The Father of Lights

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. - James 1:16-18


Today I was attempting to access an old online account that I had not updated in years. I knew my user name but could not figure out my password. It was probably one of those passwords that you think is really witty and that you will definitely remember... but then you forget it in a week. Anyway, after trying all of "the six passwords that unlock everything in Matt Bostrom's life," and still not getting in, I shamefully resorted to the "I forgot my password" box. I was led to a personal question prompt that read, "He is the Father of." The box next to that phrase had a blinking cursor that waited impatiently for me to figure out who "he" was and what exactly he had been fathering. I stared at the screen blankly for about 5 seconds before it clicked. He (God) is the Father of Lights! That is one of my all time favorite names of God, and ever since I joined facebook around five years ago, the Father of Lights has been listed as my first interest.

Remembering that name created an itch to dig deeper into the God who is light, and led me to many passages where God presents himself robed in light. Let us scratch the surface...

First let us look at the passage in James. Everything good that we experience, and every promised blessing, is as a beam radiating down from his throne. In him there is no shadow of change, no flicker to disrupt his perfection as it emanates to his children. The fourth question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, "What is God?" The answer to this succinct and overwhelming question is, "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." He is eternally unchanging, Being; from which all else is derived. "[He] is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Tim 6:15-16) Moses asked to be shown the glory of the Lord in Exodus 33, and God replied that it would destroy him. Yet God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock and covered him as his presence passed by and allowed him to glimpse the Lord's back. When Moses returned from the encounter, he had to cover his face when talking to the people, because even though he only saw a poor glimpse of the light of God's glory, his face radiated light so that the Israelites were terrified to look at him.

In the beginning God spoke light into being by the word of his command, and in the same miraculous, authoritative manner calls us into the light of his life. "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6) In the same way that God called light out of nothing, he has shown the light of his Gospel into dead hearts and given life through that knowledge of Christ. There is an illumination that takes place at our conversion, an awakening of the heart to the new life in the Spirit. And this is not of our doing, any more than light had a hand in its inception. It is the creative power of God that bursts into the soul of a dead carcass and infuses it with life. Jonathan Edwards called this, "A divine and supernatural light immediately imparted to the soul by the Spirit of God."

I remember as a kid when our church started to use the more modern version of the Apostle's Creed in church. I remember several times after we read the part, "From there he will come to judge the living and the dead." that my Dad would tell me how he wished we still used the old "From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." He really liked the term quick in place of living. I think when I was younger I just thought he was weird and it was strange that Jesus was going to judge fast people... but now I too prefer the original quick.

In Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary the first definition of 'quick' is: "Alive; living; opposed to dead or unanimated; as quick flesh." To quicken is then the verb form, the act of making alive; to endow with life. When looking up these terms I also found that, in medical terms, "The moment of quickening refers to the initial motion of the fetus in the uterus as it is perceived or felt by the pregnant woman. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to 'quicken' means 'to reach the stage of pregnancy at which the child shows signs of life.'"

Here are a few examples of 'quick' and 'quickening' I found when comparing the King James to the ESV:

2 Timothy 4:1
-I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: (ESV)
-I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (KJV)

Psalm 80:18
-Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! (ESV)
-So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. (KJV)

John 5:21
-For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (ESV)
-For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (KJV)

That gives such deeper weight and meaning to Charles Wesley's hymn 'And Can It Be' when he wrote:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

I love this imagery! When we were bound in sin and the natural darkness that made us dead to reality, God looked upon us in mercy. That gaze of the Father of Lights effectually kindled a blaze of glory that made us alive, tore through the bounds that held us, and freed and animated our affections to follow and love him! That is irresistible grace; When a heart is quickened by such light and there is but one path it can tread, and with great joy: the path that leads to the Father of such glory! This path is too straight to branch and curve to the whims of fancy, too narrow for us to haul all of our earthly baggage and not fall away. It is a path that guards and protects the broken, for it is our kingdom and rest. The path is Jesus.

The passage in James which we first looked at tells us that we were brought forth by the Father of lights by the word of truth... and the Word of Truth is the Light: Christ Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:1-5) His coming marked the fulfillment of a promise that there is hope for the renewal of creation and a dawning of a kingdom of light. As Isaiah prophesied: "The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned." Jesus came not only to bear the punishment for the sins of his people, but to bring the light of his Father to restore the order and peace of all things. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) We have but to follow him.

As easy as that may sound, I still try to run and hide in the darkness. I am still pressed by the need to veil myself to the light. I doubt when I look away from his light and try to find my own way. But thanks be to God that his light always pursues and drives me onward, sustaining me! "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) (Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV) God make us alive with and through Christ, binding us to the light of Christ so that his glory becomes ours by marriage to the light. We are chosen by him, and are made sons and daughters of the Father of lights, we are lights reflecting his glory. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9) As children of light we are witnesses in the dark to the wonderful excellencies that he has in store for those who love him. As one candle touches the wick of another and so sets that one aflame, so our lives should rub up against others with the spark of the gospel.

One little candle with one little flame
Appears insignificant, a soul without name.
But one little candle burning out bright
Can pierce through the darkness and turn blindness to sight.

We are a chosen people of God, called out of darkness into hope. Just as the Son of Light came once to purchase our life, so too will he come again to collect what is his. This time it will not be as a lowly babe, but when he returns again he will come with the power and authority of the full glory of God. "And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day." (Luke 17:22-24) Jesus is warning his disciples not to follow counterfeit messiahs, or be sucked into teachings that Christ has already returned in secret... Jesus is saying, "Look, you want to know what to look for when I return? I will fill the sky. Like a perpetual lightening blot that rips through a black night, so I will be in broad daylight. In my glory, all will know that I am Lord, and all will bow in awesome joy or terrible fear at the rumbling of my approach." Our hope and our promise is in his return. And in that final Glory when all wrongs will be destroyed and all will be restored in a new Heavens and Earth, he will dwell with us and be our light. "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day - and there will be no night there. (Rev. 21:22-25)

So Christian, take heart. The darkness you see now will lift, the wrongs that destroy will die in the light of His glory and grace. And even though we wait with longing for the future kingdom, we have a present hope and Guide. Unlike Moses, who had to be hidden and veiled, we have access to the Father of Lights and to the warmth of his smile in Christ. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." (2 Cor 3:18) We are being transformed; mostly unseen, often painfully, but all for our good. O what joy has been set before us! May we eagerly yearn as we spread the fire of the Gospel! "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning." (Psalm 130:5-6)

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Christmas Parties and Other Thoughts

Last Thursday RUF at UF had its last official event of the semester: Christmas Party! There was a great dinner, many desserts, and a white elephant gift exchange. It was a fun night and a wonderful ending to the fall semester. It made me very thankful for what God has been doing in my life this fall, and excited to see him work in the semesters to come.

It was a good ending because I knew it was not a true ending. It would be very hard for me, at this point, to walk away from this RUF and its amazing group of students. I am very thankful that this is still a beginning, that I am going to be serving these students for another year and a half. I believe next semester will be even better than the fall: I know my way around (for the most part:), have relationships to disciple a lot of the guys, am going to be leading a Bible study for guys who are newer to the ministry, and am at a place to better reach and equip those at UF with Christ. Lord willing, he continues to bless and grow this ministry so that graduates looking back would not simply remember a few good Christmas parties, but would be able to say that Christ became the love of their lives in college. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, and are able to reflect on past blessings and look foreward to future graces in Christ!

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Working out Guilt

This semester in RUF large group, we had 'God at Work' moments, where a student would share how God had been working in his/her life. It was a great opportunity for the students to hear from their peers what God was teaching their friends about himself and about life. In late October I had the opportunity to share during 'God at work' (meaning that no one else volunteered at the leadership meeting, and I offered). I did not know what I would talk to the students about until the night before RUF, when I realized I could offer nothing greater in myself than the truths of the gospel. My weakness in and of myself and Christ's power to raise me to his side is all that I can ever offer to anyone. A message that is not cross centered, Christ exalting is a poor message at best. Here is what I shared:

I have struggled for the last several days with what I was going to talk to you about when I knew that I would be speaking tonight. It wasn’t until last night at Bible Study that I finally decided what I would say. Originally, I think my main goal was to dazzle you all with what God has been doing in my life and after speaking of his work, take my seat again to thunderous applause and acceptance… It’s funny, but sad that it is true. I have always been a people pleaser and struggle with wanting people to like me and think I am awesome in whatever I do. Because of this I feel that much of my life is lived struggling with performance and acceptance; looking at myself and either falling into self-righteousness and thinking I am better than others or being bogged down in guilt for my sin of not living up to the mark. For me recently I have been weighed down by guilt. I have seen how I have not been disciplined in my life, not loved God, even directly opposing him with my heart and actions. I know I could be doing better in so many ways, and have not felt worthy of my calling here as an intern with RUF.

Last night as he opened Bible study, Michael told us some of the crap that was going on in his life, and we went around and shared struggles and what was going on in our lives. The outlook as we finished sharing was fairly bleak… which led us into the study of Romans 3 and what it means to be Justified by God apart from our works. It was very good for me to hear those truths again and hash through what it means to be truly loved by God. Listen to these words from the passage in Romans 3:

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now [and as Michael pointed out this is probably the biggest ‘but’ in the Bible] the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation [or atoning sacrifice] by his blood, to be received by faith.”

In this passage it says that we are Justified by God. Our justification is a legal standing… we are either guilty or innocent, and in Christ, God declares us not guilty… for sins past, present, and future. It is a gift that he gives, one that we could never earn. He canceled our debt and so much more than that adopted us into his family to live in intimacy with him and share in the riches of his glory. It is the greatest news imaginable, but so often I live like it isn’t true. One of the greatest powers of sin is the blinding to Truth, and I am blinded to the joy that I am fully accepted by Christ’s merit alone. So I strive to make myself worthy, but this only leads to more guilt and shame. It is only by grace that I can see that through the finished work of Christ, there is now no condemnation in my life, nothing that can tear me from my Father’s hand… even my own sin and apathy. The Christian life is not about looking good or doing the right things to make a grade. The Christian life is a relationship with the personal, infinite God of the universe and living in deeper dependence on the grace of his love.

I need to preach these truths to my heart every day. Like the Psalmist crying out, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” It doesn’t matter if I have the best day ever and lead everyone I talked with to Christ, or if I have a terribly unproductive day and fall into sin patterns that have gripped my heart like a vice for years… God the Father still looks on me and with the same fierce, jealous love and says, “this is my son in whom I am well pleased.” In Christ this is not some theoretical wishful thinking… It is more concrete and true than anything in all creation. And one day someday we will fully be able to see and believe that promise.

In Amazing Grace, John Newton wrote, “Twas grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” It is not performance that leads me home to my loving Father, but his love and grace that draws me back, pursuing me again and again when I run away from home. I pray that I and all of us in RUF will, like little children, begin to trust more fully and deeply in the sufficiency of our Loving and Gracious Father.

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O Where Has the Semester Gone!

It is December! It is finally cool enough to wear shoes and a sweater at night, and I haven't seen a lizard for a week. Time has flown by, packed with much goings on, but unfortunately my blog has been empty and sad the last few months. I shall try to give you the 100 mph overview-update of the life of RUF at UF.

In early October, the six RUFs in Florida got together for the annual Fall Conference. There were over 150 students that spent the weekend fellowshiping and growing in their knowledge of God. It was a great time to get to know people outside of the weekly routine of campus. This pic is of the group that came from UF, around 80 students!

Of course there have been many Gator football games, I have been fortunate to have gone to all but one of the home games in the Swamp. Here a hardcore group of RUFers painted, "Vandy is Gatorbait" for the Vanderbilt game.




In early November we had a worship night in the Swamp! It was cool being in the 90,000 person stadium at night singing and praying to the Lord of the universe. UF has some musical talent!





Campus Crusade had their annual Barn Dance, and there were probably about 30 RUFers that showed up. It was a fun night of line and square dancing, and amazing to see how a little twang brings out the country in people.





In mid November, RUF had a service project day, where we tore out old disgusting carpet in an elderly lady's home, and helped her clean and organize the house. I don't think the home had been cleaned in twenty years; It was gross at times but a great oportunity to be involved in mercy ministry in Gainesville.



On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Faith Pres. hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the RUF students. There was plenty of amazing food, and after dinner we went around the room sharing what we were most thankful about and how God had been working in our lives.




Last friday night, RUF hosted the second 'Parent's Night Out' of the semester. Parents came and dropped off their kids and we played and kept the children entertained so the parents could have a night on the town, without having to pay for a baby sitter. Here as you can see, RUF students are having more fun coloring than the kids are!







For more pictures of the semester you can follow the photo links on the right.

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October is in the Air!

Last night was the first night that it was cool enough to open the window in my room to let in the refreshing air, giving the AC a rest. Although it is not 'cool' by my Colorado standards, it is nice to know that fall does come to Florida and that it will not always be super hot. I laugh as I type this because it is 5pm and still the the 80's right now... but it is feeling more pleasant overall.

Most every Thursday morning the RUF guys that live in the building behind my apartment host a breakfast were we make pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. We usually have around a half dozen people show up who do not have class in the morning. This morning Eli had a special treat... fresh bacon from a friend who owns pigs. It was thick and awesome! The picture on the left was a special creation: Pepper-jack cheese covered in the fresh bacon, surrounded by another layer of cured bacon. We put this beauty on the grill outside until she was flame kissed to perfection. In the other picture you can see Eli divvying up portions to excited men. Bacon is amazing, and when you add cheese and more bacon to it... Wow. I will need to get the recipe to the chef in Heaven, lest my joy be incomplete.









Tomorrow we leave for Fall Conference! Around 75 UF students will join students from 5 other RUF's in Florida for a weekend of fellowship, prayer, and growth in grace. Pray that it will be a time of true revival in the hearts of students and that eternal relationships would be planted and cultivated. God has blessed us with every good gift (especially bacon) and I pray that as we enter a new month we can use those gifts to serve his Kingdom!

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Blinded to Death

"We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." -2 Corinthians 4:2b-6

It is often the overlooked things in life that can have the greatest controlling power. Especially if those little things or changes pile into a big problems: The straw that breaks the camels back, the snowball that starts the avalanche, the butterfly wing that creates the typhoon. I have been told (I have not been cruel enough to try myself) that if you were to throw a frog into boiling water, it would instantly and in great pain, jump out; but if you gradually heat the water with the frog sitting in the pot, he will stay there calm and unmoving until he boils to death. So to is it with the power of sin. I believe that if people were to see all the magnitude of the horror of their sin they would instantly leap away, scalded by the contact. But sin creeps in slowly and seductively, like a warming bath, slowly becoming more comfortable and clouding the evil that it is, until it is impossible and even intolerable to pull away, consummating itself in terrible death. I can see this progression in humanity and in my own heart.

A prime example of this worked out on a cultural scale is the Holocaust of the Jews. Atheistic naturalism blended with the existential ideals of Nietzsche and the Antisemitism of a militaristic and unstable Germany lead to the rise of Hitler and the moral principles of his radical National Socialist Party. In the Nazification of Germany, Jews were systematically stripped of their legal and civil rights and progressively forced out of the culture, because they were considered less than human and the cause of so many of the worlds problems. This lead to the formation of the Ghettos were Jews were effectively sealed off from the outside world and forced to live with practically no economic ties. The Nazi high command began to coordinate the "final solution" - the extermination of all Jews; a justified cleansing of a social cancer. Labor and concentration camps had existed for years, but Hitler wanted a more efficient method of genocide, and so created the extermination camps. Overall, 6000000 Jews and 5000000 other human beings were slaughtered in his cultural purging.
This picture is probably the most horrifying picture I have seen of the Holocaust. In our society we are so jaded to violence in the media that sadly even pictures of the concentration camps do not have the shock value that they should (another numbing power of sin). This picture was taken when one of the death camps was liberated by Allied troops and shows a bin filled with hundreds of wedding rings, taken off prisoners and corpses before they were cremated in massive ovens. Each ring represents a family unit that was destroyed; torn apart by hate and terrible suffering. A husband, wife, and children scream out from each one. Rings are a symbol of the covenant of marriage, which is a signpost to the glorious union that we have with Christ. And in such a callous disregard for that union and the innate image bearing of His children, I find real and deep horror.

Today we ask how the German people and the majority of the German church could have let this happen under their watch. How could such hatred and violence that destroyed one third of an entire cultural group worldwide, have been born out of one of the most sophisticated, technically advanced, culturally developed, civilized, modern societies this planet has ever seen? The Holocaust was not an exterior force stumbled upon by a few bad men in a sea of good... No, rather the Holocaust was the natural outpouring of the hell that is the human heart. A few good men were not corrupted by evil, but humanity loosened the reins on their sinful nature.

I would like to think that I would have done better in their place to stop the progression of hate, or that I would never fall to such a level; but I fear that I am deceiving myself. I always looked back on the Israelites as a kid thinking, "What idiots? Can't they understand that God is with them? They always doubt him in the midst of so many signs and miracles... I would never doubt if I saw that!" Yet here I am today, with so much more knowledge of the glorious redemptive plan of God, being this side of the Cross, with His Word at my fingertips to guide and sustain me; and I doubt and fear and run from him constantly. It is not an external blinding to the majesty of God, but my very heart that is my greatest problem.

"For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (c.f. Matthew 15:19)

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:8,10)

Sin deceives, blinds, and numbs us to the reality of who God is and the truth of who we are in relation to him. It offers us an alternative to trusting and relying on the goodness of God and sets up our own kingdom and godhead in our hearts. Without the intervention of God ripping the scales from the eyes of our hearts in Christ, we would be blinded to death... and we would go to that death like the frog in the pot: happy and warm and oblivious. We are far worse than we can possibly imagine, and at the same time more truly loved and accepted that we could ever dream or hope in and through Christ Jesus.

I love that Jesus performed miracles. Especially that the majority of his miracles were curing or restorative in nature. We must ask what purpose those miracles served in the ministry of Jesus; were they simply because Jesus felt sorry for the diseased and the lame, or is it something far deeper? Jesus preached of the coming kingdom and taught that it would not only be a spiritual kingdom but a prepared physical and tangible place. Jesus did not perform signs and miracles for the signs sake or because that was the only way people would believe him, but rather his miracles ushered in a piece of that kingdom to his audience. Christ's miracles were a reaching into the future kingdom and bringing that restoration to the broken now. His redemptive message was so concrete and sure that miracles naturally flowed from its power and truth. What power would there be in the teaching a restored kingdom, if he did not work toward that restoration. When a paralytic was brought before Jesus and Jesus forgave his sins, the Pharisees thought it was blasphemy. "But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"---he then said to the paralytic---"Rise, pick up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. (Matthew 9:4-7) Jesus saw the man's ultimate need (the removal of his spiritual paralysis) and forgives him, and also through that power then cures his physical paralysis. Christ's miracles and message were not mutually exclusive, but bound intimately by the truth of his words.

Many of Christ's miracles were the curing of physical blindness. I love the parallel symbolism of the restoration of our spiritual sight. Just as the blind cannot lead or heal themselves, so to we are dependent on the grace of God to lead and heal our hearts. Jesus used a variety of means to heal blindness: in several cases he touched their eyes, in another he spit on a mans eyes and worked in stages, in others he spoke and that opened their eyes, and in one he placed saliva mud in the man's eyes and commanded the man to wash in order to receive his sight. So to the Lord employs various means, all rooted in Him to draw us to himself. He works uniquely in individuals as a personal and perfectly suited savior.

"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!" (Isaiah 42:6,7,16,18)

God's work in this world is a freeing, restorative, and redemptive work, and just as Jesus' ministry called forth the future restoration of Paradise, so to our lives should be a reflection of the love of Heaven. Our gospel and works are not mutually exclusive; they are one in the same. Our works proceed from faith and bear witness to our faith. My loving others out of Christ's love to me is my gospel. So when people see my love they will ask about the hope that I have. May our eyes be opened to the need for restoration in the world around us. And may we sing boldly when confronted by a blinded world, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see!"

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." (Psalm 34:8-10)

O how I pray that we may see his beauty and extend that sight to others! I leave you with a poem that I wrote about the blinding power of sin that I see in my own heart and the hearts of others. I pray that we may take seriously the destructive power of sin and the glorious, all conquering, majesty of grace.


The greatest power I see in sin
Is the blinding of a man.
Wherein he sees no god but self
And believes the presumption of his good.

He scoffs at Heaven and believes he deserves
Life and good and peace: he mocks,
"How can God be good and pure
All knowing, powerful, and just;
Yet evil exist and suffering run free?"
As if happiness and joy were his due.

O man! So blinded, canst thou see
The question is reversed.
If scales removed you beheld your God
Your question would be thus:

"How can God, all good and pure,
All knowing, powerful, and just,
Allow a sinner such as I
Who mocks with unending scorn,
To draw my next fleeting breath
And not crush me in the dust?"

My due is Hell and that is just
Tis grace I live and breathe;
Yet wrath will not be stayed forever,
I pray that you may see!

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Salted with Suffering

Last night at RUF, Steve preached on suffering and how an all-good, omnipotent God could exist in a world of evil and pain. It was another hard, emotional message, because for all of us this is not just a theoretical, philosophical problem, but it is a tangible, daily reality of the world that we live in. Loved ones have cancer, addictions tear our hearts, children starve to death, families hate each other... yet God knows every hair on our heads, and governs all things to his good and perfect will. There are several partial reasons we can give as to why evil exists, and several things the Bible points to, but ultimately we must trust God and wait patiently for the day when all things sad will come untrue as Tolkien says and we proclaim with those who have endured terrible suffering at the hands of evil, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Rev. 15:3-4)

At the end of Genesis, as Joseph's brothers tremble before him in fear of his just wrath for selling him into a life of slavery, pain, and hardship, he gives us a very humbling and comforting look into the purposes of God in suffering. "But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Gen 50:19-20) Sometimes God allows us to see an aspect of his purposes for suffering in this life, most of the time he does not. In this life, through the pain and horrible injustice that we see, we can only trust as Joseph that though evil is meant against us, God is using it (the evil) for our ultimate good. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

God does not create evil nor does he sin in allowing that sin be, but he uses the suffering in this world to draw out his good purposes; most graciously and gloriously in that he uses it to draw us to himself. I find it fascinating that in the parable of the sower, suffering is the litmus paper of true faith. When the scorching sun of trial rose on the young plants with no roots, they withered and fell away. Suffering produces the roots of endurance for those who are in the fold of God. "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Rom 5:2-5) God is using suffering in the lives of his children, not as a means of wrath but as a means of refinement. Just as a good earthly father disciplines the children that he loves, so that they may learn and grow along the right path, so our heavenly Father loves to see us grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:5-11)

Often it is hard to accept that the future yield in righteousness and joy is worth the pain that we go through and see around us in the present. But the apostle Paul who went through so many more trials than I will ever face trusted in the sure promises of God when he wrote in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Through Christ our suffering has meaning... because he suffered for us; and as we are united to him in his suffering, we will be united to him in his glory. Are we to despair of hope then when we face great evil and trials from without and within? "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:37-39)

The prayer, 'Christian Calling' in the Valley of Vision ends with these words, "Grant that I may be salted with suffering, with every exactment tempered to my soul, every rod excellently fitted to my back, to chastise, humble, break me. Let me not overlook the hand that holds the rod, as though didst not let me forget the rod that fell on Christ, and drew me to him." Through tears of doubt and dread I pray that prayer, fearful of the pain of discipline even as I see it as the only catalyst to break my hardened heart. I pray that God draws me to himself in that love. With these thoughts I write these words:

Who is man to resist the rod,
So excellently fitted?
And curse the hand that tempers soul
On forge of glorious good?
Who can question He who seasons
With salt of suffering the lacking dish?
In perfect proportions
He gives and takes,
Building character, removing blemish.
It is not for man to question Him:
All knowing, powerful, and good;
But trust the council of His will
And rest in joy on hope of promise.
Then think O man, when storms rage high,
Of Him who forsaken bore the lash;
Of Him who for your soul did bleed,
To purpose glory, life, and grace.
Take heart that He who crushed His Son,
To raise Him unto glory;
Is breaking you with that same love...
A rod that draws you to Himself.

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Bits of Life

Here are some long overdue pics of the last few weeks. Life is good. God is good. I think he is using this internship to change me more than the students! Continue to pray that the gospel would be effectively proclaimed on this campus. For more photos check out the links to my facebook photo albums on the right.














































1st Row: Freshman Scavenger Hunt
2nd Row: Freshman Scavenger Hunt - TEBOW! and making bread for breakfast brigade
3rd Row: Transfer dinner and The Swamp
4th Row: Hiking Paines Prairie and seeing my first gators!
5th Row: First Game - Destroying Charleston Southern
6th Row: Painting blue and orange with some of the guys for the Tennessee game!

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Thoughts on Hell

This semester the campus minister here at UF, Steve, is preaching a series entitled "Christianity is..." This study is looking at common objections to Christianity (hypocritical, intolerant, sexist, irrational, boring, etc.) and examining what the Bible has to say about them. This last Tuesday, Steve addressed 'Is Christianity Cruel' with regard to the biblical teaching of Hell. It was a very hard message, very emotional, and would have been completely overwhelming but for the beauty of Christ's salvation through the gospel. The message got me, and hopefully others, thinking with an eternal perspective on life, and that Hell and Heaven are real places.

It is terrifying to think that Hell is a real place. At the end of all things, at the resurrection of the dead, at that beginning, we will all be judged. Those found to be in 'The Book of Life of the Lamb That Was Slain' (Rev. 13:8) will live in the New Heavens and the New Earth and be given glorious bodies exactly tempered and suited to their new existence. So to will those not found in His Book, the eternal damned, receive new bodies. Not glorious bodies, however, but horrible bodies, exactly fitted to their eternal torment in Hell. Hell will be a real, physical place of punishment. Hell is not going to be a spirit realm of shadows; it is a lake of fire, where the screams of real vocal cords will cut the darkness forever. How horrifying to have a body designed for pain and torment that cannot die. Suicide would be a welcome reprieve, but will be impossible with the damned bodies of Hell. As they scoffed God's Holiness in mind, soul, and body, so they will be judged in mind, soul, and body.


Omnipotent Creator, how awful are your judgments on those whose names are not in your Book! How unsearchable your wisdom in ordaining that evil be: to bear the weight of your wrath forever. O Lord, may I ever run to your cross; may my refuge be in your Son alone. For no other can save me from a real Hell. You were forsaken and bore torment that I cannot imagine, to atone for my great sin, substituting yourself in my deserving place. I praise you O Father for my life that you have ransomed from the pit; I rejoice that in your mercy I am called your son and will never taste of the cup of your wrath. My eternal cup is that of grace and glory, bought and sealed by Christ. Words cannot convey grace.

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Glorious Immanence

I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. - Leviticus 26:11-12


The magnitude of God's condescension in Christ can be seen as we look into its eternal ramification. Christ did not take on the form of his creatures, to dwell in his creation, as a temporary thing. He did not discard his earthly body as some disgusting thing once his atoning work was done. He did not trash his body after his resurrection to return to the Father in spirit. No, his immanence is manifest to us in that he will have, and chooses to have, a body like his creatures for eternity future. He will dwell with us in the New Earth, bringing Heaven with him. In dwelling with us and as us, he exemplifies the glories of his grace; elevating our worth, and sealing forever our place as children of God. We are made in God's image, but more than that, our entire personhood is united in him and reflects his glory!

How often I walk through life with a theoretical knowledge of God's love. I fear that he has to love me as an earthly father has to love his kids... sadly sometimes a forced or cold 'love.' I say, "O yeah, God loves me," but do I truly understand that he actually LIKES and delights in me?! I often ask questions like, "If you could hang out with anyone for a day, who would it be?" Usually the answer is a famous or rich person, sometimes if someone is feeling really spiritual they will say Jesus. But the power of the gospel is that Jesus chose ME when asked who he would most like to hang out with... and not for a day, but for an eternity to dwell intimately and vibrantly with me. He is not obligated or forced into relationship with me, but passionately pursued that relationship, even dying for the sin that separated us! The God of the universe loved me in such a way as to take on created flesh to dwell tangibly and permanently with me for eternity.

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And I Ate Them...

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. - Jeremiah 15:16


Ever since the start of summer, this has been my favorite verse. I have loved picking it apart, basking in its words and implications, and trying to graft it into my heart. There is so much significance packed into these few words. I want to share what I have found so far...

God's Word is not an optional user manual for the Christian life. It is not a set of good platitudes to live by. It is our very sustenance. When we find God's words the passage tells us we are to eat them; take them in, digest and process them for our use. In doing so we find them to be sweet, nurishing, and relevant to our needs; a joy. We find them to be delightful to our hearts, not arbitrarily, but because of their deep message and Truth: We are called by the God of Hosts, the Lord who cannot be thwarted or denied. Names have power, and through imbibing God's Word we find that because of Christ we are united to Him and brought into that most powerful Name in the universe. Our very identity is in his name, and he is the one who is calling us into a relationship with him. While I was dead in sin, his words brought me to life, gave me a heart to love him and others, and secured me in consumate fellowship with him forever!

When tempted in the wilderness to turn stones to bread, Jesus rebukes Satan by quoting for Deuteronomy 8:3, "Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Here Jesus bluntly tells us that the words of God are a daily need of our souls. The very nature of humanity is to need nurishment and man needs not only physical bread but spritual bread to survive. So often we treat the scriptures as a dainty dessert to be sampled on special occasions; Jesus demands that they be a daily nessesity for our vitality and the only way to truly grow; the source and sustainance of life.

Jesus himself is our bread, for he is the Word of God incarnate (John 1). After he fed the 5000, the people came running to him to try and secure more free food from his hand. They argued that if Jesus was from God and would feed them again, then they would believe him. "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." (John 6:31-35) In contrast to the manna from God that would rot after a day, Jesus, the Bread of Life offers himself imperishable to the people, if only they believe his message.

However, like the manna, God's mercy to us in Christ is new every morning. "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' (Lamentations 3:22-24) God's grace and mercy do not come to us as a once and for all thing when we become Christians, there is a day by day dispensation of grace to his children that is exactly fitted to our needs at the time. That is why in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." This includes not only our physical needs, but our spiritual needs as well, and the way we are filled with spiritual food is through the Word.

What do you delight in? What is the food that is fueling your life? I am always running after rotting trash to fill my belly, which leads to pain and death. How often I overlook the precious Word of life. I pray that we may find his words, and that in doing so we would be gripped with their intrinsic beauty. That we would find delight and riches to feast our souls on. For we are called by such a lovely, need-fulfilling, hope-accomplishing, death-conquering Provider.

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Mercy Falls

I wrote the following poem this summer, sitting on a rock outcrop at the edge of a mountain lake in the Colorado wilderness, as rain lightly pelted the surface of the water...

Mercy falls afresh from heaven
Yet again on this dark frame
Bringing light to wretched wanderings
Drops of hope to guide my way
Beams of love cut through my pride
Leaving vacant empty lusts
He fills all my hope and treasure
May I ever in Thee trust

Wash me Lord that I might seek you
Turn me from myself and sin
My heart is wicked ever running
Draw me home to Your embrace
May Your majesty ever pierce me
Consuming fire to my sin
Living water come to meet me
May I never thirst again

In your mercy I would linger
Ever to behold your face
Christ’s atoning work my treasure
The best of love amazing grace

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"Go and make disciples!"

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

"Go and make disciples of all nations" is terrifying. I instantly look at myself and see my weakness, inadequacy, and fear. I see the sin that eats at my life and feel that evangelism is hopeless. There are so many things I would rather do that I forget my call. I forget why and how I am to do ministry.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Amazing! Jesus prefaces our duty to witness to others with the fact that he has all power and all authority that there is or ever conceivably could be. Therefore because of his power, we are enabled to make disciples. He is with us always, while this age endures, propelling us forward, supporting us from every side, enabling us to carry out his work in this world. We are privileged children who's Daddy lets them come to work with him and push big important buttons. All the while he is there with us, finding joy in our excitement and wonder and showing us exactly what what we need to do. We are the arm of his power in this world.

What hope to my callused mind and feeble heart! When Christ cried out, "It is finished!" it was true. He accomplished what my fearful hands could never do. In his atoning death and glorious resurrection he secured not only my salvation from sin, but took the weight of evangelism onto his own shoulders. He won the war, and enables us to collect the spoils. He has planted, watered, and grown a harvest and gives us the tools to bring it into the barn.

Have you ever been working with someone and felt completely useless because they were carrying all the weight and you were just walking along with nothing to do? In Christ that is not the case, although we are not really producing the work, we are the instruments of the work, He being at work through us. Jonathan Edwards talks about this seeming paradox of our sanctification by the Spirit when he says, “In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, we act all. For that is what produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active.” Jesus talks about the yoke we bear in Matthew 11 as being easy and his burden being light because he places us in the yoke, attaches us to the plow that we have been given, proceeds to lift up the entire apparatus, and with our legs dangling in the air, he plows the field. We can find joy in our work of discipleship because he does the hard labor and at the end of the day is responsible for its culmination. He who began a good work is faithful to complete it, using the strange, broken tools called Christians.

Let us then praise Christ and spread the joy of his gospel like little kids sitting on our Daddy's shoulders, yelling to anyone we see that we are going to climb a mountain, and His legs and back are doing all the work. The gospel frees us from the guilt of not being the perfect witness and not instantly seeing massive change in those we minister to. Therefore in his power, let us go out with joy and be led forth in peace, with no fear of rejection for our identity is secure and He has already overcome the trials of our failure. God is at work!

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A Whirlwind Week +

Tubing the Ichetucknee River

Tabling in the Plaza and Freshman Lunch

RUF Large Group

Wow... a week and a half has passed since my last update. A thousand thoughts, where to begin? On the 24th of August, 2009, classes started at UF. RUF was already in full swing and the first week was a blur of tabling and handing out flyers, the first large group meeting, ultimate fruit (fruit instead of a frisbee), a game night, flamingo football (guys on one leg), a movie night, tubing the Ichetucknee River, and freshman lunch after church. It was a week of organized chaos, learning dozens (hundreds?) of new names, and connecting students to each other and to RUF.

On Monday and Wednesday of this week, the two freshman guys small groups that I am participating in started; we had our first morning ministry team meeting today and tonight I am excited to go to Manland: a night for the guys to watch the first college football game, battle each other in ping-pong, foosball, and pool, all while consuming large quantities of meat. Awesome.

God has been good to me. In the midst of the chaos there has been rest; through the challenge of learning new names and faces, I am building friendships; despite being new and unfamiliar, I have been welcomed with open arms and appreciated; although so much of my life is changing, the "Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." (Psalm 18:2)

There have been and will be hard times, times of pain and hurt as I try as a broken, wandering son to lead other hurting, fallen children to the table of the Father. But I know that He is faithful to provide the daily bread of grace to sustain, nourish, and strengthen me to his work on this campus. I have seen his hand already at work in so many ways and am excited to see where he will lead in the coming months. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I need them more than I know. Thank you so much for supporting me financially that I may be a part of this ministry at UF. God is doing great things in the lives of these students and in me, I'll keep you updated!



For more pics you can check out my facebook album The RUF Life of a Gator - Fall 09

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The Fruit of the Spirit IS...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23

I attended Faith Presbyterian this morning and the sermon was on the latter part of Galatians 5 where Paul has been speaking about our freedom and liberty in Christ and how it is not a license to sin but the empowerment to love others, and he then transitions into the works of the flesh vs. the fruit of the spirit. I picked up on a few things that stuck with me throughout the day.

First of all, I love how the passage in all the translations I have seen, reads, "The fruit of the Spirit is," not "are." This may seem slight and a trivial English quark, but I believe it is very intentional and very profound. Nicholas Cage in National Treasure 2 comments on the same profundity when he says something to the effect of, "before the Civil War when one would talk about the United States he would say, 'The United States ARE doing...", where after the same person would say, 'The United State IS doing...'" It is an issue of unity and completion. We cannot pick and choose fruit, saying, "Well, I am good at faithfulness and joy, and you are good at peace and self-control." The fruit of the Spirit is a package deal. If you have the Spirit, you will have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, AND self-control. They are all intrinsically and intricately tied together in and through the Spirit. They are His nature and so become our nature when we are united to Christ.

Secondly, "Against such things there is no law." I don't care what you do. As long as you are loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled... cut loose, run free, do whatever you want, for the fruit is the fulfillment of the law. To truly live out the fruit of the Spirit is to have perfected the law of loving God with our entire being and to then love others as ourselves. If this is the case and the fruit of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the law, then we must remember the dual purpose of the law: to show us the character of God and the way we are meant to live being made in his image, and to show us that it is impossible to obtain on our own. The law was given to show us what we are supposed to do and why (because it is God's nature) and as a microscope to hold up to our lives to show how far short we fall of that mark. A right understanding of the law leads us to the posture of Paul in Romans 7 where he cries out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" The law has to be fulfilled outside of ourselves, we are powerless to restrain is ocean of guilt, shame, and justice. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Christ took on the wrath of our rotting fruit and gave us his own sweet fruit as a free gift of his grace.

All this keeps us humble yet gives us hope. We cannot achieve the fruit of the spirit on our own, nor perfectly in this life. There is no way that we can live by the Spirit without the Spirit. Our growth in the Spirit is a dying growth; a dying to ourselves and a deeper daily dependence on his power. But he is at work... and one day, when the thin veil of this life is torn, we will be freed from the nature that still holds us to the sweet allure of sin, and we will find eternal delight in creating beautiful fruit, to give to our bountiful God, and to those around us.

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Tagging for Jesus

On Thursday night I went with some of the ministry team to paint a big RUF mural on the 34th Street wall. Using old house paint and pink spray paint, we made our mark on Gainesville. I still have a little pink paint on my toes. I never knew how fun it could be to paint huge RUF logos on street walls after midnight... just might have to do it again!

Type rest of the post here

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To Florida I Have Come!

Alli, Dad, and I entering Mississippi ~ Tropical storm Claudette from our motel room ~ Dad and I on Panama City Beach the next morning


A lot has happened in the last week. On Friday I left the mountains of Colorado and journeyed to the beaches of Florida. I pulled into Gainesville on Monday afternoon, had a RUF ministry team retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday, passed out fliers on campus Thursday, played capture the flag last night, and am going to a RUF dessert/pool party tonight. I have unpacked and settled into my new apartment with my awesome roommates, and started to figure out Gainesville. I have not figured out humidity yet, but I have discovered that one use is all you can get out of a t-shirt before it goes into the dirty clothes. A lot of things are different, many are the same, and Christ is still Lord over all.

Several people have asked what exactly I am doing here as an intern, and I usually have responded, "meeting new students, building relationships, and helping RUF at UF to better reach students with Christ." The reality of this last week is that I have no idea what I am doing here. I feel like a freshman myself, moving to a new city, new campus, trying to fit in. The students on leadership here are amazing; they could do my job so much better than I can. They know the town, the students, the campus and are organized, outgoing, and fun. Yesterday I was late to set up for capture the flag because I got lost, then couldn't find the supplies we needed in Walmart. I was stressing out, running around trying to find caution tape like the world depended on it. Then as I was rushing out to get to campus I got stuck in a traffic jam, getting frustrated and feeling quite inadequate. I was getting all worked up, and had to take a deep breath to calm myself and ground myself in the reality that my justification is not in how well I perform as an intern, or in how cool people think I am, or even in wanting to succeed, but my worth and identity is rooted and flourishes in Christ.

We talk often of our brokenness and how Christ's power is most clearly seen in our weaknesses, but I forget that feeling weak and broken actually hurts. The natural inclination of my heart is to turn in on itself to escape the pain, but by his grace I am learning to open myself to him in my hurt, loneliness, and sin; to feel his cleansing and supporting hand. I pray that I may offer this to others, that they would not see my strength but Christ's power at work. For without him, I am just a fake, running around trying to gain popularity points. With him, I can truly love others and find peace in any situation.

I have felt very welcomed and encouraged thus far, and though it seems overwhelming at times, know that I will find a place here. It is wonderful to see that wherever I go, no matter how different it is, Christ is still there. He is at work. In me, on campus, in RUF, everywhere I look he is creating a kingdom and a people for himself!

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