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"Summer is an odd time of year. If you\u2019re in school, it\u2019s when you aren\u2019t. If you\u2019re in the real world, it\u2019s when you downshift a bit, vacation and do the things you won\u2019t be able to once life gets back to normal and TV shows come back in the fall.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s the in-between season of every year. Some people waste their summers, while others seize them and make life-long memories. So it\u2019s probably appropriate that in this, our summer issue, we have a few stories that tackle the idea of wrestling with the in-between.\r\n\r\nOur cover subject, Vampire Weekend, surprised a lot of people when their new album, Modern Vampires of the City, showed unexpected depth and spiritual content. (It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts just weeks before this issue released, so unfortunately we can\u2019t take any credit for its success.)\r\n\r\nThe album doesn\u2019t have neat and tidy spiritual content. It\u2019s kind of the opposite: The lyrics wrestle with faith. Hard. They\u2019re questioning, searching and crying out. \r\n\r\nIf we\u2019re honest, it\u2019s a place we\u2019ve all been\u2014whether we\u2019re Christians or not. We\u2019ve all been in the place of the spiritual in-between, where our spirits are longing for something more than we\u2019ve experienced up to that point. That place where we still haven\u2019t found what we\u2019re looking for. \r\n\r\nFor a band like Vampire Weekend\u2014who, until now, was really just known for their cool indie pop sound\u2014to go to that place, well, it says something. And the fact that the album has connected as strongly as it has says something. It clearly struck a nerve for listeners\u2014one they probably didn\u2019t even know they had until they heard it.\r\n\r\nThe idea of wrestling with God isn\u2019t new.Even for mature Christians, we all have moments of questioning and searching. We\u2019ve all had prayers that haven\u2019t been answered the way we thought they would. We\u2019ve all asked God where He is in a situation. (That\u2019s something we tackle on page 52\u2014\u201CDoes Prayer Work?\u201D)\r\n\r\nOne of the biggest mistakes I think church culture has made in recent generations is portraying the idea that once someone comes to a faith in Jesus, they should have everything figured out. \r\n\r\n\r\nIn many church circles, there is no place for doubt, because the basis of religion is belief. But doubt is human. Not being sure is honest. Being mad at God at times is sincere. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve all experienced in our spiritual journeys. It\u2019s the place of yearning for something we don\u2019t yet know. It\u2019s the in-between.\r\n\r\nThe Bible says we know in part, and we see in part. God\u2019s ways are higher than ours. We don\u2019t understand them. We\u2019re not supposed to. We\u2019re supposed to live in the in-between without having everything figured out. \r\n\r\nWhen Vampire Weekend sings, Through the fire/Through the flame/Still You never say Your name/Only \u2018I Am That I Am\u2019/But who could ever live that way?, we\u2019ve all been there. \r\n\r\nWe\u2019ve all wondered who God is and why things are the way they are. But the key is not staying there. We need to honestly embrace our struggle as we keep moving forward in our pursuit of Truth and light. \r\n\r\nIn life or in our spiritual journeys, the in-between is not a bad thing. We all go through it, but what we do with it is up to us. \r\n\r\nWill we stay there and wallow in the unknown, or will we use the pain of questions to ultimately build our faith?\r\n\r\nJesus never said, \u201CHave everything figured out, and come follow Me.\u201D He just said follow. Drop everything and follow. \r\n\r\nThe radical abandon of things that have held us back is what God wants from us. He\u2019s not scared of our questions or doubts in the journey, because He is the answer we\u2019re looking for. \r\n\r\nHe just doesn\u2019t push that on us. He doesn\u2019t fast-forward to the end. He allows Himself to be revealed in our journey. \r\n\r\nIt\u2019s the honest embrace of the unknown that forms our characters and shapes our lives. That\u2019s why we need to always, without hesitation, embrace the in-between. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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