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So, you’re engaged, or perhaps newlywed? Congratulations! By convincing somebody to tie the knot, you have achieved the most prestigious status in all of Christian life—spousehood. Remember all those sermons that you used to tune out because they were about husbands and wives?

Since I graduated from college three years ago, I’ve been a bridesmaid four times, kept two wedding guest books, and read Scripture in seven different ceremonies, and that’s just the list of weddings I’ve participated in.

I left college in the summer of 2012 with a sense that God wanted something great for my life. I just didn’t know what that looked like.

It was a simple enough question. “Would you like me to buy you one?” The thing in question was an official Urbana 12 T-shirt. It would be a keepsake for me from what had so far been an amazing experience in a foreign land at a great conference. 

I look like a pretty typical Christian girl. I grew up in a Christian family like most of my friends involved in campus ministries. My parents were missionaries when I was younger. I’m pretty sure I held the Sunday school record for flipping to the correct book of the Bible the fastest. And by the time I began college I had already been on two mission trips.

This week at the blog, just over six months since close to 16,000 of us gathered in St. Louis, we’re telling stories from Urbana 12.

Today we celebrate freedom as a nation. But how are we to view freedom as Christians?

When summer arrives, I jump into my favorite warm-weather activities: time by the pool, reading outside, and most importantly, shared meals and cookouts with friends and family.

Here are four effective ways to make friends at work.

God wants you to have a vacation. Seriously. Let me explain: Yes, God wants you to work hard and be faithful in school, at work, and in all of your responsibilities, whatever they might be.