If you look at my Facebook album of my pictures here, you would think that we're spending all our time gadding about Vegas and doing nothing except being tourists and taking cheesy pictures. I can assure you that is not the case. We have a strict schedule Monday-Friday, and so on the weekend, particularly on our first weekend in the city, we found free fun in walking several miles around the city, taking pictures and people-watching.
A typical weekday's schedule consists of the following (including small group meetings and outreach preparation on Thursdays)
Breakfast
Worship and intercession
Lectures
Lunch
Lectures
Devotionals
Chores
Dinner
Free time/Local outreach
We haven't stopped singing and dancing since we've been here: on the street, in our rooms, at worship, through a casino, etc. We love spontaneous dance parties. We're a very joyful group! Though we 13 students have only been here for one week, there is very much a family dynamic amongst us. Everyone is providing love and support through friendship and praying over each other.
God is breaking each of us here: we came just one week ago, confident and ready to take on the world. During our orientation week, each of us has felt God breaking us, emptying us, and filling us with healing and love. I've been convicted to seek God with all my heart. It's incredibly easy to have "just enough Jesus," to feel comfortable. God doesn't want us to remain comfortable: He wants us to be vulnerable, to run barefoot with Him into the unknown. The distractions of internet, phone, TV, and my car have been (almost) removed so that I can focus fully on Him. I'm so eager to begin local outreach here in Las Vegas, but I realize that we cannot minister to and provide love until we ourselves have fallen in love again with Christ.
As God said in Hosea, He allured us to the desert to romance us so that we fall in love with Him again.
No comments:
Post a Comment