miranda's musings...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
on campus
if you couldn't tell from that last paragraph, i'm on campus! and not just to hang out, i'm actually starting this semester! hip hip hooray!
i went to my first meeting on monday night and met some of the student leaders. i kind of forgot about how many names i'm going to have to learn! the students were all very welcoming and excited to see me. i'm still working on figuring out exactly how my schedule is going to go, but so far it has been exciting just to be on campus and with the staff team.
the campus in general feels a little more like whitewater, so that is fun and different from madison. :) its definitely a transition from ministry in madison and support raising, so it will take a little adjustment, but i'm feeling good about it.
my youngest brother daniel is a student here and today we drove to campus together. i'm excited about that for a few different reasons...
1. his car is nicer than mine :)
2. when we are at home, he sits on his computer in the basement & only emerges for food, so this will provide some actual time that i can talk with him.
3. i will hopefully get to share more about what we are doing in Crusade and maybe at some point he will want to check it out.
all in all, its been a fun week so far. i'm excited to see what else the Lord has in store for me here on campus.
please continue to pray that support would continue to come in. i lowered my goal so i could report, but i would like to be at full support by this summer.
i just got a copy of our group picture from tcx, so i thought i would include that!
and last but not least, here is a verse that i discovered towards the beginning of my support-raising process...
"See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed."
it was true when i claimed it in that process and it is still so true as i look to reach this campus with the love of Christ!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
TCX 2010
i figured tcx would be a good way to get things rolling again. i had planned on trying to blog every day to share stories, but of course that did not happen. trying to get internet access and time was somewhat difficult here!
it has been a great conference so far. we've had some interesting complications to deal with, even more so than other years, but God is still providing and moving here.
the staff always arrives a day early to prepare and enjoy a little staff family time. it feels great to reconnect with friends that i only get to see at conferences and through e-mail and phone calls. despite living all over the upper midwest region (wi, mn, ia, nd, sd) these people understand me and care for me in ways that other friends just can't relate to.
the students arrived on the 28th in a flood. this was the first year i didn't work in the actual registration room, so it felt a little strange to not greet them and check them in, but i am enjoying my role this year. i help lead a team of staff that is basically a gopher team. we run errands and perform tasks that other teams need help with to keep the conference running smoothly. it can be an interesting job ( like where can i find 4 track hurdles?!) and it is a great way to serve others. of course there are the headaches and sweat that comes with it too, but i think i've enjoyed it more this year than others.
our first session, we had a slight issue. our main speaker for the night, rick james, wasn't flying in until the last minute because his mother died over Christmas and the funeral was that morning. he then got stuck for 3 hours in traffic that did not move and missed his flight. so about 2 hours before the first session was supposed to start, we were without our main speaker. so my friend adam penning stepped up to the challenge and gave a great talk. i was on staff with adam at uw-madison. he gave a great talk on our theme "awaken" which comes from the verses found in ephesians 5:8-17:
8for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
"Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
we have around 1450 students here which is great! there are about 40 here from the fox valley. i've haven't had a lot of time to hang out with them, but anytime i do, they are so excited to see me and that is a great feeling. :)
thanks to technology, our morning session on the 29th, we were able to have rick james speak to us via skype! he was at home (possibly in his pyjamas!) and yet still able to speak to our students. what a blessing that was.
our other speakers this week are cheryl fletcher and darryl smith. if you want to hear any of their talks or hear other stories from tcx, check out www.tcx2010.com
darryl is the national director for student venture, campus crusade's high school ministry. we actually have a student venture conference going on here at the same time called fastbreak. i thought freshmen in college looked young, but i forgot how young high school students could look! :) its been fun to see them enjoying their own conference and join with us for the new years party.
we had a successful day of outreach with lots of fun stories coming from the fox valley students. in total 1121 spiritual conversations were initiated, 523 of those were Gospel conversations, and 79 people indicated a decision for Christ! the students are always so pumped up when they return, and this year, despite being completely soaked from the RAIN, they were still excited and couldn't stop talking about their day!
one of the fox valley students sharing her day of outreach story in front of the entire conference:
as the students shared their stories, a couple of my staff friends were on stage behind them writing the names of the people the students had shared with. it was really cool to watch and a great prayer spot the rest of the conference as they moved the boards out into the main gathering area.
i will admit i was quite tired by the time the new years party rolled around, but i did enjoy watching part of the dance competition and it is always a great feeling to pray and worship the new year in! singing chris tomlin's song our God (is greater) up until midnight with 2000 people is a pretty good start to the new year!
so happy new year to all of you and i pray that it is off to a good start for you too!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Living a Better Story
I don't know what it is about the way Donald Miller writes, but I really enjoy it. It feels like a one-on-one conversation that is had in comfy chairs over a cup of coffee. I just finished his latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and I enjoyed it just as much as Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What.
Again, Donald takes us on a journey through his life, what he's dealing with as he is presented with the opportunity to turn one of his books into a movie. Writing the screenplay turns out to be a bit different than he expected and he learns that what makes a good story might help him make a good life.
One of the things that struck me the most was his comparison of God as an author and us as characters. As an author, Donald talks about how despite the fact that he creates the characters, they still do what they want. The same happens with the way we live our lives. We choose to go our own way and do things the Writer wouldn't want for us. Donald admits: “It would always have been better to obey the Writer, the one who knows the better story.” I loved that analogy. It gave me a whole new perspective on my life and how I relate to God. I want to live a better story.