Summer of Firsts

This summer has been very different from any other summer before. I had been going and going and not given much thought to the difference until the other day.

This is truly a summer of firsts for me:

First full summer as a dad of three. I know that our baby boy was born last summer, but this is the first with all three of our boys here and going full-throttle.

First summer in the country. While there were a couple of summers spent in the country, they were so long ago that I'm having to relearn the culture all over again. This isn't a bad thing. Actually, it's pretty nice. There's this thing called "free time" in the country.

First summer as a lead pastor. A couple of years ago, I felt God leading a change of ministry for me. This is the first year in that new assignment. I am loving it. It is truly a different animal than anything I had done previously. When you have the peace that you are where God wants you and doing what He wants you to, then an unexplainable excitement is present.

First summer not planning youth trips. Being that this is my first summer out of student ministry since 1996, this has been a weird feeling. I have not had the responsibility of planning and carrying out all the summer events that go along with student ministry. Part of me misses it because of doing it for so long and you know that God will move in and through those things. While part of me misses it, another big part of me knows that I'm not supposed to be there.

Now that we've reached the halfway point (or close to it) of summer, how has it compared to previous ones? Do you see God doing new works in you?