Faith Sustains Us

Doug (OU Campus Minister), Ben (the male intern), and I visited the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial today during our staff meeting time. It was a very well done memorial. There was a chair for each person who died. The chairs for the children who died were smaller. That was especially touching. In one part of the memorial there is a tree that probably should not have survived the blast, but it has continued to grow. Around this tree is a lookout with this engraving. In reality it says a lot more than "faith sustains us," but this is the part that kept me thinking today.

Faith does sustain us. Faith sustained me through my senior year of college which sometimes seemed like it had too many trials to handle. It sustains me when I sin and I feel hopeless. It sustains me when terrible things happen, like the Oklahoma City Bombing, because I know that these things are not from God and were not meant to exist in this life. Praise God for sustaining faith!

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, I am loving Oklahoma! God has graciously provided for me!!!

Would you like some Oklahoma trivia??? I was excited to learn these facts today about the state that I live in:
1.) Toby Keith lives in Norman.
2.) Sonic is from Oklahoma.
3.) Mickey Mantle is from Oklahoma.
So, basically what I am telling you is that I don't really live in Oklahoma, I live in Hollywood :)

Community

I love community. I love that we were created for community. I love that God Himself, in the trinity, is community.

This is something I talk a lot about during my one-on-one meetings with students. God gives us each our own lives and stories. We are each our own person. This is one of the reasons that one of the presuppositions of RUF is "the individual: God has created every person and no two people are alike." And yet, despite our own unique personality and circumstances, we are able to relate to one another in community.

Despite this community, however, I often feel as if no one really understand me. While this may be somewhat attributed to the fact that I have grown up in an age of postmodernism (Kafka's Metamorphosis anyone?) it is also a lie that I am tempted to believe. Sometimes I would love to believe that God has put me in a unique place in which no one can understand me, because then I can give up and stop trying to fix my problems.

Community is just the ticket, however, to understanding one another and encouraging each other with the Gospel. It is what makes it possible for the individual, in their own circumstance, to love and feel loved. Jesus himself loved people as an individual. He was able to understand people on a personal level, as we also are able to do. John 4 and the story of the Woman at the Well is an example of Jesus' ministry to specific people. We (the interns) were pointed to this story at staff training when we were talking about focusing on "the individual."

In the four weeks that I have been an intern, I can already tell that this is a big topic of conversation for girls. In moments of loneliness, frustration, and despair we are tempted to believe that no one gets us and it is hopeless (seriously- God has created me, the one person who CANNOT be understood by ANYONE). Community is here, however, to share our own experiences and to share the Gospel.

I love that I can encourage girls with this truth. I love that I am different than each of these girls, and yet we can encourage one another. I love that I can hear their own individual stories and yet point them to the story which gives hope and love.

A Word on Non-Ministry Things...

Happy Monday, Everyone!

As many of you know, I was blessed to be able to bring my horse with me to Oklahoma. This has been a great source of comfort and familiarity in a place where many things continue to be foreign to me. It is great to be able to spend some of my free time out in the country with my faithful steed, Chance. I thought I would share these pictures of my pretty boy...

Being able to have my horse here is just another way in which God has been faithful to me in this time in transition. I have been riding since I was seven and have owned Chance for nine years. Thinking about not bringing him to Oklahoma was very hard. In His ever mysterious ways, however, God provided a way for me to bring him and a place for me to keep him here in Norman.

Ok, so now a word on things related to my job. I thought I might mention some of the books I have been reading. Two books I completed for my study program are Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton and The Enduring Community by Brian Hebig and Les Newsome. Putting Amazing Back into Grace is a book which goes through the beliefs of Calvinism. It is thorough and thick. Not for the faint of heart, this book will answer all of those pesky questions you might have lingering about Reformed theology. The Enduring Community, which was written by two RUF campus ministers, explains the role of the church in the modern community. It talks about people who "church-shop" and what the Bible has to say about it. I really enjoyed this book! As someone in their early twenties, I enjoyed the Biblical perspective they took on church membership, which will undoubtedly shape a lot of the rest of my life.

I enjoyed getting to go to my first Sooner football game this weekend. The Sooners trounced Idaho State 64-0. It was a cold and wet game, but was enjoyable as I sat with a group of RUF students and cheered on the Sooners. We enjoyed dinner at Raising Cane's (equivalent to Zaxby's in Florida) afterward and watched a movie together. It was a great weekend here in Norman! I am speechless at God's daily provisions.

This coming weekend the Sooners will face the University of Tulsa. OU RUF looks forward to hosting the RUF from Tulsa at our tailgate.

Freshmen Bible Study went well last week. We had 8 people attend. Please continue to pray for these freshmen as they are one month into their first semesters, and undoubtedly beginning to feel the pressures of school. Pray they would turn to Jesus in this time and that RUF would lovingly welcome into the group. Thank you, once again, for your prayers and support!

Just in the Nick of Time...Another Monday Blog Post!

Ahoy!

Well, tomorrow marks the beginning of freshman Bible study. Freshman Bible study is done the complete opposite here than at UF: it is led by Doug Serven (OU RUF Campus Minister), it is co-ed, and it is two semesters long. It is going to be great to see this done differently and get to meet (and bring) girls through it. We will be studying the Sermon on the mOUnt (hehe).

Also coming up this week is the "OU RUF Freedom Float Trip." What does this mean exactly??? Well, to mark the 8th anniversary of September 11th, OU RUF is floating down a river...hence, floating for freedom (hey, I don't write this stuff...I just publicize it). The river is in Tallequah. We will drive up Friday night and then float Saturday morning. It should be a great opportunity to get to further relationships and enjoy each other's company. They say this river is cold. I am anxious to compare it to the Itchetuknee in Florida :)

Well, I am sad to say friends but that is all from me this evening...it has been a long Labor day and I am ready for bed. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please let me know if you would like to know more or would like an updated prayer card.