We hosted seven students in our home for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. Most of the students at BU are from somewhere else in the country and many of them do not go home for Thanksgiving because the Christmas Break is so soon afterwards. Every year we open our home to anyone who has no where to go. We take them on walks around Winchester and Horn Pond ( a lake close to our house). We play games, nap and, of course, eat lots of food.
We usually have a few international students who join us. This year J. from Switzerland joined us. He is a student at Berkeley School of Music. He was invited by Riley, a student at Berkeley also, who has been part of Chi Alpha for a couple of years. Gerone is a student at BU School of Theology and the other students were undergrads from BU and regulars at Chi Alpha.
We only have two weeks of classes left in this semester. Next Tuesday is our last meeting of the 2009 school year. This Friday we will celebrate Christmas with a party on campus. We hope many students will come and party with us.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Dealing With Doubt
Today I met with Amanda and she shared with me about a class she is taking. (Amanda is one of our student leaders.) It is a religion course on the New Testament. The professor is not a believer and she has had her faith challenged deeply through this class. I told her how excited I was that she was dealing with doubt. She smiled and agreed with me. She is having to focus on who God is and what her commitment to him is. She is also having to use her intellect to reason and work out her faith. That's always a good thing.
This is one reason I love the secular college. A Christian like Amanda, if she is deeply involved in a Christian group on campus, will have her faith challenged every day. She will have a place to go to talk through and pray through the issues with believing Christians, and she will graduate a stronger Christian than she started out. She will be able to live in the world with a relevant Christian faith - a faith that will not wilt in the face of opposition. She will understand the true issues of the culture around her and be able to bring answers and hope to others.
I am excited to see how Amanda's faith is expanded. Through this experience God will reveal himself to her in new ways.
This is one reason I love the secular college. A Christian like Amanda, if she is deeply involved in a Christian group on campus, will have her faith challenged every day. She will have a place to go to talk through and pray through the issues with believing Christians, and she will graduate a stronger Christian than she started out. She will be able to live in the world with a relevant Christian faith - a faith that will not wilt in the face of opposition. She will understand the true issues of the culture around her and be able to bring answers and hope to others.
I am excited to see how Amanda's faith is expanded. Through this experience God will reveal himself to her in new ways.
Four Amazing Women
My main calling on campus is to disciple the women leaders of our Chi Alpha group. I am working directly with four women this year and I meet with them once a week individually. This semester the ladies have been dealing with some very challenging personal issues and we have been studying Romans together.
Every week I sit across the the table from these very talented women and I feel so privileged to know them and be a small part of their lives. I am also amazed at how God speaks through me and ministers through me to these ladies. I don't feel I have very much to offer (I don't outside of Jesus), and yet God gives me His Spirit to help these ladies.
I found that my age is a great asset also. All these ladies are young enough to be my daughter. They actually love that. I am like their 'mom away from home', but they also know that I am their friend and mentor in Christ. And I have had enough experience with life and relationships to give them real guidance that they can actually use. I never sugar coat issues. They all know that I will tell them the truth, whether it is pretty or not. Consequently they come to me often. And I know that I can't make anyone do what they don't want to do - only the Spirit can change and transform.
I remind myself often that it is the people I invest in, who will last forever. These ladies are my treasure.
Every week I sit across the the table from these very talented women and I feel so privileged to know them and be a small part of their lives. I am also amazed at how God speaks through me and ministers through me to these ladies. I don't feel I have very much to offer (I don't outside of Jesus), and yet God gives me His Spirit to help these ladies.
I found that my age is a great asset also. All these ladies are young enough to be my daughter. They actually love that. I am like their 'mom away from home', but they also know that I am their friend and mentor in Christ. And I have had enough experience with life and relationships to give them real guidance that they can actually use. I never sugar coat issues. They all know that I will tell them the truth, whether it is pretty or not. Consequently they come to me often. And I know that I can't make anyone do what they don't want to do - only the Spirit can change and transform.
I remind myself often that it is the people I invest in, who will last forever. These ladies are my treasure.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Discovering Jesus
Whew! All my kids are in school today. They have all recovered.
I wanted to share with you about a student that Gene has been sharing with for the past two months. His name is L. and he is from China and a graduate student at Northeastern. Gene met him through another campus pastor in the area and L. asked Gene if he could meet once a week with him. He has never missed an appointment with Gene. He has read all of John and a number of other books of the bible and Gene has been consistently sharing the Gospel with him.
Gene sensed that there was a personal issue in L.'s life that was keeping him from going further in his search for God. It took many weeks but L. finally confessed that he was gay. It is a difficult issue, but Gene's goal is to help L. discover Jesus and what He means to L. first, then L. will be able to hear how God cares for him in his heart issues.
Please pray for L. that he would discover the person of Jesus, encounter him supernaturally and come to know that Jesus loves him. Thank you for caring for L. through your prayers.
I wanted to share with you about a student that Gene has been sharing with for the past two months. His name is L. and he is from China and a graduate student at Northeastern. Gene met him through another campus pastor in the area and L. asked Gene if he could meet once a week with him. He has never missed an appointment with Gene. He has read all of John and a number of other books of the bible and Gene has been consistently sharing the Gospel with him.
Gene sensed that there was a personal issue in L.'s life that was keeping him from going further in his search for God. It took many weeks but L. finally confessed that he was gay. It is a difficult issue, but Gene's goal is to help L. discover Jesus and what He means to L. first, then L. will be able to hear how God cares for him in his heart issues.
Please pray for L. that he would discover the person of Jesus, encounter him supernaturally and come to know that Jesus loves him. Thank you for caring for L. through your prayers.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Holding Down the Fort
Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have had a house full of sick kids with the flu, and Gene is in the Pacific Northwest doing outreach events on a number of campuses there which leaves me home alone to hold down the fort.
Tomorrow night I get the opportunity to teach at our Chi Alpha meeting. I am continuing our series on the book of John. My passage is the woman at the well which I am very excited to be teaching on. We post our Tuesday night teachings on our website, so if you would like to hear our series please give a listen at www.bostonuchialpha.com.
Our next event is Thanksgiving. We are expecting 15+ students in our home for the holiday. It will be great day. I will get back to you all later in this week.
Tomorrow night I get the opportunity to teach at our Chi Alpha meeting. I am continuing our series on the book of John. My passage is the woman at the well which I am very excited to be teaching on. We post our Tuesday night teachings on our website, so if you would like to hear our series please give a listen at www.bostonuchialpha.com.
Our next event is Thanksgiving. We are expecting 15+ students in our home for the holiday. It will be great day. I will get back to you all later in this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)