An Angel Helped Me Carry Something to DUC--Wesley Weekly E-Letter (Methodist Student Center)

Dear Friends,

Hope you are enjoying this nice change in weather. It actually looks and kind of feels like fall! Here
is a quick run-down of the stuff we have going on:

Tomorrow night we eat at 6:30pm. Of course it's free. And then we will make prayer labyrinths. If you
enjoy making art, you will love this. It is a really creative way to pray. We will also talk about
prayer as a journey and where our journeys are taking us this year. It should be fun.

Also this Sunday Bishop James King will be in Bowling Green at Christ United Methodist Church. At 6pm
there will be a time of singing where different churches will share music from around the Bowling Green
area. We will also be singing and sharing a slide show of what God is doing at the Wesley Foundation.
It is one of the ways we will celebrate our 50 years of ministry at WKU. Be sure and join us!

Now for Sami's Ramblings About Jesus:

Yesterday I was visited by an angel. God sent a young man to help me out in a situation where I was too
proud to ask for help. I was walking from the Wesley Foundation to DUC, taking our Pack & Play to a
friend who has a baby a few months younger than Isaiah. I figured I could just carry it and walk, since
parking is so difficult. Of course the hill was much steeper than I anticipated, and the Pack & Play
weighed more than I thought and was hard to hold on to! Sweat was dripping off of me by the time I
reached Cherry Hall.

As I was going in to Cherry a young man stopped to hold the door for me, and seeing my struggle he asked
if I could use some help. I said no. He said since he was already late for class, he might as well go
ahead and help me. I told him I didn't want to keep him from class. Again he offered.

There was something in his offer that was like manna from heaven. I finally accepted the help he was
ready to give. I'm so glad I did. My load was heavy.

I think this is how Jesus is with us. We walk through life carrying loads of heavy stuff: high
expectations, doubts, fears, frustrations, hurts, habits, broken relationships, disappointments, anger,
worry, etc. At every turn Jesus is standing there asking us, "Can I carry that for you?" His promise is
that He takes the weight of our sin and worry and gives us His heart instead. What a cool trade! It is
a transformation that brings freedom, energy, and aliveness. We begin to care about things He cares
about, yet having the power we need, His power, to actually do something that makes a real difference in
the concerns on our hearts.

I was truly humbled to have to accept help the other day. But the blessing that young man gave me was
immeasurable. So Kenny, wherever you are, thank you for showing me Jesus. I hope you come to Wesley
sometime so everyone can see what my angel looks like.

Hoping,

Sami

Rev. Sami Wilson
Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation
1355 College St.
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(270) 842-2880

God Found Me--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

It's been a beautiful day. I tend to forget when the weather is so hot and dry for so long that
eventually it will change. And so it was nice to be outside on this day when there was a crisp-
ness in the air and a break from the sweltering heat. It's another reminder that time does move
along, and so do our lives.

Now for Sami's Ramblings About Jesus:

I have just finished reading a book. It has challenged and inspired me in ways I never dreamed
when I picked it up one afternoon from the stacks of religion books in the public library. On that
crazy afternoon when I was so desperate for a quiet, contemplative space to pray, I retreated to
the library for some solitude. Only, I found when I got there that there was a buzz and busyness
present that precluded any real solitude. After fumbling around for some inspiration, I checked a
couple of books out and headed home, disappointed that my "day with God" was not what I had hoped
it would have been.

It is amazing how God shows up anyway. Over the course of three weeks I have been slowly,
deliberately, prayerfully reading this book. And it has delighted and surprised me the way I have
sensed the presence of Christ raise off the pages to speak to my heart. I thought I had to do a
bunch of religious searching to find God. Instead, God found me.

I love the surprising ways that the gospel breaks in to my predictable life to say, "Hey you!
Here's some good news!" I love that I cannot manufacture it, but instead can only humbly receive
it. I love that the only response that merits anything is mystified gratitude. I love that at the
end of the day, I am no judge of how God will show up next.

It seems like God has been showing up more and more in unpredictable, yet "good news" ways. It is
so good to be reminded that we are not in this life alone. We have each other, and we have God who
loves us desperately and is passionate about teaching us to love one another.

So dear friends, and I mean every one of you, let us live into this semester with wonder in our
souls. Be assured that we are never lost from God's good news. It can show up at any moment in
surprising and unexpected ways. Let us also be humbly aware that the next blessing sent to inspire
and encourage us may come from the unlikeliest of places. We must be prepared at any moment to
encounter the Living Lord in everything and EVERY one around us. We never know when something of
the eternal will tap on the exterior of our hearts asking to be let in. I just know I want to be
ready and receptive when it does. Do you?

Hoping,

Sami

Rev. Sami Wilson
Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation
1355 College St.
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(270) 842-2880

I'm Experiencing Conversion

Dear friends,

It’s that time of year again to begin those weekly meanderings of events and ramblings. Here’s a cheer for the weekly e-letter: YAY!

Tomorrow night is our first worship service of the semester. The theme is “Word of God Speak.” Faith United Methodist Church is coming to provide the music. FREE food is at 6:30pm. Our service will begin around 7:30pm. Come and consider what Word God is giving to you. Call us at 842-2880 if you need a ride.

Saturday we are celebrating 50 Years of ministry on the Hill! Join us at 1pm at the Wesley Foundation for a magnificent time of worship and commemorating God’s work through our campus ministry at Western. Almost all of our former campus ministers are returning to share in the occasion. Rev. Ken Southgate, campus minister of EKU’s Wesley Foundation will be giving the keynote address. Come and see which alumni have changed the most!

Tuesday we will be grilling for the masses on DUC South Lawn from 5pm-8pm. Come and grab a quick burger or dog on your way to class. Free food is a sign of God’s love. We will be giving away free T-shirts while they last.

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

I just read the following words:

“Conversion isn’t, after all, a moment: It’s a process, and it keeps happening, with cycles of acceptance and resistance, epiphany and doubt” (Take This Bread, pg. 97).

The truth of these words settles into the deepest part of me. Wow. I have just seen the thing that has been stirring in my soul these last few weeks written on a page in a book. And I have to stop and really consider what this conversion is that has been taking place inside.

Oddly enough, it is a conversion of hope, a letting go of the anxious to grasp more fully the Transcendent. It is like this Holy Mystery keeps inviting me to reach beyond my self to participate in the life that is alive around me. And I find that I am so hungry to see God in the life all around me, to be fully immersed in what God is doing. I am hungry to be a part of something bigger than myself. However, to live into this desire of my heart, I really have to let go of the things that usually reside there: things like self-doubt and self-sufficiency; worrying and restlessness; business and a compulsion to control. None of these things come from a place of hope. Instead they are born of fear.

Scripture says that perfect love casts out fear. So ultimately conversion to hopefulness is to delve deeply into love, falling in love with all that God loves. It is finding the courage to drink deeply of God’s love for a broken world, and allowing that love to mend everything within and around us.

I guess this is my prayer for this new year, that those deepest yearnings of my heart will find their way to reality as God’s grace works itself out in my life. I want to invite you to join me in this journey of hope. Amid the papers and the projects, the tyranny of deadlines and due dates, to allow Hope to reign in your hearts. The God who loves us, calls us by name, and sends us forth to share His love is so much bigger than the things that keep us up at night. And in working out His agenda for our lives, all the other details fall into place.

Hoping,

Sami