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So not much has been happening on my end. The call to rest is a very hard thing indeed, as the first week of rest was an epic fail. To sum it up, I learned the value of Jesus sending his disciples out in pairs, valuing community over efficiency despite the large ground that he had to cover, something that we discuss in Mark 1, and also the value of doing ministry on the way, just as Jesus heals and performs miracles on the way to various destinations. I was feeling a lot of tension over something I was doing this summer, and when it all boiled down to it, I realized I felt like I shouldn't be doing this because if rest is to grow in greater intimacy with God, it would make sense to do ministry the way Jesus did.

I stopped by Berkeley, Stanford, and a few other places in the bay area this past July 4th weekend, and it was a good time to be in the IV community again, seeing a few of the '09, the '010, and Andrew and Kevin as well. My home church also started this Discipleship Training School class (it's basically Sunday School, but this one is for all ages from college up) about hermeneutics, which is just a fancy word for how to study the Bible. It reminds me a lot about the inductive method, and the inductive method gets me all itchy and excited. I drove back from the bay area just to catch the first DTS about hermeneutics, and I couldn't help but wish that some of my IV friends could be there with me.

Today was also the first day of VBS (Vacation Bible School), a five-day program for kids to get to know the person of Jesus more. I was a crew leader for rising third and fourth graders, and only four out of five of my kids showed up. It was fairly hectic nonetheless. The message today was that "God is with us" and the response we give to that message is "FEAR NOT!" Part of my cynicism (or lack of faith) makes me wonder if these kids actually understand what they're saying, and it makes me wonder if they would be just as content saying that if they went into spiritual warfare right then and there. But the truth of the matter is that God is with us and that we are His people. He is there when we call out, and we need to be able to discern what His voice is, what are images from Him, and not from the devil. How much more do we need to know then that God's name is I AM. He was, He is, He will always be. He said it himself. So why do we doubt? I think back to Jesus saying that the children will be the first in Heaven, and I wonder when "Jesus loves you" was no longer a phrase that brought immediate comfort and satisfaction. Are these third and fourth graders able to discern the voice of God better than myself? One thing I feel called to this summer as I begin this discipline of rest is to really seek to discern God's voice (whatever form it may take), and to have patience as I learn. Let this not be a dark night of the soul.