July 18 Now Page

Family & Summer Chaos

Just wrapped up the most glorious family trip to California — floated around Pete and June's pool in Alamo with a book like I was twelve years old again at Stone Lake. The kids treated that pool like their personal kingdom. My cousin Jessica was there with her lovely, chaos-inducing dogs, and she and Audrey basically turned the living room into their own personal Wicked concert hall. No complaints here.

The kids are thriving at Camp Mythic/Camp Half-Blood — first time at this camp and they're absolutely obsessed. Even Wesley avoided his predictable "new things are terrifying" phase and decided camp was basically the best thing ever. Now our car rides are soundtracked exclusively by the Percy Jackson musical, which means I've unintentionally memorized every single song. "Good Kid" is stuck in my head as I type this.

Bedtime reading: We're deep in the Fablehaven universe (Audrey is living for all the fairy drama), and The False Prince audiobook is our current car companion. Also been working through Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes with them — still blown away by how a kids' show managed to be the most thoughtful exploration of conflict resolution I've ever seen.

Ministry Shenanigans

Wrestling with some gnarly pastoral situations — Sometimes being a pastor feels less like shepherding and more like being a referee in a game where nobody agrees on the rules.

Flying solo during sabbatical season — my co-pastor is off doing the whole 3-month sabbatical thing (which she absolutely deserves), so I'm pulling double duty. Thank God for Julie, our admin.

Personal Growth

Processing some coaching conversations with Marc about ego in ministry, the difference between healthy ambition and toxic striving, and the ongoing work of spiritual development. 

Current Media Diet

Reading: Just finished Nightwatch on the Hinterlands, doing Fablehaven with the kids, and keeping up with daily Bible reading through the Pentecost C lectionary.

Watching: Wrapped up season one of Murderbot (fantastic, and thrilled it got renewed), said goodbye to this season's Taskmaster cast (genuinely sad to see them go), slowly watching Somebody Somewhere with Emily, and continuing our Avatar journey with the kids.

Small Victories Worth Celebrating

• Maintained my email vacation boundaries during California (didn't check it once!)
• Kids had zero camp drop-off drama despite my anxious predictions
• Got three runs in during vacation and jumped back into the routine at home

Currently Wrestling With

The question of whether I'm becoming less willing to do the hard work of change as I get older, or if I'm just being more strategic about where to spend my energy. There's something unsettling about the possibility that I might be choosing comfort over calling. The world needs experienced leaders willing to do difficult transformation work, and I don't want to clock out just because things get messy.