Hey, Carpool Crew, it's Pastor Justin, and I'm so glad you joined me for our bonus episode, What Should I Do If I'm Bored? You just heard one of my crew, and the question is real. What should we do if we're bored this summer? It's a Tuesday in late June. You woke up late because there's no bus to catch. You ate some breakfast, you played for a while, you watched a show, you played a game, you ate a little bit more, then you had a snack, and you went outside for ten minutes and came back in, and now it's eleven in the morning. The whole day is in front of you, and it feels empty. No plan, no schedule, no idea what you're going to do next. You walk into the kitchen and your mom or dad is on a call, or making lunch, or trying to get something done, and you say it, the word every parent dreads in the month of June. "I'm bored." You drag it out. You let every O in bored hit really hard, and then you lean on the counter and sigh. You scan the room like maybe a new toy is going to appear on the table, and it doesn't. Maybe your mom says, "Find something to do." Maybe your dad looks at you and says, "I can find something for you to do," which is a very dad way of saying, "Go find something to do." And you slink off to your room thinking, "What am I supposed to do now? I'm bored." Here's the first thing, and I want you to really hear this. Being bored is not a bad thing. It's not a sin to be bored. It's not a sign that something's wrong with you. Summer is a long stretch with no school rhythm, no bus pickup or carpool drop-off, no homework, no after-school practice, and of course your brain hits the wall some days. That's normal. But here's what I've noticed. The way most kids handle boredom usually makes the day worse, not better. Most kids do one of three things when boredom hits. First, they grab a screen and try to fill that empty space. An iPad, a phone, a video game, whatever. I'm not saying all those things are completely bad all the time, and it works for a little while. But here's the weird thing about screens and boredom: they feed it. If boredom was a hungry animal, a screen would be an all-you-can-eat buffet. You watch for thirty minutes, and you're hungrier for more. You play a level, and you want the next one. And when you finally put the screen down, the day feels even emptier than before, like all the air got let out of it. Two, and I see this a bunch, they make trouble. Sometimes when you get bored, you start poking at your siblings. You start taking something that isn't yours. You start something just to make something happen. You make some jokes you probably shouldn't make, say some things you probably shouldn't say, maybe play a game you're not allowed to play. Because doing something, even something bad, feels better than doing nothing. That's what you tell yourself. If you've ever picked a fight with your brother or sister, or even a friend in the neighborhood, on one of those summer Tuesday afternoons, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And three, I've seen people quit. They just totally quit. They go lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling and decide, "This day is ruined, and there's nothing I can do about it, and everyone else is to blame." Man, I've seen that, and it makes me so sad. None of those three actually fix boredom. They just push it around. So what does God say about boredom? The Bible doesn't use the word bored the way we do, but it has a lot to say about what we do with our time. Let me read you a verse from a book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes. It was written by a king named Solomon. He had time and money and stuff, and he figured out that none of it filled him up. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your strength." Let me read that again. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your strength." That little phrase, "whatever your hand finds to do," is huge. It doesn't say "whatever feels exciting." It doesn't say "whatever is brand new." It says whatever you find, whatever shows up, whatever is in front of you, do that. And don't do it halfway. Do it with everything you've got. Here's another one. Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people." So whether you're building a fort, washing the dog, drawing a picture, or helping your mom or dad unload something, you can do it for God. That changes the whole thing. Suddenly even a boring chore is a way to love God and honor God. Even cleaning your room isn't just cleaning your room anymore. It's something you're doing to honor God. And one more. Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." This day, the boring Tuesday, or the Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or any day, God made that day. Not by accident, like a piece of junk flying out of the back of a truck. It's not a junk day. It's the day that God made. He gave you that day on purpose. It might not be what you were expecting, but that's okay. Because here's the real answer for boredom. Boredom is not an emergency. It's an invitation. God made you a creative human being with a brain that can build things and imagine things and write things and fix things and help people and rest. A boring afternoon is just a blank canvas waiting for you to put something on it, and the something you put on it can actually be a gift to God and to the people around you. Most adults wish they had boring afternoons. I'm not kidding. Trust me. Your parents would trade a lot for an empty day. The thing you think is boring is actually a gift you haven't unwrapped yet. If Jesus were sitting at the kitchen counter with you, or hanging out outside on a hot summer day, I think He might say, "Hey, I made you on purpose. I gave you a hand that can build. I gave you a brain that can imagine. I gave you a heart to love your family and be kind to your friends. The day in front of you is not empty. It's full of choices, and I want you to make the right ones. So let's go." Now, before you go, let me tell you a quick story about a kid in the Bible who had way more boring days than you do. Trust me on this. His name was David. Before David was king, before he fought Goliath, before he wrote any of the Psalms we listen to a lot on Goodnight Psalms, our nightly devotional, before any of that, he was the youngest kid in his family, and his job was to watch the sheep. He was a shepherd boy. Imagine being a kid whose whole job is watching sheep all day. Not watching sheep as you fall asleep, like watching sheep when you have to stay awake. It's your job. Every morning you walk those sheep to a field and sit there all day. You watch them eat grass, you watch them not run away, you watch the grass grow. A few hours later you walk them to a different field. Guess what? You sit again. You watch them eat more grass. Maybe a lion comes to eat one and you have to fight it, but then the lion leaves and you go back to watching them eat grass. Do you know what David did with all those boring hours? He practiced his sling over and over, hitting rocks at twenty feet, thirty feet, fifty feet, hitting a target on a tree, hitting a target on a fence. He didn't know it yet, but God was using those boring afternoons to train his hand for the day he would stand in front of a giant. David also talked to God. He sang songs to God. He wrote psalms. Many of the songs in the Book of Psalms came from David sitting alone on a hillside being, well, kind of bored. If David had spent every shepherd afternoon staring at the sky thinking, "This is boring, I wish something would happen," he would have missed everything. The boring afternoons were the training. The boring afternoons were the prayer time. The boring afternoons were when God was getting David ready for the giant that was on the way. Your boring summer Tuesdays or Wednesdays or Thursdays might be exactly the same thing. So what should you do next time boredom hits at home this summer? Here are a few ideas. First, stop and take a breath. Ask, "What's going on exactly?" Sometimes you're not actually bored. You're just tired, or a little sad, or you ate too much sugar, or you're missing a friend who's at camp. Before you grab the iPad, take a deep breath and ask yourself, "What's really happening inside me right now? Why do I feel this way?" Number two, create something with your hands. Put the screen down. Build some Legos. Draw something. Write a story. Write a song. Write a poem, and then send me the poem. Have your mom or dad send it to me on Instagram, or send it to me in an email. I'd love to read it. Make something cool. You could create something great, because God made you creative. Use your hands. Make something awesome. And here's something else you could do. Go over to carpoolingwithjesus.com, click Carpool Crew, and you can download a bunch of Carpooling with Jesus coloring pages. Sit down and color a few, then send me some. I'd love to see them. You listened to a special episode, so you get something special too. Go check it out. There's no link in the show notes. This one is just for you, because you listened. Number three, find someone to invite or help. Look around your house. Is there a sibling who's bored too? Invite them to do something with you. Create some fun together. Is your mom or dad organizing something or putting something away? Maybe there's something you can do around the house. Say, "Mom, Dad, is there anything I can do? I want to do something." And guess what? They probably have some cool stuff you could do. You just have to ask. And here's the last thing, and I love this one. Open your Bible. Spend some time talking to God, and read a couple of verses. Figure out what it means. Ask some questions. When I open the Bible, I love reading in the Book of Matthew, the very first book of the New Testament. I just love it. I think you'd love it too. Okay, Carpool Crew, here's a quick recap. If boredom hits this summer, and guess what, we all know it will at some point, here's what you can try. One, stop and take a breath, and figure out exactly what's going on. Why are you bored? Do you miss someone? Is something going on? Think about it. Two, create something with your hands. You're creative. God made you creative. So create something. Three, find someone to invite or someone to help. Maybe it's helping a parent with something. Maybe it's planning something fun with a sibling. Figure out something, create some fun, make it happen. And four, open your Bible. You can start with the Book of Matthew. Read a little, talk to God, and spend some time growing your faith. That's a great way to spend a day. Now, here's the one thing for the ride that I hope you remember. Boredom is not an emergency. It's an invitation, and God can use a blank afternoon to do really cool things. So no matter where you are or how you're listening, God loves you. Before you go, answer this question together. What's one thing you could make, fix, or do with your hands this week that could fill a boring afternoon better than a screen or a video game? Thanks for riding along with me, Carpool Crew. I'll see you next time on another episode of Carpooling with Jesus.
