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The Last Post...of the Summer

So, even though LT ended three weeks ago (how is it been that long?!?!) I haven't ever finished blogging about it....

SO anyways...Four weeks ago we had our LAST project day. It was a sad one for sure, but just as good as the others, if not better. We were going to go camping the night before, but it rained, so we camped in a meeting room... But it was still fun! We then went to Ft. Collins the next day to complete our tour of major CO universities and hung out at Colorado State (Go Rams!). There, we had a small award ceremony, where we gave everyone goofy awards like "Best Chaco Tan" and "Most Improved Hip Shaker". We then passed around cards with our names on it, for people to write a note of affirmation and encouragement. It was a very good time, I love my card and will keep it for as long as it lasts. We just spent the rest of the day hanging out in town and spending our last precious hours together.

That Friday was "Closing Ceremonies" and was the last LT event of the entire summer! A bittersweet time, but still one of the best parts of the summer. There was a music video/live performance competition, and Wolfpack decided to team up with another project, Squirtle Squad, and do a live performance. Of course, our dynamic duo got first place. It was a crowning achievement to top off an awesome summer. Here's a pic of the winning team:



Fast forward three weeks later to now...

It's really hard to come off the LT "mountain top experience" and many people talk of similar Post-LT-syndrome feelings. It's incredibly hard to leave so many people that you've gotten close to all at once. The fact that we all live far away only compounds the problem from the small chance of seeing each other again. I am very thankful for modern technology (AKA Skype and Facebook) that allows me to still somewhat connect with people still. Needless to say, I still miss LT people very much.

However, God has still been redemptive as always, and I find that much of my feelings of sadness over losing LT people is being redirected toward meeting new freshmen and wanting to reach out to them. I am very excited to see what God does this coming semester and I have been praying for Freshmen to join our homegroup that will catch the fire and vision of Christ that I caught three years ago. Homegroup unity and authenticity will be at the forefront of my thoughts, prayers, and efforts this year. Some of the closing thoughts that were given at the last LT event was that as we leave LT, we are entering back into the frontlines of the spiritual battle called life. Our campuses are in enemy territory and we need to prepare ourselves accordingly. This was very impactful, and this image has stayed with me ever since. I feel the battle raging in front of me, and I have to remind myself of that even though I can't always see it. I come back from LT changed, and I feel prepared to enter the battle like I never have before, for I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. I will always be able to look back at Summer 2010 as a marked point where God intervened and stepped into my life to send me into the fray and die for him.

Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

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Box Blown

Yesterday was a really awesome project day. Being our second to last, we had packed it pretty full of events from 9:30 AM to 9 PM. Closing Ceremonies for LT is coming up in two weeks, and every project is asked to either make a music video or do a live performance (dance) to a song. Naturally, our project is doing a love performance because we are just that cool. We spent a good three hours in the auditorium (courtesy of one of our members who works for A/V) practicing our awesome moves. It was so tiring, but it was a blast because we all are pretty horrible at dancing.

Later that night we babysat for Harvest House, a shelter community for women. There were only 8 kids and 17 of us, so it was more fun than stressing. They seemed to have a lot of fun and one of the kids asked later as we were leaving, "You don't have to leave, do you Bearclaw?" (That was the name on the back of my shirt)

Later that night I had the most awesome conversation with some project peeps about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. We just talked about our experiences with it, and read some really cool passages about how God wants to use the Holy Spirit in our lives. It was more encouraging than I can describe and I really was pumped up for the next semester at A&M to see the God move in crazy ways. I've been getting sick again, and I asked for prayer at the end, and during our prayer time I felt my sinuses clear up really quickly. Ever since then, I've felt tons better and I praise God that it happened so miraculously. I was bummed that I was getting sick again, but I was reminded of the passage where Jesus is asked who's sins caused the blindness of a man. Jesus replies that no one's sins caused it, yet he was blind so that God's glory be revealed. (John 9)

I feel that whole chapter to be very encouraging in a lot of what I go through with sin, it's effects, and much of my past experiences.

Also something I gained from last night is a prayer that I will now be praying often over everything in life. It's based on Habakkuk 1:5: "Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."

Amen.

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Personally....

I realized that it has been well over half a month since I last updated, and that is a monstrosity! (Well, until I think about how much I detest writing and how much motivation I need to start) Consequently, I decided to do a personal update on God's work in my life, not just something general, like project group.

To address issues I mentioned earlier on, I have been growing considerably in leadership ability and confidence. At the close of the semester in May, I was not desiring to lead a homegroup (small groups at my church in College Station) at all (at least for noble reasons other than pride). God has grown me in both passion and ability to lead this summer, and now I want to lead in what ever way God will lead me in the coming, albeit few, semesters at A&M. LT is sort of a non-ideal environment, because you rarely experience the pressure cooker atmosphere that makes LT LT. Everyone here is excited about Jesus and ready to work on relationships. Strong relationships are made almost effortlessly and are more often than not, mutual. Two years ago I was shocked by coming back from LT and experiencing the real world again without warning, and this time I will be duly prepared.

In reading our book TrueFaced, I was surprised how much I got out of it. It was kinda cheesy and repetitive, but God used it to speak to me in many ways. I was telling a friend that God is trying to curb my pride by changing me with such a cheesy book. But anyways...I've gained a lot of heart knowledge (by which I mean genuine acceptance of truth embedded in belief, not mental acquiescence)about how God sees me. I realize that I have been attempting to gain the titles that have already been given to me by grace: blameless, without condemnation, pure. I have such a great feeling of God's acceptance of me and that He is proud of me at every moment, no matter what I'm doing. For a long time I felt that God could be disappointed with us from time to time, and I felt that He was disappointed with me most times. Yet if God sees Christ in us by grace, then He is never disappointed in us, for He is never disappointed in Christ.

I've also been growing in transparency and vulnerability. I see this being a spin-off consequence of me feeling God's loving acceptance of me. Next Tuesday I will be giving a "My Story" at the LT service, which is basically a 5 min blurb on how God is moving in you this summer in a specific area. This will be quite a step for me and is very scary. Please pray for confidence and my reliance on God's power to be perfected in my weakness as I share.

On a finishing note, our project is getting closer than ever and I am enjoying greatly the unity and awesomeness we have. I made origami wolves for everyone and, of course, had to take photos:


We also got tshirts (designed by yours truly):



We only have 3 more project days and 4 weeks left! We're in the homestretch and sad the end is so nearly approaching. Please pray that we can all look forward to our semesters and set good, healthy goals using what God has taught us in our respective campus ministries.

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Boulder Dash

For our most recent Project Day, we went to Boulder, CO for some outreach. Most of the other project groups go to Pearl St., a closed off walking area with a bunch of shops and street performers, to talk to people, but we decided to do something different, joining in the nonconformist atmosphere of Boulder.

Instead, we went to the campus of the University of Colorado and talked to students who were chilling in the main Quad. CU's campus is beautiful. I have never felt grass so soft or thick. Here are some pics of us hanging out on campus:



There were quite a lot of students hanging out for a summer semester, and so we broke up into groups of two (mine was the odd three) and went out. My group talked to only two people, but both conversations probably lasted half and hour. They were VERY interesting and I feel that I've grown a lot in having those types of conversations from my interactions with them.

The first person we talked to was Michael, and he was a character. He is trying to find the answers to life and is very interesting in spiritual things. His plan right now is following a different religion every month. Of the ones he's tried so far are Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, Baptism), Islam, Hinduism, Paganism (currently for the month of June), and next he will move on to Christian Science. He was a pretty eccentric guy, an English/Philosophy major, who often (it seemed) said outrageous things to test the waters with us and gauge our reaction. For instance, he said that he has tried animal sacrifice with baby kittens, and God didn't like it. I think it helped our credibility a lot by not judging or acting offended, because he was very open with what we said. He seemed a little confused by certain things, especially areas of morality, but I commend his efforts in searching for truth open-mindedly. Please pray that Michael finds what he is looking for!

The second person we talked to was Chelsea, a philosopher follower. She liked to pick and choose various ideas from philosophers and religions, especially Buddhism. We talked about morality, whether humans are innately evil (she believed that every human has complete control over their actions and could be perfect if needed), and happiness. Looking back, a mistake we saw was that we dwelt to much in abstracts and didn't personalize the conversation to her life. That aside, I think it was a great conversation and hopefully she will reflect on it many times. I think the best way to pray for Chelsea would be to pray that God would use circumstances in her life to show her that she cannot do this on her own and that there are certain areas that we cannot simply "good-will" away.

I just saw an elk walk within 5 feet of my dorm window....anyways...

This project day was one of the best I've had so far. We had a lot of awesome hangout tome that night on Pearl St. watching a guy juggle flaming sticks and knives on 10 ft. unicycle, amongst other things. It was an awesome growing, bonding, experience. Thanks for all your prayers about the trip!

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Contoversy!

This last week we've had a very interesting couple be guest speakers at our LT meetings. Dale and Jonalyn Fincher live in Colorado and have a ministry called Soulation (soulation.org). They specialize in giving sturdy answers to hard questions and other topics in apologetics. They gave a talk on Tuesday about gender myths and roles in the Church. While it wasn't the central theme of the talk, Dale had some things to say about the widely acclaimed book "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. Coming from a church where Wild at Heart is accepted as accurate, it was very interesting to hear an opposing viewpoint. If you would like to hear his talk, you may download or stream any of the LT session talks here. The talk I am referring to is Gender Myths on June 8. I would encourage you to listen to it and evaluate it for yourself. He does put an interesting spin on it. He also answers some questions about it in the next session (Living with Questions, June 9) which was a Q/A session.

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SICKNESSS!

I'm sick right now and I thought this the perfect time to update el blogo while I'm bedridden with a fever and sore throat. Nyquil and I are good friends, currently.

So far I've had two project days and we'll have our third tomorrow. I can't tell you how cool the people in my project group are! It's amazing to see how a random group of 16 people can click so quickly. Our project name is Wolfpack, and of course we have hand signs and howling to go with it. We have been doing a lot of training for evangelism and talking about how to share our faith and start conversations in culturally relevant ways. Next Monday (6/21) we will be going to Boulder, CO to do some street evangelism with some people on Pearl St. Boulder is home of the University of Colorado and can be known for hostility toward Christianity. It will be exciting and intimidating at the same time to boldly go and talk about our faith with strangers. Prayer is absolutely necessary!!

Almost every year there is a book that we as a project group will go through. This year we are going through "TrueFaced" by Bill Thrall, et al. with the tagline, "Trust God and others with who you really are." I'm excited to see God use this book to make my life and those of my project group more open and transparent. The world needs more honest and open Christians who are not whitewashed graves.

We ALSO are all in a workshop seminar that goes into more depth in certain areas. I have chosen "Questioning Evangelism" which seeks to teach us how to approach evangelism using a rabbinical questioning method to cause the answerer to examine their motives and beliefs. I'm very excited about this class and I'm learning a lot about how it can help take me from simply trying to defend my faith with arguing to honest conversations that can go somewhere.

LT is very busy with all that you've read so far, but even then we still have our 40 hour/week job. I haven't cut off any more appendages and I'm learning a lot about cooking and food prep. Yesterday I cooked 100 lbs. of scrambled eggs and dished up 50 gal. of oatmeal...

BUT we still have so much fun!! Often I go for a long, all-day hike on one of my days off. Here's a picture of some of my project group on a recent hike to Emerald Lake

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