If I go too long without studying God’s Word in depth, my soul starts to feel…antsy.

A friend had a verse from Ezra on social media, and it reminded me of that dusty book in the Bible (well, it’s dusty in my Bible). Plus, after a little reading from the NASB Study Bible intro, I found Ezra was referred to as a “reforming priest” (pg 549). Pretty big title.

But a title that sounds relevant. We are an interconnected, socially aware, socially active generation. How do we keep that awareness and activism yet stay grounded in the Holy Scriptures? Because we really are not in charge of what is absolute truth. Neither is culture.

God is.

And He has revealed to us what we need to know.

I think we could use a little of that reforming priest’s wisdom, don’t you?

So let’s jump in.

If you read any of the Hosea study, you know the prophet was foretelling Israel’s captivity.

And it happened. Around 720 B.C., the Northern Kingdom fell into the hands of the ruthless Assyrians.

But what about our Southern Kingdom, Judah? Hosea only gave them several cursory glances during his prophecy focused on the North. But the Southern Kingdom was not following Covenant Yahweh’s Laws either. Jeremiah was the main prophet to the South, preaching in Jerusalem until the foretold disaster. Judah was finally taken captive by the Babylonians some 100 years after the Northern Kingdom fell, around 605 B.C.

Jeremiah foretold the captivity would last 70 years, of which his contemporary Daniel was well aware. Sure enough, at just the right time, “the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia” and around 537 B.C. the first round of exiles were given permission to return to their Promised Land.

And this is where Ezra begins.

It is important to remember that the first part of Ezra is recounting history. Our reforming priest himself doesn’t return to Jerusalem until some 80 years later, around 458 B.C.

But we’ll start where the author starts. Ezra chapter one.

Another day.

This seems like enough for now. An introduction to get some footing and a precedent for me to be disciplined to continue.

Here’s to the end of summer and the beginning of fresh insights into the heart of One who breathed the Word into existence.

If you read nothing else, read this: Today is Free Iced Tea Day at McAlister’s.

Monday is the last free swim day of the summer. Have at it at Boston pool.

The next free event from Wichita Parks and Recreation is this Saturday at McAdams Park.

So while we weren’t looking, Wichita turned 145 years old. There’s a celebration on Saturday.

Lowe’s Build and Grow Kids’ Clinics this summer are themed around Marvel Avengers. Register here to build Hawkeye’s Quinjet this Saturday. (We got one the other day and they’re very sturdy and fun to play with).

Johnson’s Gardens is hosting a free seminar this weekend entitled “Lawn Renovation and Overseeding.” Sign up in store or online here.

Poetry Reading at Watermark on Friday beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Food Trucks at the Fountain this Sunday at Waterwalk.

Friends of the Library Used Book Sale this weekend on Fiction Hardbacks at Central. 6 Books for $5.

The Library:

It is making me sad all these summer events that are coming to a close. Each season has such charms, but my favorite will always be summer.

Thursday July 23rd, meet a K-9 Police Dog at Central from 3:30 – 4:15. Over at Evergreen Branch, you can meet a Wichita firefighter beginning at 2:30. And at Rockwell, learn about Horse Rescue from Greenwood Stables and Equine Center, beginning at 2:30.

Also today at Alford, meet the creator of the bilingual comic book AMIGOMAN, Anthony Oropeza. Learn tips for drawing comic book characters beginning at 2:30 for ages 8-11.

Friday the 24th at Westlink, see the Puppet Show Interrupting Chicken at 10:30 and again at 2:30. And at Alford on Friday you can catch the Horse Rescue information beginning at 2:30. A chance to meet one of the horses from their program after the presentation.

I hope your weekend is full of love and intention!

Making me a compost bin

Becoming our neighborhood mascot

Watching brother play

Malaysia Day at VBS at a friend’s church

Ball and Cup Game from Mexico Day

I like this church

Our supervisor rented out the water park for our staff meeting. So fun.

Gorgeous evening

Atta way, Lettuce!

And your 7 Days?

We have turned a mostly-empty spare basement bedroom into an office! We went from this:

This:

And this:

To this:

Books, including a Bible my Mama’s Mama had for many years. In the front, my Grandpa wrote: “To Milllie, My devoted Wife. Love, Harold.” Along with all her many notes. I treasure it.

Plus, Dan’s Tolkien, Calvin & Hobbes, and Peanuts collections. I like that it reflects both of our tastes.

A framed picture of Dan’s first Kindergarten class and their signatures, our Craigslist reading chair find, an extra bedside table I still need to paint, a lamp from India from Lincoln’s Ten Thousand Villages.

Best part? All said and done, very inexpensive. Yet, ours.

I love having a place to shut the door and study or write. Dan often will sit with me when the boys are in bed and we’ll chat at the same time. Well, mostly chat. We want a futon or day bed for guests or future sleepovers.

A nice, intentional space.

You have a place to work? Read? Make your own? I’d love to hear!

Wanna experience the opera under the stars? Bradley Fair is hosting the Wichita Grand Opera this Saturday, July 18th, beginning at 8:00 p.m.

Also this Saturday is the Wichita Art Museum’s 80th Birthday celebration! Free ice cream for all, as well as live music and art activities. Fun starts at 2:00

Free Swim Days are this Saturday at Orchard Park from 1 – 6, and Monday the 20th at Linwood, same times.

Also on the 20th…the next $1 admission for a Wingnuts game!

Watermark is hosting The Crowsons Friday the 17th from 6 – 8. Come listen to some bluegrass music. Also, you into hiking? Kristin and Jonathan Conard have authored Kansas Trail Guide: The Best Hiking, Biking, and Riding in the Sunflower State, and will give a presentation and sign copies at Watermark on Saturday at 1:00.

Aaaannnd…Library:

Priscilla Howe, storyteller with “ridiculous hand puppets” will spin tales in her program Unlikely Heroes. Today, Thursday July 16, at Evergreen at 10:30 and Linwood at 2:30. Also on July 17th at 2:30 at Alford.

Greenwood Stables and Equine Center will share info about horse rescue, with a chance to meet one of their horses! Friday the 17th at 10:30 at Westlink and Tuesday the 21st at Evergreen beginning at 2:30.

Saturday the 18th at Central, composer, conductor, and NPR music commentator Rob Kapilow will “unravel classical music so that children can appreciate its greatness.” For ages 6 and up and their families, beginning at 2:30.

And to learn more about tablets and smartphones, come at 2:30 on Saturday the 18th to the Angelou Branch

Wednesday the 22nd, see the Puppet Show Good Night, Good Knight at 10:30 and 2:30 at Rockwell for ages 3 and up.

And at Angelou Branch on the 22nd, see Life-Sized Angry Birds take down evil pigs at 2:30

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Bike ride to the river (in between downpours)

Geese sighting

Toby sighting

Fun Fit at the Y

Blueberry Waffles for our friend

A little more paint

So much more open and flowy (a closet previously stuck out quite a bit further than that blue shelf. Now it beckons, Come in!)

Making our Lowe’s Build & Grow kits (an employee saw us looking at the upcoming schedule and gave us free, unused kits from the previous week!)

Pushing our friend (against her will)

Sunday afternoon Sorry tournament

And your 7 Days?

I’ve written before to my fellow Believers about sharing the Hope we have in Him. Other memories and thoughts have been swirling, and I wanted to share these, too, since it has been such a relief for me.

We did a lot of training in our college years. When preparing to go overseas as cultural students our first summer, we talked at length what it would mean to share the Gospel in another culture in someone’s 2nd or 3rd language.

Just typing that sentence reminded me what a work of God sharing our faith is. Because the above should never work out.

Something that has always stuck with me is from the time our team was discussing cultural norms. We thought through things like literal idols, unorthodox (to us) family dynamics, and pervasive relational norms that oppose a Gospel of Peace.

In light of such issues, our leaders asked us: “Of those things, what must your national friends give up in order to receive the Gospel?”

On one hand, I knew the answer was: none of them. The Good News is for all.

But on the other hand, what about that physical idol in a shrine in my friend’s home? Shouldn’t she throw that out first? Surely bowing down and lighting incense must stop before receiving Jesus.

Or that cultural norm that says you must always work with all your might and never shame your family. Shouldn’t that be renounced when receiving the grace of the Gospel?

It was such a good, eye-opening discussion. One I thought of much throughout that first summer in another culture.

I think about it still.

What must my friends who do not walk with Jesus first give up before I will let them receive the Grace?

Surely she should stop smoking. And her pictures on social media are not appropriate. And he is completely strung out most weekends. And have you heard the language they use?

They all definitely need to clean up their act first.

But they can’t. None of us can.

Besides that, one of the best parts of the Gospel is that while we were still sinners, He died for us.

When our hearts were hopelessly corrupt; when our hands were stained with the blood of literal or heart-level murder; when our mouths were full of slander of our fellow man; when our thoughts were anything but pure and sweet and righteous… He came for us.

And He’s coming for our friends in the same way.

Let’s make sure and step out of His Way. Let nothing, no preconditions, come between our friends and this scandalous Grace.

Because if they can earn it, it is not the Gospel.

Elderslie Farm, Kechi, KS – Do you know about this place? It’s a Farm to Table Café! Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7 – 11. Find them on Facebook. Local, fresh, lovely.

Make ICT…Heard of it? It’s a MakerSpace, a location where “people with common interests can meet, socialize and/or collaborate. MakerSpaces can be viewed as open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where makers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things.”

So…

Wood shop, machine shop, electronics lab, science lab, and art studio in one. Or, as my friend said, “ How else do you learn about a 3D printer unless you get to practice with one?” Very cool.

Wichita on the Cheap is listing local deals on school supplies. You can also like a Facebook page that is regularly updated local deals! Don’t forget this is a great time to stock up on things like crayons for Operation Christmas Child boxes in December!

Wichita Parks and Recreation’s next free family day activity will be this Saturday, July 11 at Planeview Park (WOTC)

Minisa public pool has their free swim day this Sunday from 1-6!

Looks like Monday, July 13 is the next $1 Wingnuts game admission!

Library:

Today, July 9, Discoverers: Mystery Play, ages 8 – 10, 2:30 – 3:30 Westlink

July 10 Bug Lady ages 6-11, 10:30 – 11:30 Rockwell and 2:30 – 3:30 Angelou

July 13 Captain Underpants ages 5-8, 2:30 – 3:30 – Alford

July 14 Meet Wichita firefighter 2:30 – 3:30 Linwood Park

July 14 for teens: Shelfies 2:30 – 4:00, Rockwell Branch; Kumihimo Braiding 2:30 – 3:30 Central

July 14 Technology Training: Building a Resume and Job Searching, 10:30 – Noon, Central. Learn about job searching websites, how to fill out online applications, and submit electronic resumes (plus how to make that resume!)

July 15 Under the Sea: A Monart Drawing Experience ages 6-10 (register 688-9361) Angelou

This Saturday is 2^nd Sat! This is becoming one of my favorite things. (And when I stock up on Carmel Ribbon Crunch Decaf beans at Spice Merchant!)

Don’t forget Story time with Melissa at 10:30 on Saturday at Watermark Books!

The best

Near The Cousins’ house

Owen the cat

My man’s art work

Crazy Mary’s

Caleb was an especially big fan of his new cousin

Can’t say I blame him

Chocolate covered bacon. Tasted better than it looked

Playing with explosives

And your 7 Days?

I was so giddy the other day to find a list Dan and I had made with values we wanted reflected in our family. The list is at least 4 years old. I was happy to see these things still seem to be our top priorities:

1. Fun/Laughter – if we’re only having fun outside of our family unit, something is wrong

2. Good Stewardship – taking care of what God has given us

3. Sleep – This one made me smile. We had a little one (maybe 2?) at the time this list was written, and were very good at protecting bed time and especially nap times. But, seriously, sleep is important for all ages!

4. Healthy Community – Sharing our lives openly both with heart friends who have similar values and friends who believe differently

5. Staying active – Exercise, bike rides, rough housing, family walks.

6. Reading – this one makes me feel like hmmm, since we’ve been so lax on it lately. But we genuinely want to raise boys who value reading, whether or not they choose to spend their leisure time as adults with their nose in a book (Tablet? Kindle? Phone?).

7. Serving – each other, and those outside our family

8. Courage – Remembering that it’s not courage until you’re first afraid

9. Authenticity and Teachability – We want to be the Real Deal with each other and to anyone watching to see if our lives reflect the King. We also want everyone in our family to have permission to speak the truth in love, gently call out inconsistencies, and ask for forgiveness.

10. Downtime as a family most evenings – again, hmmm. With older boys and fuller schedules, we do not always meet this one. But we want our hearts to be at home.

It would make me so so sad if this comes across as if we have everything all together. We struggle daily, daily, with everything from tempers to laziness. But with our great God we are prayerfully moving toward what He has for us.

Have you ever written out your personal values? If you’re married – with or without kids – do you and your spouse have a similar mind on priorities?

I’d love to hear!