Invisible Children

Last night at COmmon Gound we watched a documentary called Invisible Children. Three college guys took a trip to the Sudan. They wanted to document the affects of the Sudanesse war. What they saw was much more. They did not end up staying in Sudan but found a story more unbelieveable in the neighboring country of Uganda. In Uganda the story of hundreds of thousands of children unfolded before our eyes. They are victims of war, survivors but barely. The few that were interviewed told stories of family members, friends and others being brutaly murdered before their eyes. They had escaped the rebels, those looking to abduct them to turn them into child soldiers. They look for children ages 5-12. Big enough to carry a gun, small enough to steal.
You have to see these children. You have to hear their stories. God doesn't see them as invisible. Neither should we. We can pray, we can seek justice, we can be moved to action. I don't want to sit and be ignorant about it any longer. We were told to tell someone about the children. This is one small attempt that I am making.

The Kingdom of God is having a Party!

What a day. I got up at 7am to meet a student, Faria, for breakfast. During our conversation I asked the question, "So where are you at spiritually?" She started to give her life story. During it she talked of God. Cool, I thought. But then I asked her about Jesus. She said that she didn't really think about him much. I asked if she wanted a relationship with him and shared the gospel with her. By the end of our conversation she decided that yes, she did want to follow Jesus and prayed with me. As she went off to class I went off the Bayshore, a street on the Tampa Bay. It was such a glorious morning, cool and crisp I walked for an hour praising God for what he had done. The Bible says that whenever anyone comes back to God there is much rejoicing in the presence of angels. God is throwing a party. We are part of causing the celebration!
Later on that day I had two more great conversations with students. God is moving powerfully. Even when it is sitting with an international student from China for hours trying to work on car insurance. I am learning so much from him. What an honor it is to work for the KING!!!

God's Love and Ice Cream!

On Tuesday night 15 of us (including one new guy) from the Bible study that I lead on campus with Crystal showed up in Vaughn (where we have our study) with gallons of ice cream and various toppings. Our goal- to give out free ice cream sundaes to everyone that we could. You should have seen the looks on peoples faces when we knocked on their doors. People were surprised and joyful. It was great! When asked why we were doing this we simply replied, "We just want to show people that it God's love is free so our ice cream is free too!" We were able to invite people to Bible study and even got some names of people really interested.
When we were done the students were thrilled. We had such a blast. We were able to meet new people, make people's nights by giving them free ice cream, invite people to bible study. We are going to do another outreach in 3 weeks. Praise God!

Questions and prayer

The question keeps being posed to me, "what are you doing this summer?" I still work for InterVarsity over the summer, I can answer with that. I'm not like a teacher who get the summer off. My job is just as full time over the summer as it is the rest of the year, but summer just looks and feels slightly different. I thought I knew what I was going to do over the summer. Looks like that might not happen. It makes me wonder, am I hearing God or not? I need to dedicate time to really asking him. I guess I keep questioning whether he'll make it clear to me or not. I know that he will if I listen carefully. Ah, learning to listen. That's a difficult one in and of itself. I just want to serve God this summer. I have a couple of different options. I could go to Ghana, Africa (but I need to have 2-3 UT students go with me), I could staff the Tampa Urban Project again (I have a couple of students that are planning on going) or I could spend the summer in guided spiritual direction and reflection. They all seem good. I'll let you know what God and I come up with...

Freedom

I've been reflecting a lot on freedom lately. I'm reading the book More Than Equals by Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice and am reminded of the lack of freedom that Blacks had in our country (and to a degree still lack). I'm reminded at the same time how much freedom we do have. Freedom to choose what to wear, what to eat, what church to worship at, what street I want to take to get to work in the morning. These little freedoms, little choices that I am able to make each morning. I've also been reflecting on the one TRUE freedom, the freedom that comes from a relationship with Jesus. Last night I was reminded of the bondage that students at UT are in. During this Spring Break week I am realizing the number of students who are getting drunk, raped, high, or depressed. A time of "freedom" from classes and the demands of college that are causing more bondage and more chains. I cried last night on behalf of these students. I cried out for them. My prayer is that they would find Jesus and the freedom that he brings. I want to be used by God in thier lives. I want InterVarsity to be a safe place for those students to come and check Him out. I pray for freedom, TRUE freedom to break through...

A Little Piece of Heaven on Earth

I've been to California before. Once. Two years ago. I got to see LAX airport and the Marriot Torrence hotel. Not quite what I wanted to see. But this time, even if it were for the briefest moments I got to go to the Santa Monica Peir. There I saw it. Where the pacific ocean meets the mountians. It was beatiful. I went with friends...JoeElla, Kim, Camille and Michael. Laughter filled the car on the way there and the way back. It was a time of friendship and joy.
I guess I'm the kind of girl who finds joy in the simple things. I've seen beautiful things before. I like to say that it's not where I go or what I do that matters, but it's the relationships that grow. Sometimes, like a moment in Santa Monica, both happen at the same time.