Welcome Back to WKU: String Bikini's and It's great to be you!-- Wesley Foundation E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

It is awesome to be back on the hill, and yes, we are back on schedule for our regular times this week (weather permitting of course).  Tomorrow night we will have WORSHIP at 6:30pm.  The praise team from Christ UMC led by Marco Ballesteros, Jr. will be leading us.  Our service will also center around praying for the semester and the year, consecrating it wholly to Him and asking His blessing upon it.  Come and be filled with His love!!!!!!!

 

Also on THURSDAY night we will have our free meal and program beginning at 6:30pm.  It should be a wonderful time because Todd Misenor from WKU’s health and fitness lab will be sharing with us about how faith and fitness fit together, as well as what opportunities are available at WKU’s Preston Center.  Todd attends Broadway UMC with his family.

 

Of course if there is an ice storm and it is dangerous to get around, don’t!  But I will send out a notice if we officially cancel any events.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

As a girl, I have struggled during my life with many things that girls struggle with.  The desire to be pretty has always been one of those things.  At least when I was younger, before babies, and certainly before becoming an old married woman.  Now Tim is the only one who I really, really want to impress.  As long as I am presentable, I could care less for ooh’s and ahh’s from anyone else.  But it didn’t used to be this way.

 

I remember one day when I was thirteen years old.  I was walking down the road from our home in the country toward our neighbor’s house.  The property our house was situated on backed up to Old Hickery Lake in Lebanon, TN.  Most of our neighbors were retired and spent their time fishing during the week.  During the summers we would gather at one of their houses, eat fried fish and hushpuppies, and enjoy the many outdoor activities that go along with lake living.  This particular neighbor had a swimming pool in their yard.  My brothers, sister, and I spent many afternoons there swimming, having dog paddling races, and playing “Marco Polo.”  On this particular day I could see that our neighbor had a guest.  I was so far away that I couldn’t tell who it was, but I did see that is was some girl in a string bikini, sun bathing on the pool deck.  I wanted so badly to be able wear one of those myself.  And in the stillness of my heart I prayed a prayer that only a thirteen year old girl could come up with, “God, I want to look like that.”

 

Eventually my walk brought me closer to the swimming pool.  It was with dismay that I finally recognized who the sunbather was.  Why it wasn’t a girl at all.  It was a middle aged woman.  And furthermore that was definitely NOT the body I thought I wanted.  Up close it really began to lose its appeal.  It lacked tone; it sagged; it bulged in all the wrong places.  From a distance it looked great.  Up close I decided really quickly that I was more than pleased with my own.  So have you ever heard of back pedaling prayers?  “Uhm, God?  You know that prayer I prayed just a minute ago?  Can I take it back?  I mean really, PLEASE don’t answer it!  I am very happy with what I have.  PLEASE don’t give me a string bikini filled with THAT!”

 

So what do string bikini’s have to do with Jesus?  Well, let me explain.  I spent a lot of my younger life wanting to be someone else.  As a pre-teen and teenager I felt awkward and shy.  I never really felt like I fit in.  I looked with longing at the lives of other girls in my Jr. High and High School, wondering what it would be like to be them.  I even envied the lives of other girls in my youth group.  I never felt pretty enough, popular enough, smart enough, talented enough, good enough.  Nothing in me seemed to be enough.  But the mercy of the passage of time is that it clarifies so many things.  I believe this is one of the great gifts of Facebook.  I have gotten to see many of the folks I went to highshool with.  And while it is so nice to see them again, it has revealed something of great worth to me:  I am glad to be who I am.  The realization came when I was reflecting on the Facebook reunions.  It was as if God asked me, “Now would you like to be any of them?”  And the answer that came back was no, I am glad to be exactly who I am.  Not that the lives they are living are bad.  They’re just not mine.  And God has filled mine with all the things that give me the most joy of all.

 

The gift of new beginnings is that we once again have a new opportunity for God to reveal how He lovingly made us for a single purpose, how who we are fulfills something that no one else can, how we are a labor of His love in design and destiny, and how we fit perfectly into His plan.  This is a time to step back and offer all that we are to a God who loves us so passionately, who crafted us so intentionally, and who guides us so specifically.  There are so many good reasons for why He made us the way He did.  And He alone can turn our regrets and what might have been’s into reasons for praise and celebration, because He uses even those to reveal His goodness and glory.  I just know that His story in your life is one that is worth knowing.  It is one worth sharing.  It is one worth celebrating.  So join me Tuesday night as we consecrate who we are and all that remains as yet unlived into His hands.  Join me in inviting His touch into our lives and let’s celebrate together the One who has the power to redeem it all.  Here’s to not having that prayer answered all those years ago.

 

This is me hoping,

 

Sami

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Lightning McQeen and Christmas--Wesley E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Hello Friends!  Hope finals are going well.  We have one more day of FREE LUNCH!  Come by tomorrow from 11am till 1pm (or after).  We will be having lasagna and ziti.  And we have a fantastic road trip on Friday. 

 

Be sure and show up on Friday at 4pm at the Wesley for our annual Opryland Road Trip.  We will go to Opry Mills to shop and eat.  And then about 7:30pm or 8pm we will walk over to see the lights at Opryland Hotel.  After we finish there we will head over to the Cheesecake Factory for desert.  Yay!

 

Now For “Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus”

 

One of the movies we watch at my house pretty constantly is “Cars.”  It is the story of a hotshot race car that gets lost in a small town and learns the value of slowing down and appreciating life, as well as those around him.  In the beginning of the movie through an unfortunate series of events “Lightning McQueen” finds himself in the courtroom of Radiator Springs.  He has just demolished the only road in town and the locals are angry.  The town attorney makes an impassioned plea to the judge to make Lightning fix the road “because we are a town worth fixing!” she says. 

 

I heard that line just recently.  (“Cars” was on, again.  Isaiah has to watch it at least once a day.)  Something about it hit me in a fresh way.  Like the affirmations of faith we recited in church when I was a child, the words sounded almost holy:  definitely an affirmation, definitely words of faith. “We are a town worth fixing.”  It made me think of the words from John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  God’s attitude towards the world is that we are world worth saving.  Our lives are worth redeeming.  Our heartache is worth healing.  Our emptiness is worth filling.  Our human-ness is worth loving.  We are people worth loving.

 

That thought just fills me up.  It staggers me that this is what God thinks of all of us, that we are worth loving, no matter the cost, no matter the inconvenience, no matter the difficulty that such a labor demands.  It is worth it to Him to love us, and to show that love in no uncertain terms.  Kind of like the ad that says, “when you care enough to send the very best.”  That’s who God is.  That’s what God does.  God sends us Jesus.

 

A few years ago someone recorded a Christmas song called “A Strange Way to Save the World.”  Well yeah.  Sending a baby, the most vulnerable and helpless living being alive, as the hero is completely strange.  We expect our saviors to be tough, powerful, and larger than life.  And yet God sends us a hero that everyone can relate to. . . . a baby.  And it is this baby who grows up to be a simple man who changes the world, not by being tough, powerful, and larger than life, but by being humble, a servant, and Life itself.  Jesus is so completely approachable and so totally honest.  He reveals us to ourselves with clarity that is hard to face sometimes.  And yet the truth that He reveals about us does not send Him away.  He still loves us.  He still desires to save us, redeem us, heal us, fill us, love us.  Nothing could make Him not love us or want to be in our lives.  Wow. 

 

I believe that in love God is constantly looking for ways to reveal His presence to us.  This morning as I drove to the Wesley Foundation I found myself behind a yellow school bus.  There were children in the back waving excitedly to the cars behind them.  I saw them and waved back.  They were so excited!  It was as if something wonderful had happened for them in that moment.  Really I was thinking something wonderful had happened to me.  I had just been thinking of how God is so good and always looking for ways to show up in our lives.  It was as if He chose that moment to catch my attention through the exuberance of childhood and say, “See, I am here.  This is me waving at you.”  And something deep within me echoed a holy affirmation, “we are a world worth saving; I am a woman worth loving.”

 

I hope you see God wave at you today.  I hope you have holy moments of pondering a line from your favorite movie and experience it as God’s grace speaking to your heart.  I hope the baby Jesus becomes so real to you this Christmas season that you experience the power of God’s love reaching out to you in strange and wonderful ways.  No matter who you are or where you are, God is crazy about you.  You are loved.  Merry Christmas!

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Telling the Story--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Hey Everyone!

 

Here’s what’s going on: 

 

Cocoa and Christmas Clips—This Thursday we will be on South Lawn from 3-5pm giving away hot chocolate.  At 5pm we will project “Rudolf” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” onto Academic Complex.  Come and be blessed!

 

Thursday Night Free Meal & Christmas Party-- Afterwards, we will come back to the Wesley Foundation for Chinese food, we will have a Blind Santa gift exchange, and we will celebrate the season together.  Bring a $5-7 gift.  Anything you want.  And please be there, I have a special gift I want to share with you.  It’s not much, but I am so excited about it.

 

Free Lunch During Finals—Next week we will be serving lunch at the Wesley Foundation Monday through Thursday from 11am till 1pm.  Come and be fed.  Bring friends!  And let me know if you are planning to show up so I can have plenty of food.

 

Road Trip to Opryland—Also next Friday is our road trip to Nashville. We will go to Opry Mills for dinner and shopping, then see the lights at Opryland Hotel, and finally go for desert at the Cheesecake Factory.  Let me know if you are interested!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I love stories.  It was my favorite thing about my Silly Papa.  My Grandfather could tell the best stories.  In fact, it is a part of my heritage on my mother’s side of the family.  And it’s not that we stretch the truth, it’s just that we remember big.  No matter who is telling the story, it is filled with laughter and timing and love.  And all of those things are the best gifts I have received from my Harrison heritage. 

 

The thing about Harrison stories is that there is always a lot of drama and emotion.  It is always a big thing.  And even if it isn’t a big thing, we know how to make it a big thing.  Like in the retelling of the story from this past Thanksgiving when my two young sons played “tattoo parlor” while the other cousins played outside.  Let’s just say that when mommy went shopping my youngest got painted . . . all over.  He spent the rest of the day pulling up his shirt to show everyone his belly.  Five days later he still has magic marker stains on his stomach.

 

Yet one of the things I have learned about life and the way God moves in it, is that often times God’s big stories are very different from ours.  God will often take His time in telling it, or letting it unfold.  And often it is hidden in the mundane and ordinary.  In fact, sometimes we miss the most Holy thing because we are too impatient wait for God’s ending to unfold or our eyes refuse to recognize the small tender movements of love.  But God’s story is very much alive in our own stories.  We just need to know how to look.

 

Take for instance the story of my fishing pole.  My Silly Papa loved to fish.  There is a wonderful picture of him leaning against his fishing boat hanging on my Grandma’s fridge.  But more than fishing for fish, my Grandpa loved to fish for people.  The last Thanksgiving I got to be with him his memory was quite diminished from Alzheimers.  He didn’t recognize most of our family.  And we all got tickled when he began coaching my cousin Shae about how to lead my brother Dan to the Lord.  He kept saying to her, “Now you could be the one.” And with expert fishing skills he shared with her that she had to be patient and take it slow, not to rush.  Just like fishing, leading someone to Jesus is a labor of love.

 

Two months before my Silly Papa died I had a dream.  In it he said to me, “I’m going to have to give you my rod and reel.”  I thought he meant he was going to give my husband his fishing tackle (I’m slow sometimes).  After I woke up, the Lord impressed upon me that he was leaving me his ministry of fishing for people.  Two months later I was at his funeral saying goodbye.  And of course there were wonderful stories.  We laughed and cried, and we remembered him big.  Time passed and the next year my family visited my Grandma.  While we were there sitting around telling stories, my aunt Mary asked me to tell the story of my dream.  As I did my uncle disappeared from the room.  When he came back in he was carrying a hand-built wooden case with a glass front that held a fishing pole inside.  My Grandmother had found one of Grandpa’s poles and was giving it to me.  Needless to say, I was overwhelmed.  And yes, I cried. 

 

Of course the case wasn’t quite finished.  It needed to be stained and some finishing touches.  So I gave my pole back to allow it to be finished.  You know God is like that sometimes.  He gives you a glimpse of the thing He wants to do in your life, but then you have to wait for it to be completed.  Paul says it this way:  “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” (Philippians 1:6).  Sometimes that day seems a long time away, but we can trust Jesus to do that good work.  He is so faithful.  It’s funny, while I was waiting for my fishing pole to be ready, Jesus has been doing a work in me so that I would be ready to use it.

 

We just got back from Texas last Saturday night.  During our visit there, in the quiet of an empty bedroom in the lake house my aunt and uncle brought out a large box housing a bubble wrapped wooden box with a glass front, holding a simple fishing pole.  It was a simple moment.  There wasn’t a lot of fanfare.  No drum rolls, no ooh’s and ah’s.  Most of the family missed it.  I don’t even know if those precious persons who gave me that incredible gift know the significance of what transpired.  I just know that the story of my fishing pole was complete.  Or at least the first chapter.  Because somehow I feel the timing is perfect, and God is saying it’s time to fish.

 

I share this story as a way of reflecting on the biggest God story we can ever know.  On a quiet night, in a cramped city, God sent forth His Son, Jesus.  Jesus was born in a stable, 400 years after the last prophet had spoken.  The world had been waiting so long for a messiah they had given up hope.  It seemed like the story would go uncompleted.  And while a choir of angels announced His arrival, it was in the middle of nowhere to a few shepherds.  Most of the people in Bethlehem slept through the most significant moment in history.  And while the circumstances were kind of weird, a baby being born to poor people in humble surroundings happens everyday.  It is quite ordinary.  Kind of like fishing poles.

 

I want to encourage you to listen for your own fishing pole story this Christmas season.  Christmas is all about the incarnation, that wonderful moment when the God who created everything becomes flesh, and dwells amoung us.  It is the coming of Immanuel, which literally means “God with us.”  Where is God with you, now, in the ordinary circumstances of your life?  Where are you surrounded by God’s holiness and may not even know it?  Where is God telling His story of hope and salvation through you?  Jesus came to us as a babe 2000 years ago.  Through his Holy Spirit He comes to us now every moment.  May God grant us the eyes to recognized His coming.

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

The Gift of Now--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hope all of you are having a great day, and staying warm!  The weather changes so fast around here.  Before you know it we will be in heavy coats! 

 

Here is fun stuff coming up:

 

Thursday night is our regular meal and program at 6:30pm.  This will be your opportunity to share what the Wesley Foundation means to you with members of our Board of Directors.  It will also give them an opportunity to ask questions about your experience here as a student.  We will also spend some time getting ready for our Outreach program that we will do on Sunday afternoon.

 

This Sunday is our annual Thanksgiving Banquet and Outreach Program.  Please invite your families.  We will be eating a meal together as well as sharing a message of God’s grace that centers around the story of the prodigal.  Meet at the Wesley Foundation at 3:30.  Our meal will be potluck style featuring soup and appetizers. 

 

Each Christmas the Wesley Foundation takes on a project that supports a special need in our community.  This year we will be adopting the Pregnancy Support Center as a way of helping out new mothers in difficult circumstances.  Here is the cool thing:  Next week bring $5 - $10 to the Wesley on Thursday night.  We will pool everyone’s money and go shopping for baby items together!  During dinner a representative from the Pregnancy Support Center will be sharing with us about the ministry they provide to new mothers who need help, and we will have a time of prayer for this ministry and those lives it touches.  This is a wonderful way to celebrate Jesus’ birth by bringing a celebration to those who wouldn’t have one otherwise!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

As I was running this morning I couldn’t help thinking about the last few months at my house.  Slowly I have been letting go of, giving away, all of the accumulated baby stuff from Noah and Isaiah’s first days and months.  I gotta say it has been hard.  Each time I would load something up, my heart would hurt.  Each box has been one more reminder that a season, a very special season, is over. 

 

But something else has been happening with every box that leaves.  We have more room in our house.  And I am finding that something significant is happening spiritually that mirrors what has happened physically.  Relinquishing the physical reminders of the past has made more room in my heart to embrace what is now.  This morning as we were watching “Cars” for the millionth time, Isaiah just reached over and hugged me.  I relished that precious moment.  And in a split second I realized that there would be a time when I would long for today, just as I sometimes long for those baby days.  It made me want to really be present to this “today” moment, and let nothing, not even fond memories of the past, hinder me from living it fully and joyfully now.

 

I think this is such an important principle for college students.  In this life you live so much is happening so fast.  And every six months your day to day circumstances change with your class schedule.  It can be so easy to wish for days gone by, or to long for days to come.  If you aren’t careful you have wished and longed your whole college career away without really enjoying any of it.  But when you really relish each day, soaking up the gift that it has to give, I believe the special-ness it has to impart stays with you a long after the moment is gone.

 

This is one of those foundational truths that apply everywhere.  Even in ministry.  God’s in-breaking presence is so constant that every moment is a new moment to connect with Him.  And Jesus continues to incarnate Himself (that is to become flesh) every day through brothers and sisters in Christ who allow Him access to their lives.  Truly His followers make Him manifest over and over again, every moment.  And so, while it is good to remember what God has done in our midst before, to learn from it and allow it to make us wise, we cannot become so enamored of the God thing that was that we miss the God thing that is. 

 

This is what it looks like for me in those quiet moments that I share just with Him:  I offer Him my heart, here and now, just as I am.  I ask Him to make me aware of where He is today, and that He would order my steps in this day so that I am a part of His Life unfolding within mine.  I just don’t want to miss Him.  He is everything to me.  And I trust that where He leads is definitely a place worth going.

 

So my dear friends who are also a part of His Life unfolding within you, I want to challenge you to be present to the God thing that is now.  Appreciate what has been, learn from it, cherish it, and let it be held in God’s hands.  But keep your own hand free to receive the gift of today.  You will be so happy you did!

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Dear Friends,

 

I hope all of you got a chance to vote yesterday.  It was truly a day of historic proportions.  Whether it was a woman in the White House or the election of an African American as our president, both outcomes make history.  Last week in my University Experience class we watched Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.  Regardless of who you voted for, yesterday’s election makes me hope that Dr. King’s dream is closer to a reality.  And as one of my students shared in our small group today, even if you didn’t vote for him, our new president elect needs our prayers.  So please join me in praying on behalf of our our country, its government and its leaders:  “Our Father in Heaven, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

Thursday night we have our free meal and program.  We eat at 6:30pm and then afterwards we will be looking at the story of the prodigal son.  We will spend time creating skits to illustrate this truth in a fresh new way.  The best skit will be used in our Outreach ministry next spring.

 

Also, we will be having our annual Thanksgiving Banquet on Sunday, November 16^th at 3:30pm.  This is a special time when we invite all parents and friends to come to Wesley Foundation and join us for a special meal and program.   This year will be a soup and appetizer potluck.  Our Outreach ministry will provide the program and afterward we will eat.  Please let me know how many of your family will be attending! 

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Sometimes in my quiet time I take out an old journal and peruse its pages.  Sometimes I am looking for something specific because a current experience mirrors a previous one, and I know God gave me wisdom before that could be beneficial now.  Sometimes I am completely led by a nudge that says, “Look here,” or “read this.”  Sometimes I stand amazed at how deftly God weaves together a message to sooth my heart when I least expect it.

 

So I open up to 11/29/01.  Here’s what I find:

 

Dear Father, I long for You, and in my longing faith and doubt dance, each engaging the other at deeper levels until the two collapse in exhaustion and all that is left is silence.  Father, the call to intimate connection with You is constant, yet it comes so quietly.  What does connection with You mean?  We are together, Your life filling up my life, my life utterly dependent upon Yours to be sustained.  I am ashamed of how easily my attention is diverted.  Yet You are constant.  I reach for You beyond feelings.  You are here.  You love me.  You are working on my behalf.  You are within me bringing forth the new life I prayed for.  My waiting is not in vain; it will be fulfilled.  I am Yours.  I trust You.  You are all of those things which I am not.  Perfect in wisdom.  Perfect in love.  Perfect in mercy.  Perfect in forgiveness.  You are everything good and pure and whole.

 

The thing I love about old age is the perspective of time, and the gentle gift of wisdom that comes.  On that day in November so many years ago, I was heart sick over my own poverty and confusion.  I felt so lost in my own brokenness.  Today I can see how gently God’s mercy healed the broken parts of me, and I am so thankful.  But believe it or not (and those of you who know me well believe it) I am still very poor in spirit, and still have moments when I am confused.  At that time in my life I assumed that maturing in God would fix those things, that magically I would become a different kind of person. 

 

Well what I can say is that God’s mercy has healed my broken-heartedness in ways I could not have imagined.  And yet God’s healing has not changed me into some other kind of person.  Instead, God’s mercy has taught me the all-sufficiency of His love applied to my need.  So now instead of being discouraged or distraught by my deep need of Him, I simply bring those feelings with me to prayer and tell Him all about it.  And I do it with an expectation that He will be able to bring something beautiful out of my deep need.  He has done it time and time before:  my desperation is nothing compared to His ability and desire to redeem it.  He always brings something good out of my pain and ineptness.  I am so convinced of His ability to use my weakness for His glory that I no longer worry that weakness is often the only thing I really have to offer.  I may not be impressive by any standards.  Just trusting. 

 

This is the scripture that challenges and sustains me:  “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.  It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).  And here is why I share it:  I know many of you have faith and doubt dancing within you even as you read these words.  In fact it may feel less like a dance and more like a wrestling match, each one struggling to topple the other.  And instead of collapsing, the two are colliding, making a shambles of your inner life.  “What inner life?” you say.  I know.  Sometimes the noise and confusion becomes so unbearable that it is easier to drown out the struggle by ignoring it, plugging in the iPod, becoming buried in Facebook, or texting incessantly on the iPhone.  Yet there in that deep part of you the grace of God is speaking.  God’s word to your heart is, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakeness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

 

So be encouraged dear ones.  God loves you and is ready to take everything you offer Him and transform it by His glory.  Whatever that burden on your heart is, when you allow Him unmitigated access to it, He changes it and builds His kingdom through it.  You can trust Him to fulfill it.  Just like the song says:  “Something beautiful, something good.  All my confusion, He understood.  All I had to offer Him, was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life.”

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami 

 

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Be a child today! Wesley Foundation E-letter (Methodist Student Center)

 

Dear Friends,

 

Hope you are doing well this fine October day.  It seems to be too hot to be Autumn, but the trees have begun to change and fall is in the air, even if only briefly.  We do have some fun things going on this week, so take a look!

 

Tonight is worship at 6:30 pm.  Come and join us!

 

Thursday we will be having a cookout and movie night on South Lawn!  This will be so much fun.  We will gather around 5pm, grill some burgers and dogs, watch some fun and frivolous movies, listen to Kyle and Justin play their guitars, and generally unwind and relax. 

 

Fall Retreat is this weekend.  Gather at the Wesley Foundation on Friday at 4pm.  We will have all kinds of outdoor adventures.  And some sweet relaxation Jesus time too.  Go deep!  Go bold!  Go to Loucon!  Cost is $40, which can be paid this weekend.  Financial help is available if needed.  Don’t let the cost keep you from going!  Please email me if you are interested in joining us.  I do have several openings available.

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Yesterday I drove to Nashville to see my spiritual director.  It is one of those monthly pilgrimages I make to keep my spirit.  To keep it in all manner of senses.  Like to keep it so I don’t lose it.  To keep it so I remember it’s there.  To keep it, as in upkeep and maintaining its vitality.  To keep it fresh and available.  To keep it as sacred space in the craziness of my life.  It’s my way of remembering my first call, to be a child of God, that is the foundation for every other call upon my life.  Sometimes I get them confused.

 

Yesterday in particular I needed that reminder, that I am a child of God.  Not a servant of God (although I do earnestly try to serve Him).  But a child.  His child.  I should have had a clue that I was forgetting this last week when someone said something about giving the message, “God loves you,” to people and as I heard it tears filled my eyes.  I know so keenly how deeply He loves everybody else.  I forget so easily that He loves me, that I am included in His love.

 

And so I made my pilgrimage to Nashville, the Mecca of Methodism, the home of my spiritual director.  We spoke as we often do of balance.  Usually I come in with a hunger for silence and a deep complaint from my heart that there just hasn’t been enough.  But yesterday was different.  I had been regular about quiet times, attentive to God’s Holy Spirit leading, seeing God unfold His plan in a way only He could do.  The problem was not about being more “spiritual.”  It was in fact about being more of a child.  In a moment of recognition I finally realized God was not asking for more and harder work.  He was asking me to play.

 

Here these words of wisdom from writer Michael Joseph: 

 

We live in a serious world.  For too many of us, work is competitively cut-throat, social expectations are high, parenting is a burden, and marriage is a project.  Religion is solemn and our “recreation” is largely of the spectator variety.  If this isn’t enough, we project our success-driven and labor-based ethic onto children, pressuring them—albeit inadvertently—to learn, achieve, and succeed almost from infancy.  Is it any wonder that we become bored, tire, and frustrated by life and our children become candidates for depression at an early age?

 

Why do we live this way?  Is it perhaps because we’ve forgotten the importance of play?  We stake too much of our personal value and dignity on what we do and accomplish.  We overorganize and overanalyze our lives.  In the process we forget that life is a gift as well as a task.  If we are to enjoy this gift and truly live our lives, we’d best learn to play authentically once again.

 

From ­Play Therapy

 

By simply changing some of the scenarios, this so perfectly depicts the pressures and obligations of college life.  Everyone seems over analyzed and over organized.  We all need a break and are deathly afraid of taking one.  Now I am all for responsibility.  So please do, be responsible.  Turn in your assignments.  Be a good student.  But in the midst of it all don’t forget to get some fresh air.  Take a break.  Laugh.  Practice the spiritual discipline of joy.  God’s word for it is Sabbath.  It is so important He made it one of the top ten.  And we reap the consequences from disregarding this commandment as much as when we break the other nine.  Is it any wonder we are a prozac nation? 

 

You are God’s precious child.  He wants you to know that.  He wants you to rest in His goodness.  He wants you to trust Him.  And learning to enjoy life as gift is a true act of faith.  As Michael Joseph says, “Consider playfulness as a gift from heaven.  After all, only people with faith can play.  Others must work and worry.” 

 

So take time to love and laugh.  Take time to enjoy the life God has given you with a childlike heart.  Play.  And enjoy by entering into the joy of the One who gave your life to you.

 

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’” (Matthew 19:14).

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

 

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Does holy ground really exist on a college campus? WKU Wesley Foundation E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Hello Friends!  So it looks like fall has finally landed.  I was leaving my University Experience class today when it started raining.   I hid out in Mass Media instead of walking up the hill.  Thanks Nic for giving me a ride back up to the Wesley! 

 

Here is what is going on this week: 

 

Tonight is Worship @ 6:30pm in our chapel.  We did some rearranging; it looks great!  Come and check it out.  Also this week we are looking at what it means to take the love of Jesus beyond our own four walls.

 

Speaking of which, we will have a guest this Thursday.  Free food at 6:30pm and then for our program John David Ryan from Broadway UMC will talk to us about his passion for living out his faith through service and mission.  He will give us practical wisdom on how we can really live our faith out by making a difference in the world around us!

 

SIGN UP FOR our Fall Retreat, which will be at Camp Loucon October 17-19.  We will have fun outdoor adventures and learn how God is surprising us on our journeys.  Cost is $40.  E-mail me if you are interested in going!

 

Also, next Thursday we will have our annual South Lawn Cookout and Movie on the Lawn.  This will be an excellent opportunity to bring a friend and introduce them to our ministry.  It will be totally low-key, lots of fun, and a great time to hang out.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

The last few days I have been pondering the ministry and teaching of John Wesley (the founder of Methodism).  His life was marked by an ardent pursuit of God, even from his earliest years.  As a young man studying at Oxford, he so wanted to participate in a Godly life that he expended himself in spiritual calisthenics, and invited his friends to join in.  Together they founded “the holy club.”  (How about that for the name of a student organization?)  They were so rigorous in pursuing specific disciplines or methods of holiness that on-lookers derisively began calling them “Methodists.”  John Wesley liked the name and kept it.  In fact, he embraced it.  However, none of his “methods,” no matter how holy, brought the union with God that he longed for.  That experience of being accepted by God came purely through grace.  It came not through his efforts to earn it, but through the chance encounter of showing up at a public reading of Luther’s preface to the book of Romans on Aldersgate street.  Think this through with me.  God could have chosen any moment in John Wesley’s life to show up in an unmistakable, “I won’t let you miss this,” kind of way. It could have been while he read his Bible, while he woke early to pray, while he visited prisons, while he did any number of “holy” things that look really impressive for someone trying to build a spiritual resume.  Instead, God chose a moment when Wesley himself admits he showed up “unwillingly,” and while he wasn’t doing anything “holy” at all.  He was simply listening.  And in that moment of listening to Luther’s description of “a change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ” John Wesley “felt his heart strangely warmed.”  In that moment of not even having a very Godly attitude, John Wesley was overcome by the realization that he was accepted.  Not because of what he did for God, but because of what God did for him, period.

 

I think this has been so much on my mind lately because I so keenly sense a longing for acceptance that is an undercurrent among so many on campus.  People want to know that their lives matter, that someone misses them when they are gone, that they are loved, that they really are accepted just the way they are.  It is pretty obvious that we cannot be as good as God.  I think students get so discouraged in trying reflect God’s goodness while living in a hedonistic campus culture that they sometimes just give up, and go with the flow.  And the further along they flow, the further away they feel from God, as well as the more impossible it feels that they will ever regain “holy” ground.  So here is good news:  Take off your shoes for this is holy ground.

 

This often-times very un-holy ground is still holy ground.  Because God is here.  God enters into our lives where we are, not where we believe we should be.  The cool thing about John Wesley’s story is that it shows that we can be doing all the “right” things and still be far away from God’s grace.  We can be so caught up in our own efforts to reach God that we miss Him altogether because our focus is on ourselves and our own goodness instead of on Him and His goodness.   And God’s goodness is all around us, reaching out to us, especially when we haven’t got it to reach out to Him.  It’s like He does His part and ours.  This is the cool thing about the cross.  On it we find just how far away we are from God; we see our sin and what it does to God in stark reality.  But we also see how far God is willing to come to us while we are sinning and separating ourselves from Him.  He comes to us, through Jesus, even when it costs Him His life.  When we cannot make our way to Him because we are impossibly far away, He makes His way to us and gives us His love:  “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8).  All we have to do is receive it!  (Even God cannot receive His own love for us; we still have to cooperate.)

 

Oh and what a difference receiving God’s love makes!!!!!!  GOD LOVES YOU!  Oh dear one, God loves you!  There is nothing you can do or say that can make God stop loving you.  And really there is nothing you can do and say to make God love you more.  BECAUSE GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU IS ALREADY PERFECT AND SO HIGH YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT!  You cannot add to infinity.  So you don’t have to try to be good enough; you just have to receive what is already there with your name on it.  And in receiving it your whole life is transformed.  You are finally able to reflect God’s goodness because you are filled with it and it just naturally flows out.  The power of who God is transforms you and helps you to live the life you are longing for.  It’s really that simple.

 

So let God love you.  Let God love on you.  In this moment right here and now, open your heart to God’s love.  Accept His hand and heart reaching out to you.  By faith (believing it as true regardless of what you feel) accept His gift of love to you.  May your own heart be strangely warmed!

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Take a Clutter Break! Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hope all is well with you this fine day!  I’m sitting on the front porch of the Wesley Foundation writing this e-letter.  How cool is that!  It’s a gorgeous afternoon.  May you all get out enjoy it! 

 

Even though it is Fall Break this week, we do have some things going on.  Tomorrow night we have worship, and for those who would like to stay we will have a leadership/planning meeting.  We’ll probably grab a bite somewhere while we meet.

 

Tomorrow on South Lawn we will set up the prayer labyrinth.  Come and relax from the mid-semester crunch by walking this sacred path!

 

Don’t forget Fall Retreat is coming up!  October 17-20.  Cost is $40, and scholarships are available.  Sign up now!

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

So this morning I spent some time simply cleaning my office.  I know, there are a hundred things I need to be doing.  But something in me just felt like having an orderly environment was more important.  I’ve been trying to work and pray in the chaos long enough.  My longing for peace and order overcame my anxious need to get something else done.  I am amazed at the transition that age (and I guess wisdom) is bringing.  Some of you who know me well are laughing out loud!

 

Really, it is kind of funny.  One of my dear friends from my first church once got me a refrigerator magnet that basically says clutter is a sign of creativity.  It’s just easier on so many levels to be disorganized.  And there was a time in my life when it worked for me.  But not so much anymore.  So I have come to think of de-cluttering my physical space as a kind of spiritual formation.  There is something about having simplified and orderly space that allows my spirit to be at rest.  My inside seems to reflect and resonate with my outside environment.  And for once in my life (yes, Mom, miracles still happen) picking the stuff up off the bedroom (and office) floor is time well spent.  Somehow it helps me breathe easy.

 

Perhaps it is a reflection of that inner desire for the Spirit of Christ to order my life.  Jesus led such a simple life here on earth.  In its simplicity He demonstrated the richness of God’s goodness and mercy.  It seems that the sparseness of His possessions, appointments, and to do lists helped Him to enter fully into the life that is truly Life.  And in direct contrast it seems that our cacophony noise, stuff, and nagging agendas keeps us far from the abundance of life we are so desperately trying to obtain.  It is as if I can hear Him say to my spirit, “Be still my child.  Let Me be who I am, so that you can be all I made you to be.”  The world would say we become ourselves through intense effort deliberately designed to achieve measurable goals.  God says that our becoming has more to do with our being, and our most significant doing always finds its birth there.  I say let God win.  I’m tired of intense effort that is ultimately a waste of time and energy.  Instead, I want to slow down.  Clean my room.  And create a space where every part of me can breathe easy.

 

Now why would I share this?  The college atmosphere is so fraught with imperatives:  You must do this; you must accomplish that; you must go there; you must contribute here; you must, you must, you must.  Looming over every student’s head is the scary scenario of “what if?”  What if you don’t have an adequate GPA?  What if you don’t have a substantial engagement activities transcript?  What if you don’t hold a leadership position in an organization?  What if you don’t show participation in diverse activities?  What if you never have that perfect resume builder that will set you apart and give you the edge when it comes to entering “the real world?”  There are so many reasons to be full of worries and anxieties as a member of this university community.  And I haven’t even mentioned the relationship turmoil that threatens to undermine friendships, family, and the all important significant other connection.  Life as a college student can be crazy at best and downright scary chaotic at worst.  This is not what God wants for His children.

 

So I come back to the simplicity of Jesus.  “Come unto Me,” He says, “All you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  His presence beckons us to do the one necessary thing.  He encourages us to “seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness,” knowing that when we do this everything else will find its proper place.  He knows how important this time is in your lives.  He know there are things we must do.  His offer of abundance is that when we do His thing first, He helps us do the next thing most needed.  And nothing important is left out.

 

So here’s to clean rooms and a break from all clutter:  physical, emotional, and spiritual.

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Wesley Foundation Weekly E-Letter List go to:

http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Progressive Dinner Thursday night hosted by our local Methodist Churches

Hi there!  Just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow night we will get to enjoy a progressive dinner to be hosted by our local United Methodist Churches.  If you are looking for a local congregation to attend on Sunday mornings, this event is for you.  You will have an opportunity to see what each one is like, and even get to meet the pastors.  This is great for finding a church family at college that is similar to the one you visit when you are home.

 

Here is our schedule:

 

5:00 pm – Meet at the Wesley Foundation (1355 College St.)

 

5:30 pm – State Street UMC (appetizers)

 

6:15 pm – St. James UMC (soup & salad)

 

7:00 pm – Broadway UMC (main course)

 

7:45 pm – Christ UMC (dessert)

 

8:30 pm – Faith UMC (coffee)

 

If you need more information or would like to meet up with us later on in the evening (and need to know where we are) please call me at 270-779-7639.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

Sami

 

 

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list serve please go to http://lists.wku.edu/mailman/listinfo/wesley

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Don't Be a Flip-Top Head! Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hey!  Hope everyone is having a great day.  What about this weather?  Isn’t it nice to have a break from the heat?  Fall is definitely in the air! 

 

This week we have so much going on.  Tonight is worship at 6:30pm in our chapel.  Come and enjoy the musical stylings of Kyle and Justine.  It is truly a sweet experience.  Just the thing to unwind from a hectic schedule, to experience a peaceful oasis in the midst of college craziness.  Tonight’s message focuses on experiencing the power of God’s love.  Come and be blessed.

 

Thursday night we will have free food and a program, again at 6:30pm.  We will discuss the faith challenges and conflicts, as well as how to survive them, and even thrive through them.

 

TAILGATING ANYONE?  Parent’s Weekend is coming up and there has been some talk about tailgating together before the big game this Saturday.  E-MAIL ME and let me know if you are interested!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Today in University Experience we were talking about active learning.  Probably the greatest challenge in the learning process is interacting with knowledge in such a way that it becomes meaningful, so that it is not immediately forgotten once the test is over.  I shared with the students the analogy of the flip-top head from Reach toothbrush commercials.  Reach toothbrush commercials basically say that other toothbrush manufacturers design their toothbrushes as if everyone brushing their teeth has a flip-top head (kind of like a pez dispenser).  Instead Reach angles its brushes to fit real mouths.

 

Many educational experiences are like this as well.  They are based on the assumption that learning takes place by depositing knowledge into the open and waiting head, and once the transfer is finished, then learning is complete.  Those who advocate active learning however say that students need to interact with the knowledge base in a meaningful way in order to really learn.  It is not enough to passively listen to and then recite back facts; students should engage the material in ways that connect to their own learning style so that the learning has a lasting impact.  I agree.

 

Especially in regards to faith.  My early church and youth group were all about learning and giving the right answers, but not so much about living them.  Sure we were admonished to do the right things, but there was no real engagement as to why this was important, what it looked like in my real broken life, and what life would be like if one did not.  To be fair, I’m not sure that developmentally I could have processed these kinds of questions then.  But at the same time, I don’t remember learning about the power of God in my life in a significant way until I went to college.  The Word just wasn’t becoming flesh for me.  It was still distant and unimportant.

 

I’m not sure what your experience with faith has been up to this point.  However, I want to challenge you to not simply be a flip-top head with regards to your faith.  Don’t simply accept the precepts of faith at face value, but plumb their depths, find out what it means to believe in your own unique circumstances.  If believers have held on to their faith in very challenging circumstances, what makes that possible?  Are you willing and able to have that kind of faith?  The kind that is tested in the craziness of your own life?  What does it look like for faith to become real?  For following Jesus to become a flesh and blood reality for you personally?  For Jesus to become incarnate in your unique circumstance?

 

Learning happens at every age and every stage.  I am constantly blown away by the way that the evidence of faith-learning reveals itself.  This morning my four year old was moved to pray for his cousin who had been feeling under the weather this past week.  So we stood in a circle and held hands:  me, my four year old son, and my twenty-two month old son.  And my oldest led us in a simple prayer.  It was powerful.  I also remember a friend of mine from my last church who went on her first foreign mission trip while in her eighties.  Then I remember a gentleman who in retirement had a splendid moment of faith commitment that changed his entire life.  And then there are countless college students who have accepted the invitation to allow God into every part of their lives and have been profoundly transformed by it. 

 

I have never been one to accept mediocre.  I always wanted to squeeze out of every moment the most life-juice it could produce.  I never wanted to be the one who lived with regret because I had failed to live.  So I challenge you with this:  Don’t be a flip-top faith head; be one who is willing to taste and see that the Lord is good in every area of your life.  Be the one who is willing to squeeze out every ounce of God-living from the moments God gives you.  Don’t settle for mediocre when your life can be the biggest adventure yet.  Allow Jesus to become flesh and blood real in you.

 

This is me trusting,

 

Sami

 

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu