Let the Beauty of Our God Be Upon Us

Last week I traveled to Chicago for the first meeting of the Staff Director’s Spiritual Formation Group 5. Silence and solitude. Rest and restoration. The meeting was different from anything else I've been a part of.

There was space to be. To meet with Jesus. To come face to face with myself. To wonder why we hadn't started the next thing yet, because I was getting antsy coming face to face with myself.

I got to walk around this gorgeous lake. Check my Facebook album for more pictures. The leaves change colors there. It was so novel.

We met in small groups, discussed the 3 books we read this summer and fall, and spent time alone reflecting on Matthew 11:28-12:14. Jesus really turned things upside down with the Sabbath.

We prayed liturgically at set times. The title of my post is one of the things we prayed. God really is good, faithful to meet us and bestow his beauty on our lives.

We practiced “Grand Silence” one night, not talking from when we said Compline to when we said Morning Prayers after breakfast. It was hard to be still physically and mentally, to not fill the time with things to do or thoughts to think.

We learned that solitude is essential to leadership, since that's often the only place where we meet God without pretension and hear him alone. Our rhythms and spiritual practices may look different given the “season” of life we're experiencing. Rest is an expression of our trust and dependence on God, and trust is a manifestation of what we think God is really like. We were challenged to find rest in our rest and work; we can trust Jesus as we stop working, and we can depend on him for strength and guidance as we labor alongside him.

I have lots of ideas about what I could do differently now. The two things I’m going to try are to take time for solitude and silence for 5-10 minute chunks throughout the day at specific times, and to try praying more to “Dad” instead of “Lord.”

In November, I may review the books we read: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Concerning the Inner Life, and Spiritual Rhythms. I’m pondering writing a bunch of reviews, since November is National Novel Writing Month. While I don’t feel like writing a novel, I do want to join in on the fun somehow. What do y’all think? Should I do it?

And how have you experienced God in times of solitude and silence? Is this a new concept, or a go-to spiritual discipline for you?

Faking It was Real

Real good. Great even.

We had hundreds of conversations on the ways we fake it, how God wants us to be real with him, and what the gospel actually is. Four Aggies came to know Jesus!

Overwhelmingly, students voted for “with friends” or “at church” when asked where A&M fakes it the most. But then I’d talk to students who didn’t think we were fake at church at all. It was intriguing to see the disconnect.

I shared about my perfectionism, how I often hide anger stemming from it. Most of the students I talked to said they hide being upset or sad – they don’t want to burden other people, and they don’t want to deal with the responses they might get if they revealed their true feelings.

We asked students to read a paraphrase of Luke 18:9-14. One pride-filled dude prayed to God trying to fake how great he was for himself as well as God and everyone else. Another guy was real about his brokenness. We asked why God accepted the prayer of the second guy but not the first, why it’s hard to be real sometimes, and who they identified with.

One Christian grad student shared that her boyfriend was in a coma and his family blamed her. A Christian undergrad told me about her depression. An atheist undergrad told me she stopped going to church because everyone acted happy all the time, and you just didn’t need to be happy all the time. She believed God was a construct that we as social creatures invented to comfort us when we felt alone, and to help explain the inexplicable.

What was really exciting (besides 4 people saying yes to God!) was seeing Thrive students out there. Especially a freshman guy and a junior leader – they were out there every day, sacrificing time and energy to step out of their comfort zone. Sharing the gospel with strangers is risky; in a culture and a season of life that’s all about image and relationships with peers, it takes guts to say something that could be rejected. I’m so proud to work with these students!

Last Friday night, at the end of our outreach week, we invited Erin Waller, an InterVarsity chapter planter in Dallas, to speak. She brought it. I was challenged that, little by little, I’ve drifted into bolstering myself up by putting down nominal Christians and even for-realsies Christians who aren’t living out God’s mission. I don’t want to be like the first guy in Luke 18. "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"

Overtime

Like I wrote, Crossroads was amazing. I felt supported in prayer; thank you. According to students, Bible studies were "engaging" and "in-depth," and the talks were "powerful" and "funny." We all experienced God's presence. And God did some serious transforming work: at least 50 students made significant decisions/ re-commitments to following Jesus and many said they want to join a Small Group, keep doing a quiet time, or find out more about ministry with InterVarsity. Praise God with me, and pray for good follow-up by student leaders and staff.

New Student Outreach is crucial, our chance to impact students, to invite them to follow Jesus with us at their most open time. But Crossroads marked the end of those first 6-8 weeks. Now, we're in overtime!

This week, we're starting conversations on campus about how we all fake it. What situations do we fake it in? What mood do we hide the most? And what does Jesus have to say about being real? So far, 2 students have said yes to Jesus! God's using this tool to make it much easier to share the good news with people in a way that actually addresses their needs, hurts, and fears.

Pray lots of members come to get into authentic, gospel-focused conversations. Pray for relief from my back pain. And pray for our meeting Friday, where guest speaker Erin Waller will share about faking it and about real life with Jesus.