Thursday, April 13, 2006

It's a good day to celebrate Jesus!--Wesley Foundation E-letter

Dear Friends,

 

Praise God!  I’m doing the happy dance in my office!  I just got my computer back this afternoon.  I’ve been without it for a week, and I have been going crazy!  Thank God for my dear friend Azurdee Garland (works in Student Activities) who made it possible for campus ministers to get WKU e-mail.  Because of that small mercy I’ve been able to use computers on campus, which totally rocks.  So I haven’t been completely unconnected.  By the way, I am on Facebook now.  Would love to hear from all the other Facebook junkies out there. 

 

TONIGHT in case you missed our announcement in today’s College Heights, we are having Movie Night on the Lawn.  We will be watching “Chronicles of Narnia:  The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”  As we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord, this is the perfect time to reflect on what His sacrifice means for us personally through a film that brings the Gospel to life in an imaginative way.  Come early (7pm) and join us as the BSU leads campus-wide prayer.  We will start the movie at 8pm.

 

Since Sunday night is Easter we encourage everyone to enjoy this time to be with families.

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I love this time of year.  After a long, cold winter it always delights my soul to see the world around me come back to life.  How wonderful to also experience the new life of Jesus Christ as well.  The Bible says that God’s mercies are new every morning.  Specifically it says,

 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”  The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.  Lamentations 3:21-25

 

What staggers me about this scripture is that it is written in the midst of one of the bleakest and most heartbreaking books of the Bible.  It is written at the time of Judah’s exile, when the prophet Jeremiah must watch his beloved nation be violently removed from the Promised Land and taken by force to Babylon.  The hope it represents is bold and courageous.  It brings to mind that mental picture of a brave soul who stands in the darkest day of winter, shivering to the bone, believing that Spring does exist yet.  I can’t help but experience the presence of the risen Christ in these words of hope.  It is as if this brave prophet reached beyond his own heartache to hang on to a reality the world had not yet even considered:  Resurrection.

 

It is still a promise today.  We are so close to the celebration of Easter.  And the beauty of this southern Kentucky town in April stirs the Easter already in my soul, even though many times this year it has felt like winter, and heartache, and an endless time of struggling for something more without the promise of return.  Spring-time always reminds me that God is really in control.

 

Don’t know what you’re going through today.  I know that the end of the semester is near.  Most students I know, however, don’t even get to revel in that thought because the end of the semester also means a crunch time unlike any they’ve faced so far.  I also know that there is heartache and heartbreak on this campus.  Relationships that need healing.  Hurts that need mending.  Personal disasters that need real hope.  Though I cannot know what you are facing I can speak with confidence of the One who wants to face it with you.  When you face this day with Jesus, no matter what this day brings, you have hope that springs eternal.  He is able to resurrect and bring good out of any, and every, circumstance you face.  My prayer is that you will find the bold courage of Jeremiah today.  Stepping outside helps!

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

Sami.wilson@wku.edu

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