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Friday, July 15, 2011

Set a fire down in my soul


As I continue my growth in my faith this summer, my focus has been narrowed to one thing in past couple of weeks: to gain the skills necessary to become an effective leader of college guys (mainly freshman) in our campus church, especially during the next school year.

Before this summer, I had never had a mature, Christian guy my age that really focused on being a positive mentor and role model for me. That has changed in my first 8 weeks at LT with a great life group leader, staff guide and other people who have shown specific care for me.

I have had a ton of positive experiences with one-on-one mentorship at LT and I now feel like I will be more comfortable giving advice to younger college students because of the experiences I have had here. Because of this, I am super excited to be a spiritual mentor to people in our canvas group next year.

This kind of personal attention and caring is one of the better things that I have discovered about my faith in the past year. Honestly, what’s a more appealing faith than one that has people who truly care about you? People taking time out to meet with me just to listen to what is going on in my life has been one of the best things about LT so far.

I want to show this kind of Godly love to as many people as possible, no matter if they have been a Christian their entire lives, are just starting to think about becoming a Christian, or even if they are a non-Christian. I believe God has given me ears to listen, experiences to help people in tough times and a loving heart, so my passion and skills line up!

I don’t know if this means I want to stay at the college level after I graduate (sounds great to me) and help out a campus church somewhere, but I am certain I want to sell completely out for our canvas group next year.

Next year will be the first full year that I will be involved in a canvas group, so I am pumped to be there to reel all of the freshman in and start building into them. Seeing people you really care about grow in their faith is so exciting!

I’ve learned so much about myself and my faith this summer, all while gaining confidence in my ability to be a loving friend to other Christians.

When we started “Chazown” at the beginning of the summer, I didn’t believe I would truly find a solid purpose for myself before the end of the summer. I thought some of my better skills would be revealed and I would start to see my purpose coming to the surface, but I didn’t expect to have so many specific ideas in mind about where my life could be headed.

God provides and it is awesome.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Finding TRUE and EVERLASTING joy

Before last school year, I was living a life that I thought was normal, happy and above average. I had cool friends, most people that I met liked me, I had things that made me joyful and I felt like I was a nice person overall. What wasn’t to like? Some things weren’t perfect, but I thought that was normal and that I had to deal with my problems on my own.

I had attended the Rock (a campus ministry at Mizzou) a couple times in my first two years on campus, but I never dedicated myself to a canvas group (small group that hangs out all the time but only officially meets once a week) or attended the service on a regular basis.

After two years, I figured I needed something to change. There was something more than just sitting around, enjoying sports, hanging out with friends and being lazy. At the beginning of my junior year, I had a passion set on my heart to be more connected to the Rock, so I dove in, not fully knowing what to expect.

What I was exposed to changed the plan of my life forever. I saw people my age actually perusing a PERSONAL relationship with God. What the crap? I had never seen so many people united for one common goal: to know the creator of the universe as well as they possibly could.

I was hooked. I attended the annual fall retreat and got super involved in the Mark Twain Canvas Group (represent!). I kept falling more and more in love with the people in the group and more importantly, with God. I had always had the knowledge that God loved me, but I never really experienced it fully or personally.

This newfound passion for my faith helped me decide to attend LT this summer. If you’ve been following my life at all, you know what LT is all about, but I’ll explain it again anyways.

It’s basically a summer camp where we have to work 40 hour a week jobs, get in a canvas group-like group with people from other schools (Texas A&M, UNT, Kent State, Bowling Green, Ohio St., Harding (!), etc.), grow in our faith and get more comfortable with sharing it.

Talk about one of the better decisions of my life. LT is held in Estes Park, Colorado, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’ve been able to hike so many mountains (35 miles so far!) while experiencing great summer weather for the first time ever.

Don’t let this beautiful weather and awesome attitude about the summer I am having make it seem like my life is now really easy and simple. That is so far from the truth. My life is just like anyone else’s: one with pain, sadness, loneliness, etc.

There is a running joke that LT also stands for “Lots of Trials. I have found this out to be true this summer, but I now know that through the trials, I have God’s joy, love and mercy to fall back on. What a great gift that anyone can receive with no strings attached!

I was motivated to blog this afternoon by all the love I have continually received from God’s people here in Colorado. I’ve never been involved a group that cares so much about each other or about their relationship with God. It is truly a beautiful thing that makes me smile whenever I think about it or experience it.

I may have seemed like a good Christian boy my first two years of college, following the rules and doing all the right things, but I never experienced God’s love and joy until this year. I want everyone to feel that joy now! I can’t wait to get back to school in the fall and help everyone I encounter experience God’s love.

I’ve got more topics to blog about, so hopefully I can get to those soon. Love you guys!