Transitions--Methodist Student Center Weekly E-Letter

Dear Friends,

 

Hope you are all having a fantastic day.  There is free music and food on South Lawn today.  I had a hot dog.  It was good.  Tonight at Solid Rock Café (7pm at Wesley Foundation) we are finishing up our look at how change “changes” our lives.  We will finish with the book Who Moved My Cheese.  Should be fun.  We are also grilling out on the front porch for dinner.  Oh Yeah!

 

This Sunday we will meet at Mt. Union UMC at 10am.  We will be doing our outreach program at their 11am church service.  Last week’s outreach at Christ UMC was awesome.  For all of you Christ UMC supporters out there, thank you so much for the warm welcome.  We had a blast!

 

Also this Sunday night at 6pm the guys will be meeting at my house for a cookout.  Don’t worry Tim is doing the cooking.  It will be great.  Lots of free food.  Let me know if you plan on being there so I can have enough burgers!  E-mail me if you need directions.

 

BIG NEWS!!!!!!

 

Next Thursday night is our annual SENIOR NIGHT.  This is a special event where we roast our seniors, celebrate their contributions to the Wesley Foundation, and send them off in style.  So far we have Jill Woodall, Jason James, Kyle Moody, Brad Donnell, and Samantha Shirley as our seniors.  Our special friends John and Joellen Tubbs will be catering again.  Menu is shrimp alfredo, salad, and banana pudding.  LET ME KNOW IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING SO THAT I CAN HAVE A GOOD COUNT FOR FOOD!!!!!

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I just found out last week that my dear friend Sister Elaine (from the Catholic Newman Center) is taking a new ministry position in Paducah, KY.  I know that this is an awesome opportunity for her, but I must admit, I’m going to miss her much.  Thank goodness she’s not leaving till July.  What I love about Sister Elaine is that she exemplifies the Christian witness I believe Jesus calls us live out, no matter where we are.  Every time I have ever been around Sister, she is gentle in spirit, humble in heart, honest and forthright, and always encouraging.  She is just one of those people I love being around.  I see my Lord in her.  I hate that in a few weeks I’ll have to say goodbye, but praise God that someone else will get to see Jesus in her too.

 

Many of you are in the same boat as my friend.  Not only is this the end of your semester, it is the end of your college career.  These last moments are filled with bitter-sweetness.  There is so much to celebrate, so much to miss, so much to try to take with you, so much to try to leave here.  There is so much happening in so little time.

 

This is my tribute to you who are stepping out of one world and into a whole new one.  My prayer is that you will hold close to your heart all of those things your years at Western have taught you:

 

Value highly those lessons that cost you.  They can become your brightest beacons in those times ahead that call for sound wisdom and self-control.  Those places of difficulty are truly gifts of grace where the Lord has tested your metal, and strengthened you to withstand fiercer storms ahead.

 

Value highly those friendships that have sustained you.  Know that loving well, even when it hurts to say goodbye, is never a mistake.  Such relationships have made your own self more beautiful and interesting.  You would not be who you are today if you had not walked this path with the companions you have chosen.  Know that no matter where you walk, a part of them always walks with you.

 

Value highly those times of laughter and unstructured joy.  These are moments you will return to again and again in the days and years to come.  They will refresh you and remind you to return to the original Source of joy to have your strength renewed.  Laughter IS good for the soul.  Remember to always keep your sense of humor, and life will never get the best of you.

 

Value highly life itself.  Honor the life God has given you.  Do this by continuing to live well, taking adventures, and risking looking foolish to stand up for something you believe in.  Passion is the God-given fuel of transformation.  Not only will your life be changed for the best, but so will the world.

 

Finally, value the journey.  While one road ends, another one is just beginning.  The true joy of journeying is in knowing that the road is never quite predictable.  Never be afraid to step out in faith.  Never be afraid to trust God’s direction and guidance.  Never be afraid to ask for help.  Always know that you never really journey alone.  God is always with you.

 

My prayer is that for all of us who are experiencing the transitions of new adventures that we will take time to sense the Grace that holds us so carefully and lovingly.  It is always okay to live this day with Joy:  God’s got the whole world in His hands.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

 

Making Room is a Spiritual Discipline--Weekly E-letter from Methodist Campus Ministry

Dear Friends,

 

These last few weeks are going to be fast and furious!  I know you all have so much on your plates.  Well here’s more.  But this stuff is like dessert!  It’s fun.

 

Here is some important info:

 

• Tonight we are going to move with the cheese some more.  We will continue to look at what change can teach us and how it can be a good thing.

 

• This Sunday night we will have our Ladies Tea Party.  I already bought the food, and it is going to be good!  We will meet at my house at 7pm.  Call me at 842-2880 or e-mail me if you need directions. 

 

• Next Sunday night will be our Guys Cookout.  Since the girls get their own tea party, guys we’re going to grill out.  We’ll probably meet about 6pm so we can enjoy the outdoors.  Again meet at my house.

 

• Sunday, May 7^th will be our Senior Worship service at the Wesley Foundation.  Come and help us bless and commission our seniors as they step out into the world.

 

Also, did you know we will be visiting some area churches in the next three weeks, sharing about what God is doing at the Wesley Foundation?  Come and join us: 

 

April 23 (This Sunday)—Christ UMC, meet there at 8am (8:45a & 11am services).  Food provided after church.

April 30 (Next Sunday)—Mt. Union UMC

May 7  (Following Sunday)—Faith UMC

 

Whew!  Enough announcements.  How about some of:

 

Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus!

 

Last week my computer was out of commission.  I had to have it worked on because it was running incredibly slow.  After I got it back, Tim (my husband) suggested I try to delete some things off of my hard drive to free up some room and make my computer run better.  After finally finding a CD I could burn info to, I began clearing out my desktop. 

 

Wow!  I never knew I had so many pictures on my hard drive!  And not those little thumbnail things either.  These are the high resolution, takes a hundred minutes to download by dial-up, kind of pictures.  No wonder my computer has been so slow.  It’s been carrying a heavy load.  I’ve notice that the heavier my load, the slower I make it up the hill to campus.  Same is true for computers.  Got to let go of some stuff so that better stuff can get done!

 

The spiritual life is like that too.  Some of us are carrying heavy loads.  It can be seen in eyes that are weary, angry, teaming with emotion or grim resolution.  We just can’t let go of some stuff.  Well, there’s always a reason.  I guess the part of cleaning out our spiritual hard drive begins with finding out why we are still attached to things we should have let go of a long time ago.  Then I guess we have to take an honest look at how much hanging on to that burden is costing us as we try to navigate our daily lives.  The big question is:  “Is it worth it?”

 

Even as I write those words I am hit by the memory of when that question changed my life.  I was alone on an interstate, driving home by myself, four long hours ahead of me.  I had just walked out of the exit interview for my application to be ordained Elder in full connection in the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Six people who had looked at my paperwork and observed my day-long interview had just delivered the verdict that sent my head spinning in ways I couldn’t imagine:  Not at this time.  “What do you mean ‘not at this time!’” my insides were screaming.  I had come so close, just to walk away with nothing.  Except a question.

 

That long drive home was a spiritual passage for me.  It began a process of cleaning out my spiritual hard drive.  Up to that point I didn’t even know my hard drive was overburdened.  I just knew in those long moments driving home that I was miserable, and I didn’t want to fight for the life I was living.  It was as if my eyes were opened to the truth that pastoring in a church was taking away more life than it was giving.  That’s when God set me on a path to be where I am and who I am today.  I love being a campus minister; I’m passionate about it; I’d fight tooth and nail to keep doing it.  At the end of the day I’m glad to go back and do it all again tomorrow.  And it’s worth every bit of growing, changing, and dying to self I’ve had to do to do it.

 

What about you?  Is it worth it?  Is that heavy load worth carrying around anymore?  Is it time to make some room on your hard drive?  The truth of the cross and resurrection is that some things in us must die for the more perfect things to arise.  If Jesus could help clean off my hard drive, know that it can happen for you too:

 

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

 

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

Living Well--Wesley Foundation E-letter

Dear Friends,

 

This Thursday (dinner at 7pm, program at 8pm) we are continuing our journey with Hem & Haw, Sniff & Scurry as we discover how to deal with change in our lives.  All of us have it at one time or another, in one way or another.  During the last few weeks of school we are learning how to let God use it for good in our lives.  Also, this coming Sunday during worship (8pm) we will begin a time of looking at Radical Discipleship and what it means for our lives.  Look forward to seeing you there. 

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I want to say this beautiful, warm and sunny April afternoon, “It is time to live well.”  So many times I heard the phrase, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”  Never knew what it meant until I realized that the purpose of cake is to eat it.  If we hold on to it, we can’t eat it.  If we eat it, there is nothing to hold in our hands.  But holding on to cake when it was made to be eaten destroys its enjoyment value.  To be truly experienced and enjoyed, cake must be eaten.  Life is like that.  It must be lived.  Life is such a fleeting gift; it’s very substance is spent in the living of it.  We only get one life; we only get to be in this moment, this time, this place, once.  And I want to say, live it well; determine now to really live it so that it does not slip by. 

 

Walden or Thurough (one of those dead white guys) said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation.  What a sad statement, yet how true. There are those of us who are figuratively standing around holding our cake, never tasting it, simply comparing it to everyone else’s, complaining about its size, wishing we had more, etc.  I want to be one of those strong and brave souls who eats and enjoys the cake of life, savoring its flavor and entering into the celebration it represents.

 

Not sure what this means for you.  Sometimes I’m not sure what it means for me, except that I want to enjoy what I’ve been given: relationships, family, meaningful work, possibilities, even my own self, even the opportunity to learn from my mistakes.  At the end of the day at the end of my life I want to be able to say that I knew how good life-cake tasted.

 

Psalms 118:34 says “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Amazing how the simple enjoyment of the life we are given is even a command from God.  This is for all you folks (okay, me too) out there who feel guilty anytime you enjoy anything.  Here we have a Divine directive to enjoy each and every day--in fact, to find gladness in it.

 

I want to close with a simple appreciation of a young life well-lived.  Allison Carter, a Western sophomore, died Sunday night on her way back to her dorm from worship at the Catholic Newman Center.  From those I have talked with who knew Allison, she was living her life well. 

 

Think about your own life today.  Entering into the joy of it is the hugest witness we can offer the world.  It is the best gift we can give our Life-Giver.  It is the one thing that will save us from desperately existing and never really living at all.  Trust God that the life-cake He’s given you really does taste good after all.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Wesley Foundation Student/Alumni/Supporter Work Day

WKU Wesley Foundation

 

Spring Cleaning & Maintenance Day

 

Saturday, April 8 from 8am-4pm

 

 

 

The Property Committee at the Wesley Foundation would like to invite you to an Alumni and Supporter Day. We need your help sprucing up our facility. There will be an on-site review of the WKU Wesley Foundation by the Higher Education and Campus Ministry Team for the Kentucky Annual Conference on April 12 and we want to put our best foot forward.

 

Please come ready to work – painting, landscaping, cleaning, building……as well as fellowship, food and fun. We will provide breakfast, lunch and a fun afternoon seeing the Hilltoppers play baseball at 3pm.

 

Items that can be donated: To update the look of the facility, here are some things we are looking to purchase, but would prefer to have donated:

 

Bistro patio sets (2), park benches, solar landscape lighting, new signage, sofas/  living room furniture to match newly donated leather furniture, small kitchen tables, paint, new water heater.

 

Projects for the work day are listed below. Please review and see how you can help. If there is anything you can donate – items or expertise, please let us know.

 

Landscaping: weed and mulch flower beds, trim trees, cut grass, install solar landscape lighting, spread grass seed/lawn care, clean out gutters.

 

Front porch: stain concrete on porch, clean up current furniture (prefer new furniture), add special touches that will make it more inviting. (This is the first area anyone sees. We want it to look welcoming and homey.)

 

Outside stairwell: sanded and repainted.

 

Inside hall way: cabinets need to be built or donated for storage.

 

Living room, chapel, basement and kitchen: deep cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, cleaning windows), rearranging/ decorating, painting.

 

Specialty projects: roof repair, plumbing (leaky sink) , adding electrical outlets to porch area, replacing attic insulation. Please let us know if you have skills to help us accomplish these things.

 

 

 

As you can see, we can use many hands and a range of abilities. Please let us know if you will be joining us! RSVP to 270-842-2880 or email sami@wkywesley.org. 

 

Spring Cleaning on Spring Break--Wesley Foundation E-Letter

Dear Friends,

 

I hope each of you had a great Spring Break.  Ideally you would have come back energized and refreshed, ready to tackle the gathering challenges of a few more weeks left of school.  It never ceases to amaze me how the pace of classes seems to quadruple once the end is in sight.  Hang in there.  You really only have a few brief weeks left.  Take a deep breath; you can do it.

 

This Thursday we are beginning a new study based upon the book Who Moved My Cheese.  This should be particularly helpful for those looking at major life changes in the next few months (i.e. graduation), or even those who are still trying to figure out what happened to their sanity when the made the leap to college.  Change is a regular part of life.  We will look at the ways God helps us not just survive it, but thrive because of it.  Look forward to seeing you at 7pm this Thursday night!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Last week a group of students and I rented a van (Honda Odysseys are nice!) and headed to Mississippi for Spring Break.  Several years ago a trip like that would have been filled with beaches, fun in the sun, relaxation, and a time of taking a siesta from the daily grind of college life.  Because of the devastation of hurricane Katrina last summer, we were heading south to make a difference.

 

I just have to say that getting out of my comfort zone, doing some hard labor, and getting covered in the leftover mess of someone else’s hurricane . . . is perhaps the coolest experience I’ve ever had.  We arrived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi with nothing but work clothes and willingness.  We didn’t even have tools.  But the crew leaders told us, and later showed us, that availability is enough.  We were enough.  Without experience.  Without skills.  Without knowledge.  We were enough to help bring hope to people’s lives.  It still astounds me when I consider it. 

 

Mostly we tore things out.  Old trees, old drywall, old nails, old insulation, old mold.  (One afternoon we did get to hang sheet rock; that was cool!)  In these flood ravaged houses, everything had to be stripped down and out so that something new could be restored.  The old and damaged had to be removed.  What was left had to be sanitized.  And only after all remaining traces mold were gone could rebuilding begin. 

 

What the crew leaders often found as they went into houses is that some of the mold pre-dated the storm.  Sometimes it was caused by a leaky water heater.  As I pondered this remark it made me think of our lives.  Sometimes it takes storms to reveal the state of our hearts, just like the hurricanes revealed what was really going on under the sheet rock in people’s homes.  I hate it, but it is true.  It’s the bad stuff in life that shows where we really are in our walks with the Lord.  Someone said to me one time that many people believe themselves to be holy when really they are just happy.  It’s hard to be holy, Christ like, when hardships are introduced.  It’s hard to love the world that Jesus died to save, when that same world is knocking our lives over.

 

What brings me so much hope is that the cleansing of the Lord’s love is so faithful.  God is able to clean and sanitize our lives, rebuild and restore us, just as willing volunteers have begun the work of rebuilding the Gulf Coast.  And the miracle of grace is that the Lord sends us help we often aren’t looking for.  One of the neatest things we did was walk around a neighborhood looking for random yard debris.  Often the folks who had their yards cleaned out weren’t even home.  And the one’s who were home had not expected to see us show up.  Wow.

 

I want to invite you to live this challenge with me:  1) Be available.  The Bible says that the harvest is plentiful for the laborers are few (Luke 10:2).  Volunteer to be a laborer in the harvest.  The Lord of the harvest will show you what to do.  2) Be courageous.  When the storms of life come, be willing to let the Lord use it to refresh and restore who you are, even if it means seeing the truth of what lies behind the walls in your heart.  Allow the Lord to turn bad things into good things, even as Scripture says (Romans 8:28).  3) Be hopeful.  This make take the most availability and courage of all.  When the storms hit, it is so easy to just give up.  If people who have lost everything can find hope in the unexpected gift of drywall, we can trust God to bring us what we need too.  Know that God is able to do a new and beautiful thing.  I love His promise found in the book of Joel (2:25):  “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.”

 

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

 

Do others want what we have? -- Wesley Foundation E-letter

Dear Friends,

 

It’s so nice outside (a little cold though).  Hope you are enjoying the hints of Spring that are popping up all around!  I love it when Spring begins to be real and not just a fluke of warm weather interrupting the cold.  It reminds me that my life is like that; newness is always just a season away.

 

This Thursday we are going to explore the adventure of going on a Mission Trip.  We will have folks share their past experiences with mission work, how it changed them, and what to expect (plan for) when you go for the first time.  This will help us get geared up for our Mission Trip to Mississippi next week, where we will help with Hurricane Relief Efforts.  It should be fun.  Remember, free food at 7pm, program at 8pm.  Love to see you there!  For more info or a ride

call 842-2880.

 

Now for “Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:”

 

Last Thursday night several of us went to see Amazing Tones of Joy sing at DUC Auditorium.  It was awesome!  The way those young men and women sang about the Lord and moved in rhythm to the music made me want to get up and join them.  I left hungry.  Hungry for that kind of joy, that kind of enjoyment of the Lord.  Not that I don’t enjoy the Lord.  It’s just that enjoying the presence of Jesus is something that seems to get crowded out in the midst of serving Jesus. 

 

I am reminded of the time I spent in CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education).  It was like my college experience on steroids.  I was in a classroom setting that also had a practicum component, basically learning to be a better pastor by working as a chaplain in a hospital setting while writing long papers about it and undergoing intense peer review and supervision.  It was stressful, and I wasn’t dealing well with the stress.  One day my supervisor said to me, “Sami, I hope you aren’t taking this [my stressed out, anxious, defensive attitude] home with you.”  His words hit me like a ton of bricks.  In my worn-out-ness, I was only thinking of how I was being affected.  I hadn’t given any thought to how my reaction to my circumstances was affecting others.  I guess I thought they should just have to deal with it.  Needless to say I wasn’t much fun to be around.

 

I hope I’m better about leaking my exasperations with life on to every one else.  I guess what I’m saying is that sometimes in trying to live out our faith, we can become toxic to be around, the worst advertisement in the world for what the world needs the most:  Jesus.  But when I heard those students sing the other night, something in me leapt up.  I wanted to be one of them:  I wanted to raise my voice in song, lift up my hands and heart in joy.  To enter into the wonder of reaching for the God who constantly reaches for us.  I wanted to be one of them.

 

I can’t help wondering how many times a person without faith in Jesus Christ wants to be one of us who follow Him when they look into our lives?  Truth be told, I don’t know what the answer would be for someone looking into my life.  But I know that the Spirit of the living Lord inspires.  The Spirit of the living Lord captivates.  God’s Holy Spirit makes us hungry for more of Him.  And when we are saturated with Him and His Spirit, people can’t help but be drawn to Him.  I guess the issue is how much of what we do for Him is actually done IN Him? 

 

O God, fill us with Your Spirit.  Show us how to simply live and breathe and move and have our being IN You, so that those whose lives we intersect with are drawn to You.  Forgive us for all the ways we work so hard at sharing something which cannot be manufactured but is truly GIFT:  Your presence.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

How Basketball Changed My Life - Methodist Campus Ministry E-Letter

Dear Friends,

 

Today is absolutely beautiful!  Amazing how a day can start off so cold and end up so warm.  Kind of like life.  This coming Sunday we are looking at more spiritual truth from Napoleon Dynomite.  Again, Napoleon has so much to say about the redemptive power of friendship.  This time we are going to look at how our friendships can be just the “Good News” that the world needs.

 

Thursday night we are having our Bi-Annual Game Night at the Wesley Foundation.  This is going to be so much fun.  Free food, good fellowship, lots of laughs.  I think we don’t laugh nearly enough in life.  This is an opportunity at add some joy to the semester.  But more about that later.

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

This is the story of how basketball changed my life.  You may be thinking, “Great.  Another testimony from an athlete that found Jesus.”  Well no.  No one has ever in the history of the universe ever called me an athlete (although I did learn to play volleyball in college and our co-ed church B league team won the championship).  And it wasn’t sports that led me to give my life to Christ.  In fact, since my earliest days I’ve been in relationship with Jesus.  No, the great sport of basketball is not responsible for my conversion.  But I am married to someone who loves the game.

 

I must admit that my earliest days as a basketball wife are not praiseworthy.  You see, for my husband basketball has been the passion of his life for as long as I have known him.  Just like I felt called into ministry and that God wanted to use my life for His glory there, Tim felt called to be a coach and that God would use him in that area.  It took me years to understand what that meant, a couple more to accept and embrace it, a couple more to enjoy it.  I remember in the early days of our marriage I was jealous of the time he spent with basketball, wanting instead for him to be spending time with me.  If anyone could lay on the thickest guilt trip, it would be me. 

 

I don’t know when the Lord began to change my heart, but I know that it happened.  God began to show me that the best parts of the man I loved were there because of his passion for basketball and that if I removed basketball I would lose everything about this man that made him so precious to me.  The Lord began to show me that as He put Tim in coaching positions, He was putting him in places where he could change the world around him for good, bringing glory to God’s name.  While I often fumed about how much things in my area of ministry never changed, God showed me that Tim’s quiet, basketball witness was changing attitudes and hearts everywhere he went, simply because he lives his life as a coach with a deep integrity and commitment to be God’s man in that position.  People may not even know they are hearing the gospel when they interact with Tim, but his life is a living testimony.

 

At some point the Lord melted my cold disinterest in a sport I could never play and opened my heart to the potential for changing lives through a simple game. 

 

Last night I spent the evening watching Tim coach his girl’s varsity basketball team in the first game of the district tournament.  The last time a team from his school even won this particular game to be the District Runner-up was in 1998.  His team had lost the last 5 previous games.  Their opponent had already beaten them two other times this season and were coming into the game having won their last 5 previous games.  Both teams played hard.  At the end of the last buzzer it was tied.  Tim’s team had yet to win a game in over-time this season.  It didn’t look good.  But Tim never gave up that game.  Those girls never gave up that game.  Four agonizing minutes later they won by 4 points. 

 

I wept.  After a long season of disappointment, they won a victory that no one thought they could win.

 

I am continuously amazed at the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes the metaphor for hope that I find most convincing is the basketball floor, where victories and losses play themselves out in a very personal way in my household.  It is like that in life too.  When we least expect a victory, Jesus brings the good news of the resurrection.  Even to that which seems most dead to us.

 

So Tim, I know you are reading this.  Thank you for being the one God has used to teach me the most important lessons about not giving up, facing the facts, and then digging deep.  Thank you for reminding me that when we least expect it, something wonderful can happen.  Thank you for showing me that God isn’t done with us yet.  I love you.

 

And for those of you who are not Tim, join us on Thursday night for Game Night.  It is a simple thing to enjoy the company of friends and play a good game of ping-pong.  But it is a profound thing to realize that the presence of Jesus makes something even as simple as a game among friends an opportunity for the gospel to come to life.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Flawed and Forgiven

I’ve been pondering all that has happened with the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity since the news broke about the hazing incident. My heart has been heavy, especially as I thought about the young men involved. I can’t imagine what it has been like for them on this campus. And my heart hurts for them. What comes to mind is a scene from the film Raising Helen. There comes a point in the movie when Kate Hudson and Joan Cusack must confront the wayward niece who secretly ditches the prom in favor of getting a hotel room with a boy that seems to stay in trouble. I love the line where Joan Cusack addresses the young man (after thoroughly chewing him out) saying something like “By the way, you are not bad. What you did is bad, but you are not bad.”

This is what my heart feels, and wants to say to the young men all wrapped up in what happened at the AGR house. Those were some awfully bad choices. But you are not bad. I believe you were created in love, that the One who created you loves you (even now, especially now) and can restore every dignity that your poor choices took away. . . . if you allow it.

If we were all honest, we could say that there are things we have done that dishonor and mar the human dignity we were given at birth. We have also done things to strip others of their dignity. It would be easy for each of us to believe we would never make such choices, but the truth is the potential lies within each of us. I just know that in my own life there are sins that must be forgiven, things I regret deeply and must seek God’s forgiveness for before moving on to be who I was made to be.

I know this can be a difficult issue. Mercy would be so much easier if choices happened in a vacuum and only the ones choosing were affected. But in the real world this is hardly true. The consequences of our choices ripple out in ways we could hardly imagine. All we have to do is read the past issues of this very paper to see that those who are not even associated with the fraternity now have a reputation tied to the AGR incident within the larger community of our country because they attend WKU. I do believe that time will do its part in making this situation old news. But there are plenty of situations in life where the choices of some affecting the lives of others do not go away so easily.

Particularly in cases of abuse, those who must survive the choices others make can often find themselves overlooked, their stories of suffering unheard. The need for healing and restoration can seem bigger than the help available, more demanding than simply letting time pass by. This is why I believe God takes our choosing so seriously, and never merely says, “Forget about it; it was nothing.” It is always something when God’s children hurt. God’s heart always hurts with us and works to bring healing. And God always holds us accountable for the truth of our choices. We can never misrepresent the outcome of our choices before God; God knows the outcome better than we do. It is why as Christians we call our poor choices “sin”. True, it is an ugly word, yet what it does to others, ourselves, and the world we live in is ugly. However, as a Christian, I also believe in hope and forgiveness. Now matter how big we mess up, I believe that the God who is big enough heal what we broke is big enough to forgive us and change our hearts, so that we don’t go around hurting others anymore.

As a campus minister my prayer for the brothers of Alpha Gamma Rho is that each one will find the mercy and forgiveness they need. It is also for all of us who have messed up in ways we cannot even talk about to discover we are still loved. It is finally for those whose dignity has been taken from them because of someone else’s choices to find and experience the healing Love that redeems and restores what life took away.

Blessings,

Sami

It's Game Night; Come on down!

Dear Friends,

 

Just want to invite you to our Bi-Annual

 

Game Night

 

at the Wesley Foundation!

 

 

 

 

When?  This Thursday, March 2^nd, 7pm.

 

What?  Play all your favorite games:  board games, card games, video games, ping-pong, etc.  Eat FREE FOOD!

 

Where?  At the United Methodist Student Center (Wesley Foundation), 1355 College St., a block down from Cherry Hall on the left.

 

 

 

For more info, call us at 842-2880 or email Sami at sami@wkywesley.org.

 

 

Would love to see you there!