Summer Series #1: “Summer Blog” by Justin Smith

[NOTE: For the next four Tuesdays, we will be running a series of posts by four great young adults. Each is a student at Freed-Hardeman University, and each is spending the summer doing anything but taking a vacation. I hope their words encourage you to use all your time for the Lord.]

Our first post comes from Justin Smith. You can visit his Tumblr site here.

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This summer I am working as a summer youth intern at West 7^th Street Church of Christ under Jerry Elder. The church is in Columbia, Tennessee, and I’m from Gadsden, Alabama, so I am living with another family for the summer away from my home. We go to camp, plan devotionals, teach classes, take fun trips, put on a VBS, go on mission trips– typical youth group activities. It’s fun, but also hard work, and I enjoy it.

I go to school in the fall and spring, and summer is my vacation time. I hear from a lot of people things like “It’s awesome that you are sacrificing your summer to the glory of God.” But am I doing anything different from what the rest of us are called to do? Yes I am working with a church for my summer, but I do that because I enjoy it. We should ALL be sacrificing, not only our summer, but also our lives to Christ. Colossians 3:17 tells us “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Anything we do, we should do it for the glory of God. My vacation is not just my vacation. My summer is not just my summer. My life is not just my life; it’s His. My summer is about glorifying God. Not because I work with a church, but because I’m a Christian.  Christianity is a lifestyle. Live it.