Tuesday, September 19, 2006

"Polishing Off Rough Edges" Weekly E-letter, Methodist Campus Ministry

Dear Friends,

 

It’s been a beautiful day!  Hope you have had a chance to enjoy the sunshine!

 

Here’s our activities this week:

 

Soul Feast:

 

Woship tonight @ DUC, room 340 at 6:30pm.  We will begin to gather around 6pm.  Tonight we are being led in worship by Lee Young from State St. UMC.  We will be doing a Taize’ worship service.  This is a prayer service filled with meditative singing, community prayers, and a silent meditation on the names of God.  This is in preparation for next week when we will focus on what it means to discover who we are in Christ.  First we have to understand who Christ is, who God is.  Please join us!

 

Solid Rock Café:

 

Free Meal and Bible Study on Thursday, 6pm @ Wesley Foundation.  Our program will focus on what does it mean for us to have a second chance.  This is the theme we are looking at from the movie “Walk the Line” which tells the life story of Johnny Cash.  Afterwards (8:30 PM) join us on DUC South Lawn for a showing of “Walk the Line.”  Remember to bring your own blanket!

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Yesterday I got to go to my ladies prayer group at the local church I attend.  As I spent time in prayer I began to get a sense that God was asking me to look at different circumstances in my life differently.  While on the one hand it was a frustrating thing, on the other it really gave me a sense of freedom.  As I prayed for different circumstances, I began to sense that God was using those circumstances as a tool in His hand to bring forth a quality in my life that I haven’t been able to produce on my own.  I began to also get a sense that He really is in control of my circumstances, that He is actively engaged, and that He is not nearly as freaked out about stuff that comes up as I am.  It was almost as if the Holy Spirit was saying to my own spirit (in that wordless way that just kind of happens, call it a nudge I guess): “Don’t fret about this, the conclusion is known.  You just trust that my purposes in these circumstances are bigger than the obvious ones you see.  I am working ALL things for good, and there is some good I am producing in this for you too.”

 

Here is a scripture that rings so true:  “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 1:6).  And also this one:  “…it is God who is at work in you, enabling you to both will and to work for his good pleasure”  (Phillipians 2:13).  And then this one:  “To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

I want you to get a hold of this.  (Believe me, I’m tying a knot and holding on myself!)  It is God who is working to produce something glorious in us and through us that we cannot even see yet.  Think of those people you admire, who have that Christ-like quality of surety, a strength that cannot be tempered or robbed, a joy and peace that exists in the midst of turmoil, a solidity that no one and nothing can destroy.  Wow!  That is what God is doing in us!  And often-times He uses things we don’t understand to produce the qualities of character that the world tries to copy but ultimately cannot comprehend.

 

So hang in there with Him.  He is doing a good work!  And you are the work He is most proud of, especially as He sees the face of His beloved Son reflected in character He is developing within your life.  This is what it means to grow in grace.  Grow boldly my friends!

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

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