All heart, all things

The way God's word works, it is like a Bible being held up in a mirror or like throwing the Bible into a pool of water. You read the words on the page, but you also see yourself or your reflection in the words. You see your life in light of the words you read and ask the question, "Am I living these words?" Yesterday morning, Bible class hit me more than anybody because we talked about giving God all of your heart and thus, all of your love. I said, "Even if God has 95%, Satan still has 5% and it can become a cancer that will eat away at the other 95%." I saw in my heart some part that was not God's and realized that I needed to give it all to God. Afterall, this is the greatest command--to love God with everything. Don't I want to love God with all my heart? I hope to take steps this week to make this a reality.

Last night, the words from Philippians just blew me away. You know how we talk so much about wants and needs. Well, when we talk about needs that normally means something we NEED, right? But when Paul says he has learned the secret of contentment in all circumstances, whether well fed or HUNGRY, I would say he is talking about a need, don't you? But he says that Christ gives him strength even when his supposed "NEEDS" are not met! Now for someone who loves food and gets a little grumpy and impatient when my next meal is not in sight, this is humbling and powerful. I must do better to rely on Christ's strength in ALL THINGS...even when my needs are not met. Even when the necessities of life are not within our grasp, will believe Christ gives us strength while we wait. We do not always know how our necessities will be provided, but we do know that Jesus gives us strength for the waiting.

Mission Gratitude

It was neat to see how God worked this past Wednesday. I had long been planning another trip to Stockard and Martin Dorms as part of a reach out event. We had two special guest speakers coming from our church, Elizabeth Coon and Steve Freeman. Elizabeth was a Pharmacist on campus and Steve was a former NFL player and a current NFL official.

Well, I didn't do a good job of planning because you are supposed to call the dorm directors and make sure it is okay that you come because what we wanted to do was put a small flyer under each door--480 rooms. So I called Wednesday morning and left messages. We were supposed to go around 1:30pm. That didn't happen. Then Heather was available at 3pm if we were ready. That didn't happen. Finally, she came back at 4pm, walked in my office and I was on the phone with the dorm director. He was giving us permission to go to every room. Now I had started praying early afternoon but I just didn't know what else I could do. Note: When you are helpless, praying is a great place to start. I didn't know how God would work it, but I knew somehow we would get the flyers distributed. Before 4pm I had decided that we would just have to put the flyers under each car's windshield wiper and maybe quite a few would get the message that way. But that was not necessary!

But after the dorm director called and Heather was ready there was still a problem. Jesus sent his disciples two-by-two and we needed to go two-by-two. You may think Heather and I could have been the "two" but I established this back in January that we need two girls going to the girls dorm and two guys going to the guys dorm. It's just better relationally, socially, and ethically. Well, we think about several girls who might could help and we remember Jackie wanting to help. We call her and she's available! Now we need a guy. We walk outside and what would you guess, but Marlon is walking up the sidewalk unaware that he is about to be commissioned for this important mission. He agreed to help and was a wonderful helper (and a great bodyguard too!).
So in less than 30 minutes, my waiting and frustration turned into hope and mission. We went to the dorms and passed out 480 flyers. Seeds were planted and God was and still is at work in those small pieces of paper.
A lesson in faith…God is faithful.

Gratitude

One of the things Ann does on her blog is list things she is thankful for. I cannot help but think that is a great idea and I wish I did it more often.

I simply must talk more about Prayer and Praise last night because I was thankful for it and how God blessed our time.

1. Emily brought another friend with her--Kim. Thanks for inviting her, Emily, and thanks for coming with her, Kim!
2. Kiri and Jennifer have come on Tuesday nights and they have been an awesome addition to the group!
3. Kiri offered to start sending our prayer list out so we could pray more for each other! What a heart!
4. Leslie and Morgan faithfully give Jackie a ride to Prayer and Praise. Thanks for serving like this, sisters!
5. Leslie and Morgan also did a great job of talking with a potential freshman girl yesterday. They did so well at making Ruth Ann feel welcomed and loved.
6. We laughed a lot together last night. We discovered that Lucas needed to work on his hair! :)
7. Wren praised God that the Type 1 diabetes he has is treatable. What an amazing statement of faith!
8. Another person contributed to LST last night with $20. I continue to be humbled by your sacrifice and generosity.
9. I got to play doubles ping pong with Dave, Jeremy, and Chris. We have so much fun playing that way. Somebody always does something to make us laugh real hard...most of the time, it's Dave!
10. We shared a lot of things we were thankful for last night and that means a lot to me. I think it means a lot to God too.

Love you.

Things I liked about retreat

Hello all. Here are some things I liked about retreat and maybe a few things I didn't like. Please share things you liked as well. You can also make suggestions for a better retreat next fall too!

1. I liked that Tracey took pictures because they turned out great and will provide wonderful memories. (Though I don't always like pictures taken of me, I remember that it is for my wife and the campus ministry!)
2. I liked how much the Laws, Melanie, Pat and Durward helped and supported us.
3. The food was wonderful!
4. The fire was perfect at the end of the day.
5. You gave really good thoughts and comments.
6. I liked Dave hollerin' down the road at Ann and Sean because he sounded hilarious!
7. I didn't like Dave turning dark shades of red and purple in the heat!
8. I must admit I didn't like our walk to the water (that we never got to) but I did like that I got some exercise.
9. I liked James' stylish slit in his jeans...but only because he turned out okay. He was trying to catch a frisbee.
10. I liked hollering "FOUND IT!" when Dave or Jeremy threw the frisbee into the woods and I was too lazy to go in and get it.
11. I liked that Tracey called Emily and invited her to come and that Emily and her friend Chesa came out for the whole day. Thank you!
12. I'm glad Jill and Chris and Kris and Brigitte and Cole came out in the evening to join us. Thanks for coming to what you could.
13. I did not like that dog barking so much during our worship that evening. A little too dog-gone distracting.
14. I liked watching people play cards. I don't like how slow I am at fast card games!
15. I liked seeing everyone during their quiet time. It is neat to see you spend time with God.
16. I liked watching Hugh.
17. I liked making smores and singing.
18. I liked watching Tracey take pictures because it brings her so much joy.
19. I liked you making me laugh.
20. I liked that what we did brought me closer to God and to you.

Love you all.

Many thanks

As I learn to be more grateful and thankful to God, I want to praise him for his work in the campus ministry this past week.

Last week we had an LST offering to raise money for our team. We gathered more than $650 last week just from those who came. I must admit I was a little disappointed with our turnout. I hope people did not come because they could not give. You must know that I understand if you don't have any money...your college students! But for those who were able to give, God was glorified and your love was clearly shown! Previously, students had given $260 so that got us over $900 total. Tonight we may get a little more before we send off the final LST check. Those who gave out of love I pray will be blessed for laying down their lives in this way.

Also, our breakfast on Saturday was a blessing. But on Friday, Ann and I were going to get the breakfast food until God sent a couple of angels our way. Sarah Kuhl and her mother offered to do the shopping for us. I could not believe how God had lifted this burden from me. I was right in the midst of sermon prep and really needed some more time. I am just so thankful they thought to help in that way. Thank you God for them. And for all who came so early on Saturday and sacrificed a lot of sleep, praise God for your hearts that are sensitive to serving others. We served more than 25 public servants and I know God blessed them in some way because of you.

I love you all.

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow will be one year since we pulled into Oxford with all our junk! It will be neat to preach this weekend and thank the congregation again for all their love and support in this past year. Is the honeymoon over? I hope not. :) I hope our love will only deepen for this congregation and their love for us as well.

This weekend will be our service Saturday. We're feeding public servants of Oxford IN THE NAME OF JESUS. I am thankful for all who signed up and will help. I will rely on you and your past experience in many ways but I hope we can make sure this is a spiritual event, not just something the local Lion's Club would do. We serve as vessels of the presence of Jesus. Surely that looks different to the world!

Counter Culture--Dressing up

Well, I wrote a nice, long blog about Counter Culture earlier in the week, but our wonderful technology lost my thoughts somewhere between "create" and "publish."

Let me see if I can recreate some of the magic. :)
The topic was "Why do Christians dress up on Sunday?"

Let me highlight a few key points.
1. The reason we dress up for church is highly influenced by our southern culture and how we grew up with our families.
2. The southern culture is further intensified in Oxford, which seems to be known for dressing up to go the Square, football games, etc.
3. How do we think God really feels about what we wear?
4. We know God is more concerned with the heart and internals, but how important are externals to him? We know he wants modesty, but that is not "dressing up."
5. We seem to give a Sunday morning assembly more importance by our attendance and the clothes we wear. Is this okay?
6. Is it okay that we seem to be getting less and less dressed up for Sunday morning worship?
7. Are we trying to look our best for God or for the people that will see us? Check motives!
8. How easy is it to spend $100 on clothes, but give no money to God's mission on Sunday? College students, we must be more generous with our giving!
9. Does our dressing up exclude or distance poorer people?
10. Does our dressing up perpetuate the fake "everything is okay" attitude we bring to worship on Sunday morning with our fake or superficial smiles?

Bottom line: I believe our dressing up can produce hindrances that we must protect against. This is the culture we live in and I'm not sure we can or should change it. We should be taking every chance, however, to reach out to those who might feel out of place if they don't dress up like we do. We should also be as generous with our giving to God as we are with our giving to JC Penney, Gap, Old Navy, etc.

I hope this gets published! Let me know your thoughts.