How Would You Like To Be Remembered?

There is nothing that makes you feel old like going to the graduation of someone you knew when they were an infant. This weekend, I headed back to Indiana. I spent five years on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. This weekend, sweet Elizabeth graduated.

I lived with Elizabeth and her family for three years during that time. Elizabeth was just two when I moved in. We spent the next three years reading stories, going to the park, playing tag, and making cookies with her sister, Hannah, and later her brother, Jonathon. Her sister Sarah didn't come along until after I had headed to Illinois. I didn't get to know her. But I did enjoy hanging with her this weekend.

All weekend I found myself wishing I had kept in better contact with this great family. Though I do feel old that Elizabeth is now 18 and heading off to college, I was touched by the fond memories we shared.

Some of the things that we mentioned (aside from those mentioned above) remembering were things like the butterfly shaped birthday cake I made and Elizabeth helped decorate one year. Some of it was how Elizabeth screamed as an infant -- especially in the car. Her dad seemed bent on remembering the temperature. I am cold by nature and I lived in the basement. It's always colder in basements. He lamented not making it warmer for me. But honestly, that wasn't even close to things that readily came to my mind. There were too many good things from living there that stick out to me.

I was surprised by some of the things that people mentioned about me. Becca was also graduating. Her family came to Elizabeth's open house. They reminded me how she was so attached to her mom that she screamed when she was left in the nursery or with a sitter to the point that they just didn't leave her. I had forgotten volunteering to go spend some time with her and her brother over several days while their mom was present so she could get use to me. The idea was to make me a safe person so her parents could get out a bit.

I was touched by the warmth of the memories. It was affirming. I don't know how my time in Illinois measures up. It makes me want to strive to be that person again. Right now, I am so busy with two jobs and such that I wonder if the memories that would dominate now would be rushing off somewhere. But what stood out then was a kind of taking time for people. Somehow, I want to find away to get back to that. That's how I want to be remembered at every stage of life and not just one sliver.

That is my prayer tonight, that I would be known as one who takes time for people.

How would you like to be remembered?

Sarah, Asher the dog, Elizabeth, Hannah, & Jonathon

A Call to be Nehemiah

I became a Christian in junior high. It was a sincere and heart felt decision. I am grateful to the youth group leaders.

I became more fully grounded (Are we ever fully done growing?) during my college years when I got involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. College is a time when every student is bombarded with new freedoms, new ways of looking at things, new responsibilities.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), Navigators, Campus Crusade, and a host of other organizations are on campus to help students navigate unfamiliar waters and consistently point to God.

In one week, the Supreme Court of the United States will be hearing arguments and making a ruling that may forever change the face of campus ministry. I got the following information from my friend Sandy's prayer letter. If you want these organizations to still be there for your sons and daughters, will you pray that God would lead the justices of our nations highest court to look favorably on His servants? Will you pray like Nehemiah did?

On April 19, 2010, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are scheduled to hear arguments in the case of the Christian Legal Society v Martinez. InterVaristy is among a large number of organizations who have filed 34 amicus (friend of the court) briefs in this case. The justices decision will have a major impact on campus ministyr.

The ruling in this case will impact every chapter of CLS, every chapter of InterVarsity, and every other Christian campus ministry. That's why 17 other organizations adn 13 state attorney generals have urged the justices to make a ruling that protects the rights of religious groups to set their own member ship and leadership requirements. The ruling will either allow these groups to operate the same as all other campus organizations, or it will allow state colleges and universities to deny recognition to Christian groups on their campuses. We covet your prayer. Further information can be found at www.intervarsity.org/news/campus-faith-freedom-alert or click here.

Thanks for praying!

Have Faith, Will Follow

In 1996 I had been on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) for five years at Indiana University. I still loved working with students, but I felt the tug to venture somewhere else. I began looking for the possibility of transferring with IVCF to another school. The possibility of moving to Illinois came about. I had thought that I would move in 1997, but the team leader in Illinois was interested in me moving so that I would be in place the fall of 1996.

I decided to move. However, my summer was booked with camps and various things so that making a trip to Bloomington Normal was next to impossible. I had talked to another staff, Marcia Wang, and we had decided we would room together. She found a place. In August I moved to a new city without ever having visited. My adventurous thought was that if I were moving to Africa as a missionary I might never have done a preliminary visit either.

While it worked out well, I sometimes marvel at my willingness to go sight unseen. Perhaps, I am more cautious the older I get or I rely on the conventional wisdom of look before you leap.

As I've thought about it, it has come to mind that sometimes God says "Go" without laying out the entire plan. I want an itinerary. We will make the following stops. The trip will take so many days, etc. But looking at scripture, it seems that God often does not lay out every step. When he called Abram/Abraham to leave his home it was only with the statement that he was to go to a land that God would show him. It seems too vague me. Or when the early Christians were spreading the good news, it seems that they were often lucky to know the next step. Sometimes, like for Paul, that came in a dream.

It isn't just with traveling that God sometimes gives the instruction and possibly a long term end point but leaves out the middle.

Again, God promised Abraham that he would make him into a great nation. Abraham had to wait many years for the promised son. My logic says that Abraham and Sarah would have multiplied like the Duggars of 19 Kids and Counting. But Abraham's line didn't really start multiply until his 12 great grandkids. And in hindsight, it seems that Abraham's biological kids weren't really what God meant. Yes, God used Abraham's descendants to spread His word, but in many respects, it seems that Abraham's offspring that outnumber the stars are really faith descendants.

A few years ago, I felt God prompting me to leave my job and start a private practice in counseling. It was risky and nerve racking. Honestly, it didn't turn out at all like I expected. Within a year, I had closed what I had just opened. Did it turn out like I expected? No. Do I still think God wanted me to do it? Yes.

I had been working as a social worker in foster care. The job was exhausting. I sometimes worked all day and then supervised parent child visits in the evening. It didn't leave me much time for anything else.

About the time that I found office space and had my last day, I met Bill. Bill worked third shift at the local paper. We ended up spending some time together on just about a daily basis. That wouldn't have been at all possible with my work schedule as a foster care social worker and his third shift job. I thought that the practice was the goal. In hindsight I think that giving me that time with Bill was the goal. (Bill died suddenly in late April of that year.)

I like knowing the steps in a journey. But I am learning that with God it is more about trusting the one who says "Move" or "Stop" or "Turn" or "Rest" or any number of directions.

In traveling we might say, "Have passport, will travel."

With God we must be willing to give up our preconceived notions and perhaps we should say, "Have faith, will follow."

God's work in progress,

Amy

I Cannot Tell -- Hope Chronicles 84

Recently, I found myself in a discussion about the second coming of Christ. Someone pressed me a bit on it, but I stayed true to my answer. It is not something I have studied extensively so I am hesitant to take a firm stance on if the rapture will happen pre or post the millineum. I do not know if the things written in Revelation are literal or figurative.

I do know that many people missed Jesus' first coming because they were so entrenched in their belief of what a king and his coming kingdom would look like. When you think King, you do not think of a baby, swaddled in a manger. You do not picture a boy in hand me down clothes or with sawdust in his hair. You do not picture a man riding on a donkey instead of a great stead. You do not picture the cross. Even more than that you do not picture a rolled away tombstone.

In many ways, I cannot fault so many for missing Jesus when he did not come like any king they knew. But that is the rub. He wasn't and isn't like any king they knew.

I went to a hymn singing Methodist church during my junior high and high school days. But it wasn't until I was in InterVarsity as a college student that I came across the hymn by William Young Fullerton called I Cannot Tell. Even then, the only place I have ever heard it sung was sporadically at camp. To be honest, the range does not lend itself to something I can sing well. However, the lyrics captured my mind and embedded themselves in my heart.

If you've never heard this hymn (and even if you have), will you take the time to read the words? It alternates between "I cannot tell" and "This I know". In my estimation, it is a song of hope of who He was and is and who He will finally come as.

I cannot tell why He whom angels worship
Should set His love upon the sons of men
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
When Bethlehem's manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and laboured,
And so the Saviour, Saviour, of the world is come.

I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is here

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
and He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendour
When He the Saviour, Saviour of the world is known

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubiliation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth will answer:
At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world is King.

So, when things turn to the second coming, I hesitate -- not because I doubt the second coming -- but because I do not want to miss a moment of it because of my preconceived ideas of what that will look like. I pray that my heart and soul would be tender enough to recognize my Lord when He comes in a whirlwind or a whisper. Better yet, I pray that I will recognize Him in the everyday dealings in my life. It is both a scary prayer and a hopeful prayer because I think it is one He is only too willing to answer.

I've found the last few months to be a daunting time with the economy and relationships and every manner of thing. I love the perspective of this song: His past, His present, His future. Tonight, I am particularly thankful and hopeful for who He is at work in my present circumstances:

But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is here

Merry Christmas. The Saviour of the world is here.

40 to 40 (Gratitude 29)

I am grateful for the value that my church places on women. Not to open a theological Pandora's box, but my church allows women to teach and preach. One of the pastors is a woman. I know that this may be controversial for some, but it does make me feel valued as a human being. (And, yes, I do think my church takes scripture seriously. I honestly believe it is one of those issues that honest Christians can disagree on.)

When I was on staff with InterVarsity, the women in ministry issue blew up in my face. We were selecting officers for the next year. We were talking about various options and one of the students turned to me and said, "We won't have a woman president." At first I thought he was joking. He wasn't. He took the issue to my pastor. I went to a church at that time that did not allow women to teach men. I knew I disagreed with the leadership on this issue, but it fit me in other ways so I bit my tongue there. My pastor, instead of making a local call to me, called InterVarsity's national headquarters. He knew me well but couldn't call me first? I was grateful that the vice president that he spoke with backed me and my roll up.

I had been on staff about 3 year and taught numerous times and got good feedback. When this issue blew up, students started staying for worship and getting up and walking out if a woman was teaching. It was heart wrenching to see this exodus as well as disruptive.

I don't teach at my church, but I am grateful for the value that says that I could.

40 to 40 (Gratitude 19)

I am grateful for all the time that I got to spend at InterVarsity's Cedar Campus. It is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan right on Lake Huron. Once I tried to tally how many weeks of my life I spent up there as a student and staff. There was the one week my first year, 5 weeks including the Leadership camp the next year, three weeks on staff the following year, . . . . I think I easily topped a year over my life, in small chunks spent at this beautiful place.



Cedar Campus stands as a place of peace for me and also a place of spiritual growth. It was hear that I really learned to dig into scripture and have it come alive. It was here that I began to hear God speak in a new way in my life. It was hear that I heard the call to go on staff with InterVarsity for a time. It was here that I saw God use me to impact the lives of students. I am thankful for this place and hope to go back to visit sometime. Though, I know it won't be the same without all the old, familiar faces.

40 to 40 (Gratitude 7)

I am grateful for the time I spent on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). IVCF exists to spread the good news of Jesus to college campuses. The staff build chapters of students who reach out to their peers.

I spent 11 years on staff with IVCF. They were incredible years of growing spiritually. If you want to learn something, try teaching it to someone else. As staff, we had the privilege and responsibility of teaching the Word of God to students. The indepth study I needed to do for this made a huge impact on me. It opened my eyes to knowing Jesus more fully.

I am grateful and humbled that God chose to use me in this ministry.

Set of the Sails -- Hope Chronicles 61

It was the summer of 1990. I had just finished my junior year in college and had spent much of the year saving for InterVarsity's School of Leadership Training. It was a four week leadership camp situated at Cedar Campus right on Michigan's Lake Huron.

The schedule was full from getting up at 7:15 for an 8:00 breakfast to lights out at 11:00. We had daily topics on things like evangelism, exposition training, conflict, studying scripture, and analyzing the culture we lived in so we could be more effective leaders. In the afternoon, we had an hours worth of work entitled camp stewardship where we washed windows, hauled wood, swept, cleaned, painted, and whatever else needed doing.

And then we had free time which was taken up by rounds and rounds of volley ball and instructions on sailing. This is a much younger me with another gal, Beth, in my family group.





We had endured the frigid water for the swim test and were determined to learn to sail the little two person Sunfish. Though we understood the importance of wind on an intellectual basis, we discovered that once we had rigged the boat and gotten to the middle of Prentiss Bay, we often prayed for the wind to cease. There was something frightening about the way the boat tilted when it got to moving fast.

But still we learned the basics. We learned how right a tipped boat and again learned the bone chilling temperature of the water. We learned to tack back and forth to catch the wind when trying to go against the wind. We learned to loosen the sail to slow the pace and what it meant to be in "irons." We learned to take in the sail to pick up the pace and that sometimes a little wind is just enough to get you where you want to go.

I was reminded of all of this upon coming across this poem Ella Wheeler Cox on the Internet:

One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
Tis the set of the sails
and not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

I am still a novice in sailing and after so many years I would be hard pressed to rig the sails, but I think this is so true. One boat would be caught in irons, unable to catch the wind. Another boat would zip about because of the set of the sails.

We all have struggles in life. Sometimes things are easier than others. But it isn't the storm or the sun that makes or breaks us. Yes, the storms can wear at our resolve, but it is where our mind and heart is set that makes the difference. Is my mind set on my circumstances or is my mind set on the hope I have in Jesus? Yes, I may struggle, but if my heart and hope are in my savior, no matter the waves around me I will be safe in God's arms.

Isaiah 43:2 puts it this way:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

There is no promise for a life without struggle. But there is hope in knowing that God has promised his presence.

Will you set your sails on the hope we have in Jesus today?

Heaven is a Little Brighter

This weekend I heard some sad news. A mentor, of sorts. of mine has gone to be with Jesus. I'm sure heaven is brighter, it leaves those of us down here in a bit more darkness. But my bet is that, Jo Ann would say "Nope" to that. She spent her life spreading God's love and word and her memory will live on in those she disicipled.

Jo Ann and Don Fields were what we called "lifers" with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. They met and married in their 30's and raised two beautiful daughters. I always wondered at how the students rallied around her when she spoke. She was several generation away from them. But even if she didn't understand all of their lingo, she understood the struggles of the heart, she understood they needed Jesus. So, she faithfully presented the gospel year after year after year.

One talk I particularly remember her giving was on singleness. She spoke on how she was 30 and single and wanting to be married. Where I get sometimes down and out about my lack of a significant other, she looked at it a different way. I said, "What if God wants me to be single for the rest of my life?" She told God that she would let him worry about the rest of her life and she could be content for today with being single.

She was a lady who found her contentment in Jesus.

So, heavens are a bit brighter. I can imagine Jo sitting down with Jesus and soaking up everything he had to say.

Jo leaves behind Don, two daughters, and several grandchildren. Please pray for the.

But pray for all of us that like Jo, we can be content for the day for whatever our circumstances.

Mountaintops in Perspecitve -- Hope Chronicles 51

The last few weeks, my She Speaks prep has consumed my time and energy. As I write that, I am struck by the thought, "When have you let God consume so much of your time and energy?" Hopefully, it was for God's glory, but so much time an energy went into the book proposal and the talks and the packing and the fretting over being liked or not liked while I was there, . . . . Now, I am post She Speaks by four days.

In my InterVarsity Christian Fellowship days, I often found there to be an immediate slump after big events. I would be tired and grouchy and irritable. While I admit, I'm starting to have a bit of a slump (I'm a bit on the touchy side today), there was none of the immediate, overwhelming deflation that I have previously encountered. I'm not sure why that is and it isn't that God didn't meet me in those earlier events. I believe He did.

But I experienced something profound this past weekend -- God utterly delighting over me. I know He probably always has, but still it was so sweet . . . . Part of me didn't want the conference to end. I half thought moving to NC might not be so bad or maybe I could join some of my bloggy friends in their neck of the woods. But then I would miss my friends and church here.

She Speaks was a mountaintop experience. But I have learned that most of us do not live on "mountaintops." While those times are refreshing and wonderful, most of us are called to live out our walk in the daily things of life: mowing the grass, interacting with coworkers, doing the laundry, making dinner, running errands, . . . . These things may make us say, "Can't the mountaintop experience go on forever?"

Scripture tells us that Moses met with God as a man meets with a friend. Yet, even Moses had to come down from the mountaintop and he was greeted with God's Chosen People dancing around an idol and grumbling about how much better life back in Egypt was. (They were a thankless lot!)

And then there is Elijah. 1 Kings 18 and 19 Elijah sees God work in mighty ways. But he freaks when the king's wife takes a bounty out on his head. (Okay, I might have been worried too.) He flees and God eventually leads Him to a cave on a mountain. He actually whines (in my opinion) to God. My version: "I've done all this for you and they've killed all these people and I am the only one left. Did you hear me? Now they are going to kill me!"

God does not get into a test of wills with Elijah. Rather, God tells him to "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." There is a great wind that shattered rocks, an earthquake, and a fire. But God is not in any of these. But then there is a gentle whisper and Elijah stands at the mouth of the cave and God gives him a glimpse of Himself.

And God asks again, "Elijah, what are you doing here?"

Elijah repeats the litany.

God responds, "Go back the way you came." (Get back to day to day life). He goes on to promise that he is sending Elijah a partner and that Elijah is not alone -- there are 7,000 who still worship God.

So, post She Speaks means getting back to day to day life.

But it also means remembering all that God did there. Just as God reminded Elijah of the 7,000, I am praying He will continue to remind me of all that I learned and experienced and the fellowship I experienced. I've been making a list. It's now 5 journal pages with bullets to help remind me when things get tough.

Like Moses and Elijah, most of us are not meant to live on mountaintops. But we are called to remember them. And through remembering them we can be strengthened in the day to day life and even in the valleys. It is in remembering that we often find that glorious thing called hope.

If you went to She Speaks or even if you didn't, what is one strengthening memory you have? Please leave it here in the comment section or a link to the story on your site. I look forward to hearing how God uses the mountaintops to prepare you for day to day life.

My Hope Is Built -- Hope Chronicles 27

As a college student, I fought the whole idea of singing hymns. They seemed antiquated and outdated. Just before my senior year, I spent a summer at InterVarsity's Student Leadership Training (SLT). It was fun and stretching month. While we sang more contemporary songs, there was also a healthy dose of old hymns mixed in. I came to love some of the theology in them.

Now, I am in a church where we mostly sing contemporary Christian music. Much of it has merit, but it doesn't have the anchor of hundreds of thousands of Christians through the ages singing it. Many of our worship leaders are younger. About a year ago, I was trying to put power point together for the service. We were going to sing Amazing Grace (one of the few hymns that make it in). I asked about which verses and he rattled off numbers. But when they sang, they seemed to skip one. I forget which one it was and I called his attention to it because it meant the numbers he had given me didn't match up. He was genuinely surprised it was a real verse and not something someone had recently made up!

The last few days, I have been thinking about this song -- My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less. It's never been one of my favorites. If hymns come to mind they tend to be Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, And Can It Be, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.... So, I've been a bit surprised to find this hymn rattling around in my brain.

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness." What amazing words. While I know they are true, I also know that I find myself falling into the folly of thinking that there must be something I can do to "be good enough." I don't necessarily come right out and say it. But there is a "worker bee" mentality to me. If I can be kind enough, helpful enough, smart enough, good enough.

But that's where the second part comes in -- "no merit of my own I claim, but wholly lean on Jesus name." Nothing I do has enough merit. That is a humbling place to be. It really flies in the face of the American ideals -- the rags to riches, work hard enough, it only matters that you tried . . . .

While God may appreciate our efforts to get to know Him, He knows that in and of themselves, they are never enough. He knew that if my efforts were placed on the scales of justice against my sin, it would never be enough. So, He gave us the cross.

And it is more than enough for me and you . . . . So, while those things I do are good and God does call us to serve each other, I need to still my worker bee mindset and rest in knowing that my hope is built on Jesus blood and righteousness. No frantic trying is needed. For when Jesus died and rose again, it was simply -- enough.

The Picture -- Hope Chronicles 22

I don't know how long it had hung there. But it was there during my student days with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and then my 11 year tenure on staff. My guess is, though I haven't been back in years to check, is that it still rests on the wall in the stairwell at InterVarsity's Cedar Campus. Even though it was a simple charcoal sketch, it never failed to catch my eye and my heart.

It was sketched in black on white paper -- a picture of the sea. You could see above the water and below the water. The artist had drawn the bottom of the sea littered with an inner tube and bit of trash and debris. But the heart clincher for me was a simple sign, slightly askew, in the bottom right hand corner. It simply read, "No Fishing."

In that simple picture, the artist caught the condition of the human soul in two ways. First, he noted that our sins have been cast into the sea. Micah 7:19 says, "He will again have compassion on us. And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all ours sins into the depths of the seas." Notice that God doesn't say that he hurls them into a shallow creek. He casts them into the deepest seas. If we are in Christ, our sins are no more. They have been hurled away by God and buried in the depths.

Secondly, the sign points to our second propensity. Sometimes, we cannot leave well enough alone. Instead, we dig out the fishing gear and sling our poles over our shoulders and head out to the open water. Once there, we fish and fish and fish until we catch something on our hooks. With all the persistence of a seasoned fisherman, we refuse go home empty handed.

Why do we do that? It's not like we really want the rubbish off the bottom of the sea. If anything, it is a burden -- once discarded -- that we pick up again. God cast it there with good reason. He knows that we have been redeemed, that we aren't who we once were. But we go fishing because at some level we doubt that fact. We fear that the sin we confessed isn't really wiped away. We fail to trust the one who freed us from that sin. In doing so, we stifle hope.

I'm not saying that we should never look at our past. Our past informs our present. However, if I just looked at my past with human eyes, my heart would be so heavy I would never manage to struggle out of bed. The sins, the abuse, the pride, . . . would weigh me down so I couldn't move.

Rather, when we look at the past, we need to play close attention to the camera angle. Is it focused on us and our sin or is it focused on the God who redeemed us? Some of the pieces may sound similar in each story, but in reality they are vastly different. One is a picture of despair. The other is a picture of hope.

If you feel the need to look at the past, check the camera angle closely and always let God take center stage. That is where we will find hope in the past, present, and future.

When you find yourself wanting to go fishing, heed this simple sign. It will make all the difference in the world.

God's Response to Tragedy -- Hope Chronicles 18

There are tragedies all around. If you look at the paper or watch the news, it's right there. When I was in high school there was a song out called, "A Little Good News" by Anne Murray. It pursued the idea that one day there could be a newspaper come out that only had good news in it. Wow. What would that be like?


It's a nice thought, but it's not reality. On Thursday, there was a school shooting at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, a student at the University of Illinois, drove to Dekalb and opened fire on a geology class. He killed 4 before killing himself. MSN's home page daily announces to me various tragedies. In August it was the end to the search for the miners and a hot air balloon tragedy that killed two. Then there is also the war in Iraq. Forty-nine died in wildfires in Greece. And then there are the tragedies that I have experienced or the ones people I know have gone through. Kate had an operation because there was an infection in a bone. She has a degenerative foot and leg condition that will only get worse over time. She also has diabetes. She is healing from the surgery, but now they are telling her they think that the bone infection is still there. Another friend lost her husband of 50 years to cancer. Bill died at 41 from an aortic aneurysm. What is God's answer to all of this? Is he silent?


I don't believe He is! In fact, even though life still brings us tragedies, God has already responded. In Faith on the Edge: Daring to Follow Jesus written by several InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff, Robbie Castleman writes the following (p. 188):


God may not have intervened, may not have stepped in to undo what broke our hearts . . . . We may not understand why God intervened for Peter and not for James. Why some and not all? Why then and not now? All that disciples know is a point in history that gives us hope in tragedy, a point of divine intervention that spans all time: God raised Jesus from the dead.


God has intervened. Life is hard and we struggle, but God has already intervened. Some day we will be with him in heaven and there will be no more pain and suffering. Until then, we rest on the fact that HE HAS ANSWERED all the questions we have in the midst of tragedy and he understands suffering intimately.



___________________________________________________

As I write, I am considering making a trip to Northern Illinois University. I received an e-mail last night that stated that they are looking for 300 MA level volunteer counselors to be in classes over the next two weeks. I think I could pull off going for 2-3 full days. However, the e-mail was woefully devoid of the information I need to make those kind of plans.



Please pray that God would give me wisdom on this. I am acquainted with grief and sorrow and the sense of loss of safety. However, I don't know that I've ever experienced anything quite like this. (The closest was several years ago when I worked in Clinton, IL and 3 kids were drowned in a lake. The counselors at my agency went to the hospital that night and then had daily conversations with our clients about the event.) I have the training they are asking for. I also have 11 years experience working with college students through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.



But I need more information. I also need God, the greatest of counselors, to go before me if I go.



Because we need peace in the midst of these situations, here is a picture of one of my favorite places in the world -- InterVarsity's Cedar Campus in Michigan.

Think Spring -- Hope Chronicles 6

In 1989 I finished up my sophomore year of college. It was reasonably warm in southern Indiana. The first or second week in May, I headed north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Cedar Campus. We were suppose to arrive, on Saturday. But for a reason that escapes me, my sister and friend and I couldn't leave until Saturday evening. We drove 16 hours through the night and got there just in time for worship Sunday morning. We were tired and a little ragged from the trip.

As we were driving we had to turn the heat on. On the other side of the 5 mile Mackinac Bridge, we were greeted with the sign, "Think Spring." Though it was warm where we came from, it was still a bit chilly in the UP.

Flash forward. It's Dec. 29th in central Illinois. It's cold and grey out. All the Christmas festivities are done. People are coming out of their turkey comas to discover that life on the the other side of Christmas isn't much different than life before Christmas -- with the exception of the amount of debt they are carrying. That, of course, has grown. If they had to go to work this week, the week seemed to drag on and on and on even though if was a "short" work week.

I've found myself feeling a little glum. From the way people around me have been acting, I think they have felt that way as well. So, what do these two stories have to do with each other. More than you might think!

Let's start with the present day. It might be easy to drift off into hopelessness. We are in for 3-4 more months of cold and gray skies. There aren't really any major holidays to break up the monotony. (Okay, there are things like Lincoln's Birthday and Martin Luther King Day -- but it really depends on where you work if you get to have those things off. And then there is Valentine's Day -- the ultimate Hallmark Holiday. But enjoying that one depends on if you are with someone or not. So, my point stands. There aren't any major holidays for everyone coming up soon.)

Even though it was May that year of the all night trek to camp, spring was slow in coming to the UP. And if I recall it correctly, it was gray.

But I like the outlook of those "uppers." They knew that spring was coming and they were focused on it. It's amazing that the image of that sign has stuck with me for so many years. I think of it now as an image of hope.

So, what are you focused on just past Christmas? Has the reason for the season been abandoned? Are you dismayed, as I often am, by how far you have yet to go in your spiritual life?

As Christians Paul tells us that the "hope of glory" resides in us. He writes in Colossians 1:21-27:

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel . . . . Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. "

Christ in you - the hope of glory. How amazing is that? It is not yet fully manifested, but it is there deep inside you and me. Like bulbs planted in the fall that will not blossom until spring, so is God's hope in you. It is there. You have it already. It just may not be in full bloom yet. But it will be. Do not worry about that. When you are dismayed by how far you have to go or how long you have to wait, Think Spring. Think Jesus. That is where our hope lies.