The Swing of Things

Well, with the Great Escape over, it's back to life as usual. Or something. It's interesting, because in talking with the other area staff, usually the time after Great Escape or any other major retreat represents a slow-down from the previous weeks. That's not the case with me. In part this is because I had less to do for the retreat than others, i.e. I didn't have to be the main speaker like Hans, so there wasn't so much work to get a break from. But on the other hand, the way that the internship and just life in general has lined up makes these next few weeks probably the busiest of this semester for me.

One of the jobs that has recently been added is the discipleship group I'm leading with a few of the UNM guys. I currently have a group of 3, and we started meeting last week. We've decided to go through an IV Press book called "Hearing God" by Dallas Willard. It explores the ways that we try to discern God's will for our lives and how being in God's will is an essential part of the Christian walk, whether we are following a path God has revealed to us or taking a step of faith that what we are doing is what He desires for us. I'm excited to go through it and to be able to lead these guys into a stronger relationship with God. It feels a little weird to be in a place of leadership where I am so used to just being a participant, but that is pretty much par for the course as far as the internship goes, and I'm happy to be doing it. Please keep the group in your prayers, though, so that I may lead these guys into a better relationship with one another and with God through the discipleship group.

My small group this week was... interesting. For various reasons, my co-leader Javier wasn't able to show up (one being that his grandmother is in the hospital with only a day or two to live - please pray for him and his family during this time), plus some of the other attenders weren't able to come. We had one new girl come though, Hannah. I felt kind of bad because I ended up waiting a long time for people to show up for the meeting since they hadn't told me they wouldn't be able to make it, and then we even stopped the meeting for a little while to wait for another guy who wanted to come but was going to be late. It certainly wasn't the best small group I've ever been a part of, but I suppose overall it went alright. I just hope things will be a little smoother this coming week.

I also had quite a surprise last week. My roommate Heydon, who is also the Large Group Coordinator for the chapter, got really sick last week. He's better now, but at the time it meant that he couldn't lead the Large Group. He called me a couple of hours ahead of time to ask if I could replace him, so I ran home, got some instructions for the night, and headed out to try to get the night rolling. We had another of our meetings on the Salvation to the Ends of the Earth series, this time on the coming of the suffering servant from Isaiah. Since the lesson was already prepared, I didn't have to worry too much about it, which was nice. It was a bit of an adventure, but it all turned out alright in the end. I'm just glad that we were able to help out Heydon while he was under the weather.

Another fun adventure this week was the IV Masquerade party on Saturday. I'm not one for dancing usually, but I decided to take a chance and show up, and I actually had a really great time. There is something distinctly different about dancing with just a group of friends versus the awkwardness I was always used to at school dances back in high school. We all had a great time letting loose and dancing around, doing everything from swing to line dancing to pop and lock randomness. Good times, even if it was a little outside my normal comfort zone. I'm really glad I was able to go!

There is a lot to come now, though. For one, I get to lead my church's college Sunday School this week. I'm talking about my time in Kenya as the beginning of a unit on missions for this month, so at some point I'll need to prepare for that. I'm also preparing to give a talk at the Large Group in a couple weeks. Not just any talk, though. No, this is part of an evangelistic unit for the internship, so I'm actually going to create some kind of an evangelistic event (probably some kind of interactive table or other approachable space) which will happen within the next couple of weeks. Then I will have my talk at the following Large Group, hopefully inviting some students that we meet at the event into a relationship with Christ. It's a lot of stuff, but I'm excited to see how God will use these opportunities. Please keep them in your prayers, that I would be able to effectively share what God has done for me and help give others the desire to follow Him as well.

An update on my Dad: he's started some medication that is supposed to help his immune system target the cancerous cells to fight them. He'll also be starting chemo therapy in a couple of weeks, so please pray for his health during that time and that God will help heal him. Thank you all so much for your continuing prayers!

"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah"
- Psalm 46:1-3