Believing God

Do you take God at His word, believing what He has told us, or do you just believe in His existence and the salvation He offers?

What does it mean to believe God? Abraham and Moses believed God. This planted in them a seed of faith that grew into towering oaks of steadfast trust and belief. Hebrews 11 is full of other examples of bold belief.

Come Experience a Fresh Explosion of Faith.

The quote above is from a review of Believing God, by Beth Moore. Doesn't it make you want to just open up your bible to Hebrews 11 and walk down that hall of faith?

That is exactly what my small group did this semester! Last night was our last time meeting together for the year. I cannot tell you how much of a blessing it was to hear how the Lord has used His word to capture these girls hearts over the past 10 weeks we have spent together.

I have to tell you, I was not so sure how it was going to go. A bible study like this is a commitment. There are 5 days of "homework" to complete each week, and it is 10 weeks long! These girls are already busy I was afraid it would not fit into their crazy schedules, or that the homework would become a chore.

I was so wrong! (PRAISE THE LORD!)

For many of them, this was the first "formal" bible study they have ever done. During the first few weeks of the study one girl realized that even though she grew up in a christian home, she didn't know what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ...SHE DOES NOW!

Week after week they came to bible study so excited about something they had read during the week, or how the Lord was working in their lives. They were HUNGRY for HIS word!

AHHHH....(that is a scream) THAT is what it is all about folks!

God's Word is ALIVE and ACTIVE in our lives!

PRAISE THE LORD!
(or "GLORY" as Beth would say!)

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he." - Isaiah 43:10


If any of you are interested, the whole study is online and you can do it anytime. At home, in your PJ's...whenever. Here is the link.

Thank You

Thank you dear friends for praying. Greg is feeling so much better. Praise the Lord.
I snapped this pic a few days ago at the Spring Fling on campus.



Only one more week left of classes...Praying to finish strong!

Sick!

Sorry I have not posted anything in a while...Greg has been really sick and I have spent the week taking care of him and the kids. We would appreciate your prayers for a speedy recovery.

On an encouraging note, I am so grateful to live in community with so many loving people. We have had students come over to take the kids out to play, and even take over some of the baking that I normally do each week for various events.

I am also so thankful for how the Lord has sustained me this week. Each time I have opened my bible the Lord has given me more than my fair share of grace and strength... in fact I was reminded just last night that I am "clothed in strength and dignity" (Proverbs 31:25)



Jer. 32:17
"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

I think I know why the "Ah" is there....it is a sigh of relief!

Are You Hungry?

Thursday afternoon ACF set up a proxe station about world hunger on campus. Students in ACF signed up to "man" the table during peak meal times.

The idea behind a “proxe station” is to create a spectacle on campus (they are big, colorful, and put in a public space) that draws people in and interactively engages them in a topic that relates directly or indirectly to spiritual things.

Here is what ours looked like:




Here is how an average conversation started:

"Are you hungry?"

· Do you have a minute to take our quiz on world hunger?

· “We have a bowl here that has 1 cup of dry long grain rice. In an impoverished country or in an emergency food situation, how many people do you think this feeds?

o This 1 cup of dry rice would feed 6 people and would be their only meal that day. USAID.gov Humanitarian Assistance

· “We also have a water bottle. Clearly, this water is really dirty. Do you know how many people lack access to clean drinking water and are forced to drink water like this?

o 1.1 Billion World Water Council http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php?id=25

Well, as you can see on this board there are lots of pictures depicting hunger. Tragically more than 13,000 children under the age of five die due to hunger each day! More than 852 million people in the world are malnourished.

This lead into questions like:

In these situations of injustice surrounding the global hunger crisis, what do you think your responsibility is?

Do you think there is a solution to the injustice in the world?

How do you think God responds to these injustices?

The "script" goes on from there to explain how God is a God of love and he hurts deeply when He sees injustice in the world. And then, depending on the interest level of the student, salvation is explained.

We had a great response from students on campus. Please pray that the seeds planted yesterday will fall on fertile soil and bear fruit!

Taking A Little Walk

Have you ever though of life as a little stroll?

For some reason, I have found this to be a theme of my life. I can look back and see that the Lord has orchestrated seasons in my life where He allows company along this walk. I am thinking of:

*My Parents who were/are a true example of giving.
*My english teacher/drama coach in high school that loved the Lord and poured into me love and confidence.
*Precious friends from college, where we all walked with each other towards Christ through everything from silliness to huge life decisions.
*A dear, DEAR friend in South Carolina who shared my excitement for getting into the Lord's word even when we had toddlers running around and Barney blasting from the TV in the background!
*Most of all The Lord has given me a leader, partner, and best friend in my husband.

There are many more examples. Some that lead me on a little trail away from the Lord, but many more (Praise God!) that lead me towards Him.


Imagine how my heart jumped when I saw a picture of this walk/relationship in the life of the Patriarch Abraham! But it was the Lord Himself who was walking with Abraham!

In Gen 18 the Lord appeared (in flesh and blood!) with 2 other heavenly visitors to Abraham. I LOVE it that we are allowed to eve's drop on this conversation. After they have had a good meal and a little conversation where the Lord reiterated His promise to bless Abraham, 2 of the visitors left to make their way to Sodom to check out the situation there. The Lord stayed with Abraham to take a little walk and work through some things.

I love that the Lord walked with Abraham as he interceded from Sodom. The God of the universe was patient as Abraham as he ASKED questions. As I read it, I kind of got a little embarrassed FOR Abraham. I was thinking "really Abraham, you are pushing it a bit!"

But then I realized that the Lord not only allowed those questions he INVITED them. The fact that God was willing to be there, to share a meal, and to engage in a personal and tangible relationship INVITED Abraham to ask questions. God created an atmosphere where Abraham could approach Him and work some things through. That is a conversation, a relationship. That is God meeting Abraham where he is and taking a few steps with him.

Isn't that what we are all called to do as Christians?

The Lord has put us on this earth for a short time. We are trying to walk the path that the Lord has set out for us. There are times when the Lord blesses us with others to walk alongside. These relationships are the whole reason for the path, it is not to get to the destination!

I can see this theme of "life as a little walk" continuing in our ministry. It is actually at the heart of what Greg and I do everyday. We have the honor to walk alongside students for a short time. We get to spend time, share a meal, play a few games, and share a few laughs. All of this relationship building leads to the real purpose of life, to point each other towards Christ.

Upcoming Birthdays

A year ago you may have read our blog post about a student, Dave, coming to Christ. We followed that up a couple weeks later with a more in-depth article in our April 2009 newsletter. Today, April 9th, is his first "spiritual birthday"! Dave has been drinking from a fire hydrant and has stepped into co-leading the guys small group this semester. He will be the ACF President next year. Niquelle (4/12) is also plugged into a local church and very involved in outreach on this campus. She will be overseeing ACF's service opportunities next year. We chronicled the stories of Ariella and Blaise in this blog post from last year. Ariella (4/16), who received Christ through an ACF campus outreach, transferred to another school and has been asked to serve on the leadership team of her campus ministry group there. Blaise (4/19), the point guard for AU's basketball team, graduated in May and has been very involved in his church's worship team. Blaise will likely share his testimony at an upcoming 3-on-3 basketball tournament that ACF is hosting.
Happy birthday, guys! God is so good!

Outreach with the Gideons

Yesterday afternoon was one of those beautiful days around campus when it is just too nice to stay inside. There were classes meeting outside, people studying, and pick-up frisbee games all over campus. The Lord gave us the perfect day for our outreach with the Gideons! The plan was to have a free lemonade and ice tea stand where we could also give out Bibles to anyone who was interested.

There is a no-solicitation policy for all groups on campus, but if someone approached the table, the were offered a bible. A few Gideons from the local chapter joined a rotating team of students to hand out 200 cups of lemonade/tea and about 150 bibles! Honestly, this is a much larger number than we expected.

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 55:11

ACF Coffeehouse!

As a relationship-building outreach, ACF hosted a coffeehouse last night. It was a big success! Somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 students stopped in for a free latte or hot chocolate. (To put that in perspective, we usually have around 35 students come to our regular Thursday night fellowship!) RESCUED, a worship band for a local church, played a mix of cover songs and worship songs. We hoped to build off the conversations students were able to have with the new folks they met!

It's Friday...But Sunday Is Coming!