Revving Up

And now the semester starts to get really busy. I had thought that graduating from Tech would mean that I wouldn't have an end-of-semester rush to get everything done, but apparently I was mistaken. Once again November is proving to be the busiest month of the term, and while the pressure isn't nearly as high as at Tech, there is certainly a lot going on.

The majority of the work is actually in preparation for next week. As I mentioned last week, I'm going to design and run an evangelistic event next Tuesday and Wednesday, then I'm giving the message at the Large Group that Thursday. Having done neither of those things before, it's been an interesting experience trying to get them together. Everything is starting to fall into place, thankfully. For the event, we're putting on a table with the prompt "What I hate about Christianity..." and allowing students to write their responses on the board. We'll then ask them questions like what their personal religious background is, what experience they've had with Christians, and how they think God reacts to Christianity as a religion. Our hope is that we can then tell them more about who God is, not how he is sometimes portrayed through Christians. The talk, meanwhile, will be on John 9, when Jesus heals a man born blind. It speaks a lot about how Jesus has come to bring light to us all, and my hope is that some non-Christians will want to come after meeting us at the table and have Jesus heal their spiritual blindness that night. Please pray for both of those events. It certainly won't be by my efforts that either of these things will be successful. I really hope that we can reach out to some non-Christians and invite them to join us in following Christ, so please pray for open hearts and minds and that we would encounter the right students.

Another source of busyness coming down the turnpike is some upcoming visits to other chapters that I'll be making. So far I'll be going to the New Mexico Tech chapter (tonight, actually) and the University of Arizona in a couple weeks. I might also visit one or two more. The idea is that I would be able to get a better understanding of how other chapters run their Large Groups, then compare them to determine some best practices to help UNM make their Large Groups better. I'm really excited to do this, especially to be back at the Tech chapter since I haven't been able to see those guys all semester. Keep those trips in your prayers as well, please.

I've really been blown away by the way that God has been moving people to generosity lately. Last week we had an AIDS awareness night for Large Group, which involved telling students about the severity of the AIDS epidemic worldwide. We took up an offering for World Vision, which helps fight AIDS in different needy areas, and we managed to raise about $340! We also had our work day for Urbana scholarships last Saturday, and though the final total isn't in yet, we know that we managed to make over $4,000 to share between us and Tech! That totally blows our previous record of $1,800 out of the water, and it's really a testament to the way that God provides event in this bad economic climate. He is a God of provision!

It's less than a week until my Dad starts his chemotherapy treatment. We aren't really sure to expect, so please keep him in your prayers as well. My family is in good spirits about it, and we know that we rest in God's care. Thank you once again for your support during this time. Have a blessed week!

"When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?"
- Psalm 8:3-4