How Not to be a Functional Atheist on Your Vacation

Four pro tips

It’s the end of June, and summer vacation season is in full swing. Perhaps you’re off to witness the wonder of God’s glorious creation (my family is making a trip to Utah and the Grand Canyon later this year, which we are incredibly stoked about). Maybe there’s an event you’re traveling to attend (World Cup, anyone?). Maybe you’ve made the hilariously bad excellent decision to bring the kids to Disney in the dead of summer.

Wherever your vacation takes you, you can be sure of this - time away is God’s kindness to you. We can be easily tempted to view vacations with a sense of entitlement, but in reality they are a gift from the Lord - just one of the many that “is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). The reason you are able to go on vacation is the same reason you’re able to fill your lungs with air right now - God provided.

From that perspective, one of the most baffling things about vacations is how we can so easily slip into a functional atheism as we experience this wonderful gift from the Father of lights. By that, I mean God becomes an afterthought. You become consumed with the events and experiences, the people and places, the sights and the sounds…and then you come to the end of it all and sheepishly (pun intended) realize that the most you’ve thought about God in the past week and a half is a barely conscious, “Thank you for the fun, Lord,” as you laid your head upon your pillow and passed out from exhaustion each night.

“Hold on,” you might be saying. “Are you trying to guilt-trip me into reading my Bible when I’m vacation?” Don’t be silly. I’m trying to joy-trip you, my friend. Because I am fully convinced that the deepest possible happiness and rest you can experience on your vacation this summer will be found with an eyes-wide open awareness of the living God who loves you.

So with that, here are four tips for delighting in God as you vacay to his glory:

Don’t Jump Ship on God’s Word

There is a good chance that opportunities for spending time with the Lord in his word and prayer will be more limited on your vacation, and that’s okay. It does not mean, however, that you are any less dependent on the Scriptures that Jesus says are just as vital as food (Matt. 4:4). You might not be able to follow your normal reading plan, but you can open God’s word and read a psalm, a short New Testament letter, a story from the Gospels. And any of these you can do with your kids, regardless of their ages! As a matter of fact, if your kids see you open your Bible on vacation this communicates to them the importance of God’s word. So far as it depends on you, resolve to start your vacation days by laying hold of the Scriptures and seeking the Lord in prayer, even if it’s just for a few minutes. The God who multiplied the loaves to feed thousands can do a lot with a little of the daily bread of his word.^⁠

Sing Together

Will you be in the car together for a while? Sing! I don’t care if you’re a Getty family, a Sovereign Grace family, a Phil Wickham family, or a Forrest Frank family. Get some God-centered tunes pumping and praise God together! Are you camping? Bring your guitar (or a bluetooth speaker) and lift up your voices together around the campfire. Again, this kind of intentionality communicates something to your kids - “God is always worthy of our praise.”

Develop Your Praydar

A few years ago, the executive pastor I served under won a grant for Sabbatical that allowed him and his family to explore many of the national parks. When they would reach a significant sight, they would all declare together as a family, “The [Redwoods/Yosemite Valley/Trail of Cedars] declare the glory of God!” A bit cheesy? Maybe. But it was an intentional reminder that the natural beauty before their eyes was crafted by the hands of God. When are you going to praise together as a family? When are you going to pray together as a family? Even something as small as praying each time you get in the car and asking God for safety reminds every person in the vehicle that you are dependent on the One who upholds the universe by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3).

Gather With a Church

When you leave home for vacation, you have an incredible opportunity before you: a chance to gather with God’s people and see what he is up to in another city, state, or even country. This is a powerful reminder that the church you call home is just one tiny part of God’s glorious, redemptive family! Will getting yourself/your kids to church in a place you’re not familiar with require extra work on your part? Yes. Will it be awkward to visit a church you don’t know? Of course. Will it be worth the reward of getting to lift your voices in songs of praise, hear the Scriptures taught, and pray with believers you will one day spend eternity with? 100%.

The greatest joys you can experience on a vacation will be found by receiving gifts with an awareness of the Giver. I hope these little tips help you shepherd your own heart and the hearts of those in your family as you step outside your normal routine to create memories and find rest.

The ZakStack for 6/27/26

The Ryman and the Deeper Dream - Andrew Peterson

I really enjoyed this piece by one of my favorite songwriters.

It hit me today that this is real life. The elation of the big show last weekend was precious and fleeting and truly wonderful, but it’s not the main event. The main event was playing a board game with my in-laws last night and weeding the garden today. It’s checking the beehives and bumping into neighbors at the barbecue restaurant and hauling the trash bin up from the road and harvesting about twenty ripe peaches from the tree I planted fifteen years ago. It’s good to have songs to sing, but it’s better to have something to sing about. This is what Paul surely meant by urging us in 1 Thessalonians 4 to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind our own business and work with our hands.

A Theology of Walking - Griffin Gooch

A wonderful little deep dive into why walks are still one of the best ways to solve most of your problems.

There’s no chapter and verse, “thou shalt walk,” proof text. But we do know that when God incarnated, He transported himself by putting one foot in front of the other, traversing each and every terrain at roughly 3 miles per hour.

Mark McKenzie Becoming Faith Leader for USMNT During World Cup Run - Cole Douglas Claybourn

If you’re following the World Cup like my family is, you’ll be encouraged by this piece on Team USA’s player Mark McKenzie.

McKenzie is joined on the team by a core group of players who also profess faith in Christ, including star Christian Pulisic, Chris Richards, Matt Freese and others. That core group have participated in Bible studies together, and eventually, began gathering in a circle on the field after games. Although his prayers are now known across the country, McKenzie wants the spotlight fixed squarely on his Father in Heaven. “I may be in the center of [the circle], but at the end of the day, the Lord is at the center of it all,” he said. “He’s the main purpose. He’s the main character. He is the protagonist, and I’m just trying to bring people into His light in some way.”

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