Blogging.

I've been avoiding my blog for the last few weeks. Every time I try to write a post, I get halfway through and can't seem to muster up the discipline to finish. Suddenly I want to re-organize my sock door, floss my teeth, or bake a pan of pumpkin bars I've been meaning to make for months.

I have 12 drafts started. Twelve. Then there's the 5 e-mails in my personal inbox that I sent to myself in the last week, saying "blog about _______" - with a few sentences explaining my thoughts on the matter that I can only hope will jog my memory enough to actually finish a post.

I don't think I really have a point in writing this. But it feels good to write it. At the very least, this will be one post that I start and finish without getting up to check my half gallon of milk in the fridge to make sure it hasn't expired yet.

Maybe this is why so many people have blogs. They just want to write, even if it seems pointless or uninteresting to the reader. I've heard before that somewhere between 60-80% of blogs are abandoned within 1 month of being created. That still leave millions of bloggers out there. Some blogs serve a specific purpose that wouldn't be fulfilled if no one read them. Other bloggers care not whether the reader is inspired or encouraged; they blog because of the things they discover in the midst of blogging.

Sharing Your Story.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how God works in the lives of all people, in the entire world - all at the same time. I remember sitting in a large crowd at a conference in college, and God stirring up things in my heart during worship and the messages from great speakers. And I remember thinking that he was doing the same things in the hearts and minds of every other person in that room of 1600 people. It's simply mind-boggling.

Everyone has a story to tell. I truly believe that God has been at work in the lives of everyone in the world, at one point or another. Not everyone takes the time to notice he's there. But some do, and recognize the way he intervenes.

I love what Shauna Niequist has to say about our stories:

"I bet God has done something in your life that would make our hair stand on end if you told us about it. I bet the story God has written in your life and your home gives voice and breath and arms and legs to the gospel every bit as much as a church sermon ever did. Preaching is important, certainly. But it can't be the only way we allow God's story to be told in our midst."

It is fitting that this idea that we need to tell our stories to the people around us closes out Shauna's book "Bittersweet," as it is a collection of ways that God has worked in her life. She is a fantastic story teller, even when the stories are hard to share.

Not all of us will write books or blogs, but we do all have a story to tell. And we have a responsibility to tell it. Shauna goes on to write about the obstacles we encounter when we try to tell our stories:

"When I worked at a church a few years ago, it was my job to help people tell their stories on Sunday mornings at our gatherings. And a funny thing happened. When we were at the coffee shop, and it was just me and them and their story, their story came out in fits and starts, unvarnished and raw. We cried and laughed and every time I was amazed at what God had done in this person's life.

And then almost every time, when they arrive [at church] on Sunday, they looked a little less like themselves. They were kind of a distant, polished, fancy version of themselves, and sounded a lot less like themselves. They stopped believing that their story was enough, and they started saying all the phrases and quoting all the verses we've all heard a thousand times, turning them from sacred songs into platitudes and cliches... We dilute the beauty of the gospel story when we divorce it from our lives, our worlds, the words and images that God is writing right now on our souls."

Vulnerability is hard. I'm an internal processor, a delicate balance of thinker/feeler, an introvert; it's hard for me to describe how I'm feeling sometimes, or even how I've seen God work in a situation. But there are these times when I can't help but share what I've seen or thought or felt or experienced. I guess that's why I started this blog a million years ago. (Ok, fine, eight years ago).

No matter how eloquent or elegant or effortless you speak (or don't speak), we need to share our stories. Shauna continues: "Let's stop acting as if religious professionals are the only ones who have a right and a responsibility to tell God's story. If you are a person of faith, it is your responsibility to tell God's story, in every way you can, every form, every medium, every moment."

I'd love to keep on typing out the rest of the chapter for you to read here, because it's just so good. But I'll refrain because I've probably made my point. Well, almost. Just one last thing. We tell our stories, not because they are about us and how great we are, but that they point to the someone in our lives that our stories are really about. Our stories fit into a larger story - one that God started a long time ago, and is continuing today through us. Don't be afraid to share your story with the people around you.

Global Missions: Students reaching Students.

See below for a sneak peak into the world of Cru Global Missions (formerly WSN). Students of the world, reaching students of the world. Changed lives, changing lives.

(Works best if you watching it full screen).

Eyeglass Fingerprints.

Since grade 5 I've worn either glasses or contacts. In Elementary school I was definitely the geeky kid with the huge frames. By 7th grade I had the trifecta:  glasses were joined by braces and a short haircut that I didn't really know how to style. I also wore sweater vests (they were "in" then, I swear).

By grade 9, the braces were gone and so were the glasses (don't worry - the sweater vests were LONG gone by then). Replaced by fancy new contacts, all of my old clunky frames were banished to the back of the top dresser drawer.

10+ years later, and I'm back to the glasses. Even though I've had them for almost 6 months, I still find myself forgetting they are there. Quite frequently, I try to itch my eye and end up with a nice smudge on the lens. Annoying. I just did it a few minutes ago, hence this post.

So, here comes the analogy (I have a friend writing a book of analogies, maybe this will get a feature in it?) When you go from no glasses to glasses, or glasses to no glasses, you have to retrain your brain so you act differently.

The same is true for us living the Christian life. I remember wearing my glasses the first time in 5th grade, and sitting in the back of the class. Every time I looked up from my textbook, I would squint at the board, and then remember I didn't need to squint.

I don't need to wonder in the back of my mind what people are thinking of me when I'm having a conversation with them. I can focus on the conversation and the needs of the other people, because my identity is secure in Christ. I don't need to do nice things for them just so they like me more; I can serve them out of love.

Maybe this analogy is a stretch, but I think both situations involved a pattern of thinking before we act; retraining our brains to help us understand what's going in.

TCX: A short life- lived well.

There are some things in life we can't explain. We ask, why? We wonder, how can this be? We think, what's the purpose in this?

The death of a young person, a life cut short, nears the top of a list of things that cause me to ask why. This past August, Sean, a student leader involved in Cru at UW-La Crosse, was killed in a car accident.

Sean had just returned home from a summer in North Myrtle Beach on a missions project with Cru. There were 99 other college students with him in NMB. On our US projects, Cru staff leave halfway through the summer and hand over the project to student leaders. Sean was one of the students who took over leadership of the project.

I never met Sean, but the fact that he was put in charge of 99 other college students living missionally on the beach, when they all could have been off doing other things, speaks highly of his character.

Sean's dad Steve spoke the final night of TCX, and shared how he had prayed that his son would become a leader among men, even before Sean began walking with Christ. Even though his life was cut short, Sean had an eternal impact on hundreds of lives in La Crosse and North Myrtle Beach.


Read more about Sean's story here.

TCX: Housing Woe - Be Gone!

TCX has come and gone - another 1500 college students packed into the downtown Minneapolis Hilton, hungry to learn more about God and his plan for their lives. We train, challenge, encourage, equip and admonish these students, with the hope that they will become spiritual multipliers for the rest of their lives, not just during their college years.

I'm continually amazed at what God chooses to do in the lives of college students. He works so intricately, so fine-tuned and detailed, so that his plans are orchestrated perfectly. And he does this in the lives of everyone...at the same time. Incredibly mind-blowing!

There are some great stories on the TCX blog (shout-out to my awesome roommate for working so diligently to capture what God's doing during and after the conference!). You can also watch video testimonies of students, and even see some of the main ballroom sessions broadcast over our livestream feed.

If you poke around a little, you'll even see yours truly on the blog, giving a quick explanation of my direct role in TCX. Talk about God orchestrating things perfectly...on Sunday night, in the middle of our conference, we ran out of hotel rooms. The Hilton was 100% booked up. But by the grace of God, we only had a few students show up to register and we could fill up the rooms that had empty spots.

The next day was New Years' Eve - always a popular night for the downtown hotels. I briefly talked through scenarios with a coworkers - what would we do if we still didn't have any rooms today? Could we work out the same contracted rate we have with the Hilton, with another hotel nearby? And what if those specific hotels don't have any vacancies??"

The Hilton did run out of rooms again on December 31 - and we had about 6 students, a mix of male and female, show up that afternoon asking for a room. But, we had a few guests that were scheduled to stay the night of the 31st who were no longer needing their rooms. Our 6 students fit perfectly into those two rooms.

I was pretty anxious about the housing situation all week ("who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27)) - but no need to worry -- especially for a problem that didn't even exist.

[This is the first in a series of posts about TCX, our annual student conference for the Upper Midwest Region of Cru. How many posts in this series, you ask? Time will tell].

An evening in France.

It was a typical Wednesday evening. Every knock on the front door brought more and more students into the warm living room, complete with festive fall decorations and sweet family photos. As coats were shed, they were eagerly collected by a sassy seven year old, clearly excited by the number of guests that had arrived.

Greeting each other with "Bonsoir" (good evening) and bise ("bees"; kisses on the cheek), students made their way through the living room into the kitchen, offering their contributions to the potluck meal: bottled beverages, a container of crackers, baguettes. Huge pots of chili simmered on the stove, the aroma filling the house.

After supper, the 21 students crammed into the living room for the weekly ministry training. This week, they would learn how to share their faith using a Cru tool called "Soularium," a photo survey with fifty different 4 x 6 picture cards. Asking a few simple questions about the images on these cards can easily lead to a conversation about the Gospel:

"What images would you choose to describe your life right now?"
"Which images do you wish described your life?"
"What image describes what you believe about God?"
"What image best represents what you wish were true about your spiritual journey right now?"

By the way, this ministry training took place in Montpellier, a small town on the southern coast of France. But it could have taken place anywhere in the world. The greetings would be different, and so would the food, but the purpose of the meeting would be the same:  how can we help others explain and share their faith in a relevant and meaningful way? Because every day we come into contact with people who are seeking fulfillment and joy and purpose for their lives. They know there's something more to the life they are living.

"But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." - 1 Peter 3.14-15