The Great Adventure

"A divided church is never going to reach a fractured world".

I heard Rick Atchley say this on Wednesday as part of the conversation going on in a Lectureship class between him and a preacher from the Independent Christian Church, Bob Russell. This just spoke volumes to me, so I had to write it down. Then they just kept saying more and more amazing things that I wanted to write down. I ended up going and buying all 3 of the CD's of their classes that focused on the unity of our movement (because I missed the first two!) and how the grace of God can and does conform us.

It's been an amazing Lectureship week, even though I have not been able to attend everything I would have liked. But there are some awesome conversations and dialog going on that I am really excited about. I love being at a place that welcomes open dialog about issues and that is truly searching for the truth, even if the truth that we are discovering goes against the grain we have been used to for so long. It was wonderful to be in discussions about the grace of God instead of the petty arguments we sometimes focus on. How in the world will we reach a broken world when we cannot even agree as Christians? More on this topic later...

I feel SO blessed to be where I am right now in this moment. Last week during chapel, I was looking around and I had this incredible feeling wash over me: I just knew in that moment that this is exactly where I am supposed be. I have NEVER felt that before-it was amazing and it was nice to finally know where I belonged. God is amazing-He sure knew what He was doing when He placed me here, even though I strongly questioned my existence in Abilene in the beginning. I just keep discovering every day what He has laid before me-even in the small things.

I feel like I have a mission field at my front door. This is such an incredibly formative time for these Freshmen, and on more than one occassion I have felt incompetent to be that person here to help in that process. It is amazing what God can do, though, through broken and fallen human beings. It is amazing what happens when you are in that moment and God pulls those strengths that He has given you to the surface and uses them, when you did not know you had them or could put them into use. I guess I have always been hard on myself, but I just never feel like I am doing enough. I want to epitomize the idea of "being all things to all people", but that is not always a realistic goal. For now, I will just focus on this:

"I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me". ~Philippians 4:13