned or have already done, vacations are part of life. This is by God’s design—God rested on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2), God commanded the Israelites to rest one day out of every week (Exodus 20:9–11), and God told his Old Testament people to keep three week-long feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Booths). God set a pattern for all people to find rest in the midst of the work and toil of this world.

College is tough. With the pressure of getting good grades, meeting new friends, and trying to get involved on campus, it is tough to grapple with it all.

Summer is officially here. Now that school is out, it is a constant battle to keep the kids entertained. To all the hardworking, selfless, tired youth ministry servants…

First, the bad news . . . our teen girls are in crisis. I'm worried about them, and you should be too. My oldest daughter, Catie, is in high school and my younger daughter, Elisabeth, is in middle school. We’re living the teen girl life around here, and I see what’s happening to these young women. These girls believe they have to be perfect, and they are so hard on themselves when they don’t live up to impossibly high standards that they see on the internet.

I opened the refrigerator and there it sat. On the top shelf quivered a large maroon cow’s liver—inside a bright aqua bowl.

Congratulations and welcome to the oldest club in history. Many have traveled this road of parenthood before you, but your experience will be your very own, unique and wonderful, just as you and your child are unique and wonderful gifts of God. Being a parent is an exciting, joyful, fun, exhausting, twenty-four-hour-a-day, bewildering, delightful, incredibly awesome responsibility.

Our kids, like most kids, enjoy a healthy dose of competition in their everyday life. Races to be the first one finished with dinner or the first one in pajamas occur often, followed by our four-year-old son saying something to the effect of “Actually, the last one in pajamas wins,” grasping for some sort of victory.

Today I was asked a series of questions about my seminary journey. Questions about the greatest joys and challenges, questions about transitioning with children, and even my best tip for moving (a task at which we have become quite proficient). 

April showers have brought a big muddy mess to our backyard. Every time a child or the dog goes out to play, a ritual of foot washing commences with each re-entry to the house.

Just a few weeks ago, stories of Nebraska flooded headlines around the United States. The combination of melting snow, heavy rain, and flat farmland resulted in catastrophic flooding across hundreds of miles of the state.