i have been meeting one-on-one with a number of students this semester and i have been realizing that i don't feel like i do a very good job of processing through the time after i have met with them. i feel like after we meet, i don't typically take enough time, or even make an effort to break down how the time went and to think through what is going on with them and where things should be going in the future.
i really want to get in the habit of maybe even journaling my thoughts about the times that i spend with guys so that i am able to be a little more strategic in the time that i spend with them. not that it is something that can be completely formulaic by any means, but i think that for me to have an awareness is a really good thing.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Passion '08...Dallas Style...
this past weekend, cailyn and i had the privilege of taking 14 students to the regional passion conference in dallas, tx. it was truly an awesome time. some really great worship and teaching, all focused around the name and renown of Christ. it was awesome to see students getting fired up to take the message of Christ back to their campuses and out into the world.
but without a doubt, the coolest thing was the way that these college students gave of themselves to be Christ to the world. mind these are college students whoa re supposed to have no money!
the students gave 4000 towels and 20,000 pairs of socks for local homeless shelters, $18,000 to Blood:Water Mission to build 6 wells in africa, $80,000 for the passion world tour that will launch in may, and then on top of that students were asked to give some of their clothes that they packed for the weekend to help the students that were affected by the tornadoes at union university a couple of weeks ago, and the students responded by giving enough clothes to fill an entire 26' uhaul.
i love seeing students changing the world for Christ one little moment at a time!!
but without a doubt, the coolest thing was the way that these college students gave of themselves to be Christ to the world. mind these are college students whoa re supposed to have no money!
the students gave 4000 towels and 20,000 pairs of socks for local homeless shelters, $18,000 to Blood:Water Mission to build 6 wells in africa, $80,000 for the passion world tour that will launch in may, and then on top of that students were asked to give some of their clothes that they packed for the weekend to help the students that were affected by the tornadoes at union university a couple of weeks ago, and the students responded by giving enough clothes to fill an entire 26' uhaul.
i love seeing students changing the world for Christ one little moment at a time!!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Passion Dallas...
4 days and counting...i am getting really pumped...cailyn and i are taking 14 students to dallas, tx for the passion conference. it is a gathering of college students that are coming together for the renown of Jesus.
i just heard that there are over 5000 people coming to the conference. it is going to be an amazing time of worship and teaching, of re-energizing and focusing. i can't wait to see what God is going to do.
i want to be praying for our students especially, that they would catch the vision and that they would come back with the an energy and an excitement to live for Christ in new and creative ways. it is going to be a great time, and i can't wait to see what God will do...
i just heard that there are over 5000 people coming to the conference. it is going to be an amazing time of worship and teaching, of re-energizing and focusing. i can't wait to see what God is going to do.
i want to be praying for our students especially, that they would catch the vision and that they would come back with the an energy and an excitement to live for Christ in new and creative ways. it is going to be a great time, and i can't wait to see what God will do...
Thursday, February 7, 2008
God our Heavenly Father...
last night at DIG we looked at Luke 15...the story of the Lost's...the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal's son. we focused in on the image of God as our Heavenly Father...
i have been thinking about it a lot lately, about this unconditional love that our Father has for us and the way that He is watching and waiting for us to come back to Him...
i don't think that we think of God as our Father nearly enough, at least i know that i don't. we tend to think of Him as things like Immanuel, Savior, and Lord, which are all great, but in many senses i think that all of those names are encapsulated in the name Heavenly Father.
when we think of God as our Heavenly Father, it is about more than Him just being with us, or saving us...it is about a relationship, one in which He loves us so incredibly much that He will go to any extreme to save us and to cultivate a loving friendship with us. God as Heavenly Father, puts God, in my mind, as close as He can possibly to us, and that is what He ultimately desires.
i have been thinking about it a lot lately, about this unconditional love that our Father has for us and the way that He is watching and waiting for us to come back to Him...
i don't think that we think of God as our Father nearly enough, at least i know that i don't. we tend to think of Him as things like Immanuel, Savior, and Lord, which are all great, but in many senses i think that all of those names are encapsulated in the name Heavenly Father.
when we think of God as our Heavenly Father, it is about more than Him just being with us, or saving us...it is about a relationship, one in which He loves us so incredibly much that He will go to any extreme to save us and to cultivate a loving friendship with us. God as Heavenly Father, puts God, in my mind, as close as He can possibly to us, and that is what He ultimately desires.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Trials of Leadership...
i believe that i am a leader...i believe that God has called me to be a leader. it is who He desires for me to be and what He desires for me to do.
as much as i know that to be true, there are just some times when i wish that i didn't have to be a leader. there are just those times as a leader where i know that God is calling me to do certain things, and yet at times i long so much to not have to do those things. and so i have been thinking some about why i don't want to do those things, why do i have those feelings...and i think that it basically comes down to the fact that sometimes i just want my life to be easy.
it is as if i believe that i have a right for my life to be easy. i am a christian, my life should be easy, right!?!? that is what my head likes to believe at times, but i know in my heart that is far from the truth. there is no promise that life will be easy, and i know that if life was easy, i would end up hating it.
so, sometimes there are these feelings of wishing that i didn't have to be a leader...of wishing that my life could just be easy. but i know this is what God has called me to, and i thank him for it so much...it is the best thing that i could have going for me. He knows way better than me...
as much as i know that to be true, there are just some times when i wish that i didn't have to be a leader. there are just those times as a leader where i know that God is calling me to do certain things, and yet at times i long so much to not have to do those things. and so i have been thinking some about why i don't want to do those things, why do i have those feelings...and i think that it basically comes down to the fact that sometimes i just want my life to be easy.
it is as if i believe that i have a right for my life to be easy. i am a christian, my life should be easy, right!?!? that is what my head likes to believe at times, but i know in my heart that is far from the truth. there is no promise that life will be easy, and i know that if life was easy, i would end up hating it.
so, sometimes there are these feelings of wishing that i didn't have to be a leader...of wishing that my life could just be easy. but i know this is what God has called me to, and i thank him for it so much...it is the best thing that i could have going for me. He knows way better than me...
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Tough Influence...
how do you get someone (in my case, a student) to realize that they likely are a large part of the problem that they are talking to you about. it seems so challenging to me to figure out how to help the eyes to be opened to see how they really come across.
i ended my week last week with a very interested and most challenging conversation with a student who was sharing about some things in his life that have been very challenging, and i just could not help but keep coming back to the feeling that he is bringing a lot of these feelings and emotions on himself and that he doesn't realize that or see that in the least bit.
i have been praying that God will help me to ask more and better questions and i think this is the perfect opportunity. i am striving to figure out what questions i need to ask and how i need to ask them in order to be able to really help him to discover where he is at. that seems worlds more powerful than just telling him that that is how he comes across. it seems so very challenging to me, but that is the way that God brings us to greatness so often, it is through challenging times that God brings us to greatness.
therefore, i will continue to seek out the right questions in hopes that he will see things differently.
i ended my week last week with a very interested and most challenging conversation with a student who was sharing about some things in his life that have been very challenging, and i just could not help but keep coming back to the feeling that he is bringing a lot of these feelings and emotions on himself and that he doesn't realize that or see that in the least bit.
i have been praying that God will help me to ask more and better questions and i think this is the perfect opportunity. i am striving to figure out what questions i need to ask and how i need to ask them in order to be able to really help him to discover where he is at. that seems worlds more powerful than just telling him that that is how he comes across. it seems so very challenging to me, but that is the way that God brings us to greatness so often, it is through challenging times that God brings us to greatness.
therefore, i will continue to seek out the right questions in hopes that he will see things differently.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Conformity and Neoteny...
i have been realizing a lot lately that i have so much of a tendency to want to make others look like me. i think that we all have that tendency at least to some extent. i think that i am pretty bad about it though.
i have been realizing and noticing a lot lately that the "average" UCM student seems to look and be a lot different than the average purdue student. but why does that need to be the case...why does that even matter...God doesn't see them as different, at least not in the way that i am tempted to see them as different.
i pray that i can begin to figure out how to look at students as God sees them and not as i think that they should be.
i read a great word this morning...neoteny. it is the "retention of youthful qualities by adults". i think that is so true and so necessary and so what God desires of us. and instead of trying to make people look like me, i want to try to lead students to discover a neoteny that allows them to fully be the person that God has created them and is calling them to be.
i read about this neoteny in a book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson and he says this about our creativity. i find it alarming and yet very motivating.
"I recently read a fascinating study on divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is intellectual originality. It is creative and counterintuitive thought. It is thinking outside the box. The study found that 98 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 5 score in the genius category for divergent thinking. Between the ages of 8 and 10, that number drops to 32 percent. By the time the kids become teenagers, it drops to 10 percent. And only 2 percent of those over 25 score in the genius category of divergent thinking."
that is incredibly sad to me. i pray that i can be a divergent thinker, and in so doing, that i can help other students not to be more like me, but to discover what it looks like for them to be a divergent thinker.
i have been realizing and noticing a lot lately that the "average" UCM student seems to look and be a lot different than the average purdue student. but why does that need to be the case...why does that even matter...God doesn't see them as different, at least not in the way that i am tempted to see them as different.
i pray that i can begin to figure out how to look at students as God sees them and not as i think that they should be.
i read a great word this morning...neoteny. it is the "retention of youthful qualities by adults". i think that is so true and so necessary and so what God desires of us. and instead of trying to make people look like me, i want to try to lead students to discover a neoteny that allows them to fully be the person that God has created them and is calling them to be.
i read about this neoteny in a book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson and he says this about our creativity. i find it alarming and yet very motivating.
"I recently read a fascinating study on divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is intellectual originality. It is creative and counterintuitive thought. It is thinking outside the box. The study found that 98 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 5 score in the genius category for divergent thinking. Between the ages of 8 and 10, that number drops to 32 percent. By the time the kids become teenagers, it drops to 10 percent. And only 2 percent of those over 25 score in the genius category of divergent thinking."
that is incredibly sad to me. i pray that i can be a divergent thinker, and in so doing, that i can help other students not to be more like me, but to discover what it looks like for them to be a divergent thinker.
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