GroshLink

On one of the various campus fellowship lists of which I am a part, I saw the below list of internally generated suggestions for summer commitments:

o Read the Books of Luke, Matthew, Mark and John
o Read the Book of Acts
o Read the Book of Proverbs
o Read the Psalms
o Commit Scripture to heart - a verse-a-day for 30 days (e.g., James 1)
o Set aside daily prayer time - half an hour to an hour
o Get involved in church - e.g., Bible study, community service group
o Set up an accountability group at your workplace or with your friends

Amen! Good material to pass along to the Body of which you are a part as you pursue (and are pursued by) the love of God this summer. AND as you become conformed more and more to the image of Christ in love of neighbor, proper self-love/understanding, and love of creation through one's vocation.  I'll be emailing a similar piece to the faculty with which I'm connected and the adult ministries pastor at my local congregation. But first I'd love to receive any additional suggestions you would have to add, below are some of mine:

o Set aside a 1/2 or full day prayer retreat 1 time a month. 
o Read & discuss (in person or as part of an on-line community) a Christian classic. Note: could be on CD/I-Pod while hiking, traveling, working in the house.
o Read & discuss (in person or as part of an on-line community) a Christian piece which addresses a particular concern in one's life as a follower of Christ, e.g., emotional, spiritual, cultural engagement, witness, etc. Note: could be on CD/I-Pod while hiking, traveling, working in the house.

By-the-way, it is time to start consider such commitments. At the booktable for Jim Sire's Penn presentation, I had a conversation with a student which choose his one book to read for the summer. At my suggestion, he encouraged a friend to purchase another book on the table, so they can swap boooks when they're finished reading (BTW, that's how one begins a fellowship library). Hopefully they'll have read and discussed the two books before next summer . . . but imagine setting aside time to read, pray, commit to Scripture to prayer with 4 girls (one being a baby), 3 boys visiting next door, summer activities, and keeping the InterVarsity ball rolling. May the grace of God enable us to be fully devoted followers of Christ this summer, deepening in our Christlike-ness through habits such as those listed above ;-)  More on our resolutions, which build upon our daily walk with the Good Shepherd through family devotions focused upon the Word studied/lived & prayer in the context of local assembly, at a later time.