Time to Make a Shift

"I didn't realize I could have a personal relationship with God - Growing up, it was just sort of this communal thing, something everybody did."

"I've been panicking about my future a lot lately. Asking a lot of questions. God's showing me how to ask the right ones, and he's interrupting that feedback loop that just fuels the panic."

"That seminar really helped me... usually when I talk to people who don't believe in Jesus, I just debate it with them. But now I get that I can have compassion, and ask questions. I can stop trying to 'win' the conversation, but see them like Jesus does."

These were a couple of the realizations that York students had at shift this past weekend. Our topic, "real faith for real life," was about cultivating a faith that can flex with our ups-and-downs experience of life.

Moving from a static faith to a dynamic one...

... from shallow relationships to deep ones...

... from an inherited religion to a personal relationship...

It was a weekend of looking at the psalms and understanding how David could go from "I will praise the Lord at all times" to "Dash my enemies infants on the rocks!" and still be right with God. To realize that God isn't impressed by how filtered and reserved we are in prayer - He wants in on the most raw, sensitive, real parts of our experience of life; it's there that healing can happen.

It was such a joy to see the kinds of transformation God was working in students' lives this weekend, and I am so excited to see where God leads them from here. Pray with me for "fresh fruit" from students' experience of real, shared faith.

Characters in a Bigger Story

"Then I had a realization. We go through life as if we’re the main character in a story.  But God let me be a supporting character in Sam’s story - the story of her journey toward Jesus!”

Becca sat across the table as we debriefed the week’s events and her face lit up.  It had been a difficult week for sure, but also one in which she’d seen God work powerfully.  She was reflecting on what God’s been doing in (and through) her the last few semesters, and her realization that God’s been using her in the lives of family, classmates, and even friends from home (Sam!) was spot-on.

Becca became part of some new friends' stories at Sexy Pizza!

God has been at work in Becca.  I’ve been so privileged to see her grow in skill, maturity, and boldness.  Just last week, she and some friends took snacks around to every room in a freshman dorm.  They were inviting students to Sexy Pizza, an evangelistic event centered on God and sexuality.  One of those who came the next night thanked them for inviting her.  The conversation at Sexy Pizza had given her a taste of true community and a reminder of God’s love for her!

Sexy Pizza had been a stretching experience, but Becca saw God show up.  Through the honesty of her peers’ questions and the enthusiastic encouragement of her not-yet-Christian roommate (who’d attended Sexy Pizza last year and loved it), God showed up big-time.

As we talked, Becca’s take on the role we play in others’ lives struck me as wonderfully, beautifully true.  We’re all characters in our own story, for sure, but we’re part of our friends stories too.  “And really,” Becca said, “God’s the main character in this whole story - it’s the story of God redeeming the world!"