Living Authentically

What does it mean to live authentically? This week in chapel we were asked this very question. Our speaker was Jeff Bogue, a pastor of a Grace Brethren church in Akron, Ohio. Jeff spent three days challenging us to live our lives for Christ. He pointed out that many times we think those who do not know Christ are the ones who are fakes when in reality it is those who claim to follow Christ that are living as posers. Jeff pointed out that knowledge is not everything. To truly know Christ we must be willing to trust that He loves us in the midst of our inconsistencies and failures rather than trying to hide behind a mask of perfection, trying to be happy plastic people. Jeff encouraged us to move away from the mask of perfection and live a life that displays our hurt, our love, our pain, and our joy. So what now? As Christians, we must live an authentic life. We need to completely surrender our hearts and our lives to Christ, we must be consummed by Him. The song "Inside Out" captures this idea perfectly. "My heart and my soul, Lord I give You control, consume me from the inside out."

Prayer

There was a recent chapel that I wanted to comment on. Last week was on the topic of "prayer", and we had one of our adjunct professors, named Kondo Simfukwe, who spoke for two of the days. He is a student favorite, and had some challenging things to say! The one day I was there, his question to the audience was, "Is my prayer life faith-fueled?"
He used the Bible passage of Luke 18. This is where the two main characters are a desperate widow and a wicked judge. I encourage you to look it up sometime and read over these interesting verses! The main thought to the passage was, if this little old lady was able to get the corrupt judge to grant her the request she wanted, how much more would our loving God grant us what we need?!
He gave two principles out of his talk: 1st, God is a loving, generous Father; and 2nd, We are a desperate, needy people. The phrase that he kept saying was, "God's crazy about me and loves to give me great things!" That was encouraging to hear, and really hit home for me!

PS- on a sidenote, that same day there was a song that we were singing for chapel, and it included this phrase: "Break my heart for what breaks Yours". Wow, how powerful of a thought is that!

The Super Bowl

Just the other day I was talking to a group of students here at Grace. We were talking about some of the Super Bowl parties that took place here on campus, and we were also discussing how the Super Bowl turned out...
I, like many of you, watched the football game last Sunday with some friends. I'm not sure how many of you are Colts or Saints fans, but I was just hoping for an exciting game, and it sure turned out to be! Going back and forth, it was a lot of fun to watch...
But something struck me as I watched! All of these athletes had all the money in the world, all the fame, anything and everything they could ask for. But did they have the Most Important thing, being a personal relationship with Christ?
I thought of Kurt Warner, who is a quarterback on the Cardinals in the NFL. He is an out-spoken Christian, leading Bible Studies and being able to witness to fellow players. There are many opportunities that they have to share the Good News, and each of us do, too! Whether that be at our job, or at school, or wherever we are, the Lord will open up doors of opportunity for us to be an encouragement and a witness to those who desperately need it...
Hope this encourages you today!! God bless~

Prison Ministry

Last Tuesday, Grace College had a guest speaker in chapel who graduated from Grace College but in a quite different setting. This chapel was focused on the prison ministry at Grace College where Grace's professors and faculty help provide a future for incarcerated men and women through the message of Christ and a college education. Although I cannot remember his name, I have the vivid memory of his message. The speaker, in 1997 was driving back with his friend from a Detroit trip. Both were underage and intoxicated. The speaker was driving a truck that eventually ran over a small car on the way into Warsaw. A teen father and a teen mother were in the other car with their baby girl. The speaker was put in the Indiana Correctional Facility for a sentence of 28 years for driving intoxicated and two counts of manslaughter for the death of the mother and father of the baby. Miraculously, the baby survived but had serious injuries to the head.
Years later, this man courageously spoke in our chapel and shared his emotionally message of redemption and forgiveness.He told of how his life has been changed by Christ and the opportunity to receive a college education while in prison. He is no longer incarcerated, but living a redeemed life. This man is now married and has a bachelors degree and a masters degree, but most of all, is forgiven of his past.
The young baby girl, who survived the crash, grew up to be a beautiful young lady who hugged the speaker and forgave him in their first meeting.
The speaker was an average teenager who made some not so wise decisions and suffered the consequences. He was given a hope in Christ and the ability to pursue higher education while in prison. Grace College has hundreds of students incarcerated in Indiana who are given this same hope in Christ and hope for a future through the prison ministry.
When the speaker finished his story, many students were offered the opportunity to pray for the men and women in the prison ministry by taking a small slip of paper with the names of incarcerated students. The students in chapel were so impacted by the speaker's message and by the transformational work God does in the lives of His children. As a result, all the paper slips ran out and I have no doubt that the prison ministry is bathed with prayer from the students at Grace College.

Westy Masquerade

Last night was a major success in the lobby of Westminster dorm. Grace had its annual masquerade with fall themed games and activities as well as choreographed dancing! This year, SAB joined with Westminster in bringing a square dance to the outside terrace area of the dorm.
The Students came in an array of costumes such as the H1N1 virus, Yoda, the Sham-wow guy, Salt and Pepper, and two hillbillies who MC-ed the whole event. I was thoroughly impressed by the creativity of the costumes. Also, students participated in games by bowling with pumpkins, fishing for candy brains in jello, eating a doughnut from a string, and dropping chocolate covered marshmallows, which were very entertaining to watch. And while students were standing around socializing, they could grab a cup of hot cider and some cookies to satisfy their appetite.
My favorite part was the line-dancing that took place outside as well as inside. Students channeled their country roots as they listened to a square dance caller and gathered in circles to clap and do-si-do (I have no clue how to spell this). Such favorites as the "Cha-Cha Slide" and the "Cotton Eye Joe" made appearances in the lobby of Westminster too.
It truly was a night to remember as we celebrated the fall together!

Cambodia

During missions conference two weeks ago, the Grace student body was given a challange. Last year during missions conference, Grace College raised between six and seven thousand dollars to donate to Feed My Starving Children, an organization that packs and ships food all over the world. My mouth dropped to floor when I heard that this year's goal was ten thousand dollars; much more than last year. I had my doubts on whether the Grace student body could raise enough. My mouth dropped a second time and almost to the floor when I heard the ending total for the missions week. We gave over fourteen thousand dollars so that our brothers and sisters in Christ could be supported in Cambodia. The money will help start businesses, provide Bibles, and pay a years rent in a ministry facility in this country. All I can say is that I am thoroughly proud of Grace students and their willingness to give. We completed the seemingly impossible challenge with the goal of spreading God's kingdom!

Rainy Days And Silly String

The week has been fairly uneventful, save winning two free combos at Taco Bell and ambushing my suite mate with a can of silly string. Oh, the simple joys of college life. The weather is hideous today and the campus is spotted with various colors and patterns of umbrellas. Today will be a good day to nap or just stay in and study. Maybe I'll make a mug of tea and snuggle up in a blanket with some Hulu. I know this is where I should say that I'll use this time in the room to get ahead in my homework, but you fine readers don't deserve such lies. I'm probably just going to play on Facebook and eat random candy I find in my desk drawers. I'm sorry I don't have anything more interesting to report. If something terribly exciting happens, I'll be sure to let you know. Have a lovely (albeit rainy) day! Keep on truckin'!