This Summer, I have been making a focused effort to spend this time off from school in a productive way. A key component in doing so, as I mentioned in my Don’t Waste Your (Summer) Life post, is to read. An activity is usually more enjoyable if it’s easier and that’s the way it typically goes for reading, as well. My dad has had to do a LOT of reading through out his life with College, Seminary, and just being a pastor so I look to him for advice. He wrote an article back in February on his blog and I would like to share it with you. He lists seven ways we can make reading better, faster and smarter by going into points such as removing distractions and ways to build speed. We are all going to have to read at some point so why not look for ways to make it easier? Check it out at davidcprice.com . Have any thoughts or suggestions? Let me know in the comments.
Excuses and Worshiping My Way Out of Despair
A couple months ago, I wrote a post entitled ‘Worshiping Your Way Out of Despair’ and it was exactly that: how to get out of those ruts. I, myself, was recently in one of these times of despair. It was a time of feeling distant from God, bogged down and stuck in sin; it’s an awful feeling. Because I had studied the topic for a blog post, I KNEW what to do, but the old saying rings true yet again: “knowing is half the battle”. My problem was making excuses such as, ‘Well, I just sinned so I should probably wait’ and ‘I’ll do it in the morning’ which would turn into ‘Eh, I’ll just do it tomorrow’. Where did this get me? Further and further away from God. What DO we do when excuses plague our thoughts and desires?
Don’t Waste Your (Summer) Life
If you are a teenager reading this, I want you to quickly do the math and think about how many summers you have left before college. If you are a parent, think about how many summers, if any, your child has. I recently realized that I only have three summers remaining (this one included!). That was a very sobering thought… three summers before I’m off to college. With only three summers left, I want to make sure I don’t waste my summer and encourage other teens not to waste theirs, either, so I thought about some do’s and do not’s to ensure we make the most out of our remaining childhood free time.