For, or From? [continued]

For the last several days, I've continued to mull over this idea of living life from God, and not just for God (see previous post for more info). A key aspect of this concept is the realization, the fact, the truth, that we are able to live life from God. We, while living imperfect and sinful lives, have access to God, through Jesus. Because of this, He can be present with us. Throughout the last week, as I've been pondering this, I've seen it show up in my daily life small (but meaningful) ways:

First, in a photo that hangs near my bed. I took this in college, and had underlined that famous verse the first time I read it on my own. 
















 
I remember the imprint it left in my brain. But glancing at that photo one night before bed, I read the very last line, which is also the very last line in the book of Matthew:


And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.


Jesus has just commissioned his disciples to go forth and multiply, but does not leave them until he gives a promise of his presence with them. Forever.

Last Wednesday I was walking downtown and happened to pass someone on the sidewalk talking about Christmas. Lord... NO. I thought to myself. It's not even the end of summer, must we talk about Christmas already?? But I started thinking about why I love the Advent season- not for the gifts or festive Starbucks drinks or even being with family (though all of those are awesome).

I love Advent because it reminds me that God is here, and presence with me. He came to earth, in the form of a tiny little human, and walked among us. He is called "Emmanuel: God with us." I love that advent reminds us of this.

A final reminder of seeking God's presence in daily life happened today- New City Covenant Church marked our first official service in our permanent building today! It is a huge answer to prayer, and over the last few weeks the community has been putting in countless hours sanding, painting, throwing, organizing and building.

My pastor, John, was quick to remind the congregation about our history; for the first four years of our existence, we've built something intangible: a transformational community. While we have enjoyed working on the tangible aspects of our building, the intangible is still most important: God's presence in our community. John told a brief story about a church plant that split up soon after they had purchased a permanent building. The first sign of trouble was an argument over the color and type of color to purchase for the building. Heartbreaking, really. I so appreciate John bringing us back to what's important:  "what really matters is not the glory of our space, but the presence of God in our midst."

For, or From?

CSU has come and gone, and a busy fall is looming ahead. I took some time last week to reflect on the US Cru national staff conference (which is held on the beautiful CSU campus in Ft. Collins, CO (hence the conference nickname)). It was an awesome week, full of things like fun coffee dates with old friends, and challenging seminars from a wide variety of people.

One of my favorite talks was from Skye Jethani, who talked about the pendulum swing from consumerism Christianity to activism Christianity (which I wrote about in my most recent newsletter).

Jethani started out right away citing research that, more than ever before, the current generation treats God like someone we can go to get what we want, and can then discard or ignore when we have what we want. I've heard others describe this as treating God like a cosmic vending machine, taking verses like Jeremiah 29:11 way out of context. We go to God with our lists of requests, pray for blessing, and wait expectantly.

We eventually, hopefully, come to realize this isn't true Christianity. But somehow, the pendulum swings too far other way- into Christian activism. Life becomes about service. The more we serve God, the better our life is, even if it may not seem like it on the outside. But it is, because we sacrifice for others, and God is happy with us and all this good we're doing. We are supposed to wear our "I live for God" attitude on our sleeve- unfortunately, too many wear it literally.

We get involved in missions and service groups and human rights events. These are all great. There's nothing wrong with them. More than ever before, this generation wants to change the world, me included. I grew up on a farm, miles outside our tiny town - yet even as a kid I had this desire to grow up and change the world somehow.

But somehow, life becomes all about service. About "doing" for God. We base our worth on what we produce. How big is your new church plant that you spend lots of time volunteering in? What about your ministry, how is God using you there? What are you investing your time in that will make an impact in eternity??

Over the weekend, one of my facebook friends shared a wonderful post from Proverbs 31 Ministries:

"Sometimes I wonder…what makes my child feel loved? One morning last week I was driving my son, Andrew, to school and asked him, “What makes you feel loved?”
He thought for a minute and the he said, “THIS.”

“This?” I asked him.

“Yea. This. You being with me mom. When you drive me to school and talk to me about my day. And when you tell me that you’re gonna be there when I get home. That makes me feel loved and secure. Thanks mom, bye!” And, he hopped out of the car. As I drove away, I kept thinking – This is love?

You mean I don’t have to go out and buy his favorite toy or take him to a movie? Just being there is love."

Precious. Don't you think that's what God wants, too? He loves when you do nice things for him and for other people, when you seek to invest your life in something that matters and make a difference in this world. But I don't think he wants those things to happen at the expense of your relationship with Him.

I say "you" and "we" a lot in this point, but I actually mean me. As Jethani said in his seminar, "It's possible to be on mission for God, yet never really know Him."

I can so easily structure my day around tangible tasks that are important or significant in ministry... and also easily forget the purpose behind them. I often don't live my life from God, as Jethani says. I live it for God...and even then, it's a struggle. 

What do you think? What does it look like to live life from God, instead of for God?

Summer Friendships.

This week was a big one. I completed my Old Testament Survey class, finished the 5 week church discipleship group I helped lead, and saw all of my summer project students and staff return, (and took 3 trips to the airport in the process).

I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit so far, and summer is only half over! I've been pleasantly surprised with the way things are turning out. Two years ago I was still new to the metro, new to my job, and didn't have many friends yet, so summer was really hard. I was a little apprehensive about being in Minneapolis again: nearly all of my coworkers leave town, non-work friends travel or are more busy than usually. This city of more than a million people can get pretty lonely. Plus, I thrive on having a set routine, so summer just throws me off my game.

One surprising element of my summer has been the great friendships I've made and continued to develop. A major lesson I've been learning this year is to take advantage of the opportunities God puts in front of me, even if they seem a bit scary or are hard to do. This has definitely been playing out in my friendships this year, especially in the last few weeks.

It takes time and effort to build new friendships. It's risky. You have to put yourself out there and you don't know how the other person will respond. You don't know them well enough to know what their likes/dislikes are, or where they draw boundaries on certain things, but learning them is part of the process. You can't go in pushing your own agenda, and you can't have crazy expectations. You are not in control.

Looking back, the timing could not have been more perfect in the development of my relationships this year, and this summer. Very rewarding to take continual steps of faith in this area and see what God will do with my willingness to say yes to the opportunities he puts in my path (disclaimer: this doesn't always go well! I have many of those stories, too!).

You never know how an opportunity will play out until you just jump in and see.

Summer Project Updates! [2 of 2]

As promised here are the other 3 summer project updates (see below for the first three updates I posted earlier this week).


Uruguay
This year marked our first time sending longer-term missionaries to Montevideo, Uruguay (called a Stint Team, who stay for 1-2 years). Our summer project has shared the gospel 152 times and 21 of those students have indicated decisions for Christ! Check out their blog for photos and stories.

• Pray for the follow-up of these new believers, and that the team would continue to press on during the last 2 weeks in Montevideo.

France
For many summers, we've launched and grown movements in cities all around France. This summer is the first try at launching a movement in the 6th district of Paris. In week 3 they saw 2 french students come to Christ - which is incredible! Check out their blog for photos and stories.

• Pray that the team of 20 staff and students would continue to be bold witnesses of Christ as they talk with french students on campus.

East Asia
Just like in France, we've sent teams to multiple cities all over this large communist country in Eastern Asia. This summer, we headed west-- very west-- in an effort to take the gospel to new places. The team will spend their last 10 days on the western edge of this country before heading home.

• Pray for wisdom for wisdom and insight for the long-term team in western East Asia as they consider how best to get the gospel to new cities with future teams.

Summer Project Updates! [1 of 2]

We're already halfway through our 6 week summer mission projects. Here are some quick updates from three of our partnerships. I'll post updates from the other 3 projects later this week, so stop on back for more. Praise God for what he's done, and pray he will continue to use our teams to launch and build movements around the world!

"4th Journey"
Even in this secure location in the Middle East, we are using a new Internet strategy to unearth students who are interested in learning about spirituality. They have lots of hits on their website and facebook groups, but now comes to task of figuring out how to follow up with people. There has been some protesting going on and general unrest from people, but the team is doing well.

• Pray for boldness for the team to keep stepping out in faith in this land with hard soil.

Ghana
This project is only about 4 weeks long, so this team will actually come home next week. They were schedule to stay in a small university town in central Ghana (in West Africa), but have since changed courses and moved to the capital city, Accra. They also have shown the Jesus Film in villages around the country. Katie, the project director, shares some great photos and stories on her blog.

• Pray that this large team of 29 students would be able to find students to minister to and that they would be united as a team despite various difficulties and challenges.

Australia
Every summer, our teams discover that the land down under is full of international students! They rely on our bread and butter to do ministry:  one-on-one conversations. Using a variety of Cru ministry tools, they have initiated 250+ spiritual conversations and 88 conversations that included a Gospel presentation. At least 5 students have made decisions for Christ. All of these conversations happened with students from over 33 different countries!

• Pray that these new believers would grow deep roots, and that they'd make connections with other believers who can help them grow.

My prayer for this summer has been that students would encounter other students who would ultimately trust in "...God our Savior: the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas..." -Psalm 65

Don't expect too much from Archaeology.

Last week I think my favorite Old Testament Survey lecture involved learning what archaeology is, why it's important, and learning what it can and cannot do for believers.

Archaeology is the recovery and study of human history through the study of physical remains and material culture. We can use it to learn about Biblical events/history, and the culture of the people who lived in different time periods.

 
One example of the benefit of studying archaeology is learning about the remains of altars used throughout Israel in Biblical times.

When we think about altars, we probably think about our church altar (especially if we grew up in a traditional protestant church). We probably don't think about the different types of altars mentioned in the Old Testament that were significant to Israelite worship. But archaeology helps us get rid of our cultural concepts and replace them with the true, ancient near east concepts.

One example is what was called the "Horned Altar," mentioned in Exodus 27:2 and Leviticus 4:34. Discovery of these altars gives us a picture of what they look like, (shown above).

Archaeology corroborates historical accounts and the reliability of the Biblical record. But archaeology cannot prove the theology of the Bible. We know these altars existed as we have physical proof. But the discovery of the altars does not prove the theology behind sacrifices or worship done using altars.

Just a small example, but an important one, in realizing what archaeology can and can't do for us.

Old Testament Revelations

I'm only about 20% of the way through my Old Testament Survey online class and I'm blown away by how little I know about the Bible. It's incredible learning about the structure and details of Old Testament writings. There's so much to learn! Here are a few highlights so far from the first few lectures:

• Discovering several new figures of speech that I didn't know existed, but are present in many different parts of the OT (for example:  merism. Never heard of it? Me neither).
  
• Learning all the names of festivals, along with their purposes and timelines
  
• Finally) understanding the geography of Israel, and why the topography and climate is important in knowing God's purposes for and plans for the Israelites

I am astounded (and usually overwhelmed) at the detail in OT writings, like instructions for constructing the Tabernacle, or how to properly prepare a sacrifice. But it's all included for a purpose. So easily I get lost in the details, but I think this class is going to ground me in understanding the bigger picture, while simultaneously equipping me to dig deeper and not just glance over the details.
Much more to share in the coming days!