Recently I had the opportunity to attend the parade celebrating the Chicago Blackhawks win of the Stanley Cup. I have never been much of a hockey fan myself (I’m more partial to baseball and football), but I do love Chicago sports, so when my dad, grandpa, and siblings decided to go I went too. I was struck by the dedication of so many of the fans that I saw lining Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. People wearing Blackhawks jerseys and red and black championship t-shirts lined the streets for as far as I could see. Everyone was standing their waiting for the victors to arrive—some had been there since 3am.

I felt like an poser—I’ll admit I didn’t know who Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews were until I was surrounded by jerseys boasting their names. I had the presence of mind to wear a red shirt at least so I wouldn’t stick out too much. But even though I didn’t know too much about hockey, I still cheered as loud as I could and I got really excited and caught up in the moment when the team and the Stanley Cup went by on their double decker buses.

Ok...so what is the point of this? Once I left downtown and got settled back into my life back home, I started to forget the names of some of the players and I never went out and bought that championship t-shirt I said I would buy the very next day. I lost the enthusiasm that I had when I was right in the middle of things. The same thing can easily happen in our walks with God. So, my encouragement to all of you is to stay plugged in at a church somewhere while on summer break. If not having the schedule of classes throws off your quiet time schedule, really make an effort to create a new one. It is far too easy to lose your enthusiasm and excitement once summer hits because there are so many things fighting for our attention. But don’t do the same thing I did after going to the parade...stay on track, stay excited, stay dedicated, stay plugged in, stay connected to the Father!

Ahh. White Orchard…my favorite. I mean just listen to this description:
Made with white tea from China and a hint of green tea, our White Orchard white tea is a harmonious blend of mouthwatering fruits of melon and peach and pure Chinese tea.

A lovely hot tea…just the right thing on a rainy afternoon after finding my car windows rolled down during a mini inland monsoon. While the office microwave was heating up the water which soon would be mingling with that harmonious blend of mouthwatering fruits, etc., I was rinsing out that good, last drop of a fine Arabica brew lingering in my mug from the morning. Upon taking the initial sip of my freshly steeped tea, I thought to myself, “Why do I consistently settle for Ford when a bag of Cadillac is quietly and patiently waiting on my desk every day?” While it’s easy to make and provides comfort and taste for the moment, Ford also gives my teeth an unwelcomed golden sheen, creates a dependency in me that’s not so quiet and patient, and graces my breath with notes of…well, old coffee and spit. (Funny…they don’t tell you what comes after that good, last drop.) But Cadillac… Cadillac provides comfort and good taste, too, but without the three latter drawbacks. Isn’t that a lot like life? We know what we ought to do, but yet we choose what’s easy – which is often not the best. And so it goes: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11, in case you’re wondering.) So let’s all raise our mugs of steaming Cadillac and make a toast to not settling for a life that’s good only for the moment… but life with lasting and eternal goodness

A couple of weeks ago I was in Globe, Arizona working with an organization that ministers and builds up leaders within the San Carlos Apache reservation. The missionaries there are amazingly Godly people. I was encouraged when I saw how much prayer is in their daily life. They go to God about everything, small or big, and they have faith that God will answer the prayers they lift up. During our stay there, I was reading Too Busy Not To Pray, by Bill Hybels which is an excellent book about prayer. Overall, the example of how integrated prayer was in the daily lives of the missionaries and reading about prayer have shown me that I don’t pray enough throughout the day, I don’t pray with faith that God will answer my prayers, and I don’t come to God enough with the things that are going on in my life. If anyone reading this can identify with one of the three things I don’t do, then I challenge you to make (not just set aside some time, make time) time for prayer throughout the day, pray for faith to know that God will answer your prayers, and pray to God about everything that is going on, not just the big things, but also the small things. Lastly, please don’t forget to listen to God, prayer is a time for 2 way communication, not just us blabbing on to God. Take time to be silent and listen to God.