It's hard to believe that this is Friday of week 10 at Wright State. Two weeks till Thanksgiving! So much happening all the time :)
Today was a quiet, enjoyable day on campus. I had such a beautiful time, that I wanted to share.
We started the day off with morning prayer at 7:14am like we do every morning. Together with the a handful of students we prayed for the upcoming winter break. WSU has a 6 week break - which is more than half a quarter long. It can definitely be a time of make or break in regards to faith and good choices in student's lives. So we interceded and enjoyed being together.
I spent the rest of the afternoon updating some files in the office. I keep track of the "follow up" database we have and email all of the students that ever come through our ministry. So far this quarter 250 new students have either come to one of our events or signed up for more information at a festival. That's a lot of students! Out of those 250, twenty five have purposefully connected in more. Not the biggest number in the world - but that's not what we're going for :) What it means is that 25 individual people are getting one-on-one love, mentoring, encouragement, and authentic community. All 25 of them are worth every outreach, service, and event we've done this quarter.
And that's the heartbeat of what we do - we invest into individual people's lives. Helping and encouraging them to know God more, cultivate a meaningful relationship with Jesus...etc. Like this afternoon...
A young man came by the office while Pastor Steve and I were clicking away. He asked if he could talk for a moment about some things. Almost as soon as we closed the door you could see the anxiety and worry that was all through his heart. He expressed that he wasn't going to be able to serve on the sound crew team next quarter - a position he had held faithfully through the fall. When we started to ask why, he broke down and cried. He talked about the pressure and worry he had been feeling in regards to his family. His mom might lose her job and he felt a sense of responsibility to her. As a result of the stress, his relationship with the Lord had been weakening and his grades were dropping. And on top of everything else, he is required to take a class next quarter that completely conflicts with coming to Ignite, our main ministry meeting.
These are the moments that our ministry thrives on. We just stopped and prayed. The issue isn't whether or not this student is going to be able to help set up the sound system and balance the levels for the worship team. We can find someone else to do that. The real issue is, can this student find peace? Can he reach a level of intimacy with God where he really is living Pslam 55:22 "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
Our goal is to set people up for success - successfully know God; successfully pursue Jesus; successfully live, serve, give, and grow; successfully change the world around them for the sake of the Gospel. Knowing how to handle worry is something that may seem very small to many people. But how much more freedom would each of us have if we didn't worry, stress, or loose control when our lives were unpredictable?
Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God"
Philippians 4:19 "And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
The student that we prayed with today will be fine. As a matter of fact, he will be better than fine. He will go on to live a very successful life for Jesus. I say that with such confidence because of what we do. Through this fellowship, God heals past wounds and wrong thought patterns. He has surround each of our students with a great bunch of friends that will stick with them and push them into success.
It was a simple but great day today :) God bless.
