In terms of student activities, we had a fun end of the year BBQ, at a beautiful home here in Flagstaff, generously shared by a ministry partner here! What a blessing to have a comfortable place to relax and play together, celebrating the year.

We also had fun final celebrations with our small groups. Jeremiah had his guys over and they ate meat (OK, to be fair, Jeremiah says “we ate tri-tip, hon, not meat”). What more fun thing can you imagine? (OK, yes, I am a woman, so I don’t fully understand the bonding power of certain manly foods). But they also had a fun time talking and laughing about the year and looking forward to their various summer adventures. I took my girls up to an overlook on the observatory mesa that looks out over Flagstaff. We enjoyed sitting on blankets, eating cookies, and looking at the beautiful evening lights of the city. We reflected on some favorite memories from the year together and some key things we had learned, then were able to pray together. In the midst of it all, we laughed as some of the girls began to freak out about the dark and the momentary shock of lights shining on us each time a car went by on the road.  Jeremiah and I both had really fun groups of students, and we will miss them this summer. We are praying that they all stay focused on the Lord and take care of themselves both spiritually and relationally this summer.

Fun times at the Flagstaff observatory mesa

It was also fun doing our last discipleship times for the year. It is fun to share with students how we have seen them grow and challenge them to move forward passionately following the Lord. I enjoyed talking about worship as a natural part of life, looking at some Psalms together to see the picture of someone who finds his satisfaction only in the Lord and who longs for God above all else. This overflows into a passionate pursuit of God on a personal level and also in wanting others to experience it with us.  I am praying that I, along with them, continue to grow in passionately pursuing God in this way!

Finishing well as a staff team is also important and fun. We just returned from the Regional staff retreat in CA, where we were refreshed by hearing some National Cru leaders encouraging us to examine our own hearts to ensure that we are fully submitted to the Lord and experiencing His joy and strength.  We also enjoyed hearing from staff at other campuses about what God is doing there.

Now we turn our focus to our little team.  We have had one semester with Drew and Leah on our team, and it has been great getting to know them and both learning and relying on one another’s strengths. This week we are meeting to look ahead to next year, and we are excited for what God is going to do next year.  God is good, and He is worthy of our praise, our trust and our hope!

Thank you for being part of this year through your prayers and partnership!

Both Jeremiah and I enjoy talking to people about spiritual topics, and find that doing so only makes us more passionate to share about Jesus with people. This is because we see all the more clearly how so many worldviews don’t lead to hope and joy, and that only in the person of Christ do we find acceptance and love and hope that is not based on whether we measure up or on the ultimately illogical and dissatisfying concept that it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe it passionately.

It is fun also to see many of our students growing and taking steps of faith, realizing for the first time that it doesn’t have to be scary and can in fact be life-giving to engage with people in a real way about topics that really matter and that most people do want to think about, but maybe are afraid to vocalize until someone brings it up and asks.

I sometimes wonder if I don’t have too much on my plate, causing me to miss little moments here or there. But recently I have been reflecting on the blessings in my life, and I believe that all the opportunities I have to serve (as a wife, mother, church member, campus minister, lawyer, and friend) are all gifts from the Lord. I want to be able to confidently say, along with Paul, that “I have leaned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Phil 4:11). In thinking and praying about contentment, I have been able to see the Lord’s hand at work in and through me even more. I am able to enjoy the time I get to have with my kids at home, as well as the joys of the work I get to do.

I was reading the book Calm my Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow, and 2 of the things listed in a prescription for contentment really struck me: 1) Never allow yourself to complain about anything; and 2) Never compare your lot with another’s.  I have sought to apply them and I already see the fruit. Unfortunately, I participated in complaining (mostly to Jeremiah, about various circumstances) last semester, and I found that it resulted in a subtle poison that, if allowed to simmer long enough, leads to bitterness and cynicism.  Thankfully, the Lord gave me eyes to see my sin, and confess it both to Him and others, instead turning to “Rejoice in the Lord always!”  And I do have so much to rejoice and give thanks for – principally that God has shown me so much mercy and given me His spiritual blessings (Eph 1).  So I see very clearly that choosing to not complain is a wonderful prescription indeed, allowing me to see what is actually true in God’s sovereign goodness (amazingly, I am also seeing this truth and hope in God displayed with amazing beauty and grace by some friends who are choosing to cling to God and not complain in the midst of great sorrow at loosing children and being diagnosed with cancer. I am humbled, encouraged, and inspired by their steadfastness in the midst of brokenness).

So with that little backdrop.  let me share some of the fun, precious things I have been able to do with my three gifts from God–Isaiah, Bethany and Judah.

Isaiah is doing very well in 1st Grade, and has a wonderful teacher at the local public school. He comes home from school happy, and dives right into playing with Bethany and Judah. They are so fun to watch laughing and making up crazy stories and worlds together. I love to join in too, though they often have to correct me because I just don’t know all the details of their imaginary realms quite right. But they are usually pretty patient.

Isaiah is still my little policeman. He wants everyone to follow the rules, though he himself does not always do so. But I am seeing growing maturity in him–he is internalizing so much of what we say, and has become a big helper. He does not usually complain when I ask him to help me with various tasks, and I see him trying to help the other two learn and obey too.

Isaiah also just did a science project for school, and it was fun to walk with him through the whole process. I was so proud of him for working hard and finishing well.Bethany started preschool this semester, and is doing really well there. She picks things up so quickly, and is having fun making new friends.  We try to have special times together when she gets home after lunch; I get to hear all about her morning, read books with her, do some crafts together, or go play outside. She also loves to get in some time playing with Pippin, our dog. She likes to “train” him, and puts on her best commanding voice to do so.Bethany also displays such a soft heart for people and a trust in the Lord. I love that her first thought when she hears of anyone hurting is to suggest we pray for them. She has such childlike faith and wants to know God more–sometimes I hear her humming worship songs that Jeremiah and I play or sing.

Then there is my little Judah. He is so fun and so funny, despite his determination to assert his opinionated 2 year old will. I am enjoying some time with just him in the mornings when Bethany is at school (even though he gets his backpack ready every morning and insists that he is going to school too).  He is learning so much, and has left behind the 2 word sentences for 10 word ones. He loves to read, dance, play “swords,” do exercises with mommy, and build duplos.  He loves football and baseball and soccer too, and can kick and throw for long periods of time.  I can’t help but smile when he throws a ball and then yells out “Oh no, you missed it.” when I don’t catch it.  Most of all, he wants to be like his brother and sister. If I tell him he is 2, he insists that he is either 4 or 6. And he has so much fun with them. 

Finally, something fun we are doing all together several mornings a week is to go over the New City Catechism, which was developed out of Tim Keller’s Redeemer church in NYC. It is an app that has been a great resource, helping us to train the kids in some of the basics of the gospel and God’s word that we have talked about since they were tiny, but that they are now able to articulate more.  It is fun to hear even Judah repeating the phrases we are memorizing, and then to talk to all of them about what those words mean and what stories in the Bible might illustrate the truths. We recommend it!

I have also started reading the Narnia books with the kids (something I fondly remember my parents doing with me), and it has been fun to talk about the worlds CS Lewis created as well as the Biblical analogies that come with them. The kids are so interested in figuring out all the details and implications, though the tension is a bit much for them sometimes. I can feel their nervousness as they sit tensely on my lap…

I am currently writing from the home of a Cru staff member in Santa Barbara. Last night I was able to share at their weekly meeting about the opportunity to intern with Cru in Flagstaff next year. It went well.  Tonight I am headed up to San Luis Obispo, CA to share at a recruiting dessert they have for graduating seniors.

We have seen amazing things happen even in the last month, with 3 girls indicating decisions to follow Jesus. The harvest is plentiful in Flagstaff. The workers, however, are few. This is why I am on this recruiting trip, to see if I can get 4-6 recent college graduates to spend the 2013-2014 school year ministering to the students of Flagstaff, bringing them the Gospel, helping them grow in their faith, and sending them to reach others.

Please pray with me to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to Flagstaff.

Our students at the Beach in San Diego

So we had our annual Winter Conference in San Diego and ended up taking 8 of our NAU students with us. They road tripped out there together and bonded over adventures such as a flat tire, etc. The conference was a great experience for them though, and it was exciting to see the ways God worked in them.  The theme of the conference was “Undone,” and there were some amazing speakers who challenged the students to focus on God instead of themselves, to really see Him in all his power and glory, and yet his role as loving, personal, Father as well.  They were encouraged to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to live daily life, and experience the joy of God’s presence that we can experience because of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Then the last speaker, Michael Oh, challenged them to live as a “normal” radical Christian, because it should be what is natural for us if we are truly following Christ!

Mikayla, one of our students, decided she did not want to wait any longer to get baptized, so we went down to the COLD beach one evening and she and Jeremiah went into the ocean and she took that step of obedience in being baptized. She was so excited, and it was great to pray together as a group for her, huddled on the sand.

God is so good, and I love to see His love and His purposes transform people right in front of us.

We had 6 Juniors and Seniors come with us to the Crossroads conference for that age group. They heard talks on keeping an eternal perspective and remembering Jesus is king as they look to their future and make life choices. The main speaker talked specifically about things like Surrender and Decision making, and it was fun to see our students soak it in and struggle with what implications those thoughts have for their lives.

The week before that conference, we did an outreach on campus here at NAU. We called it “Think: What’s Your Perspective” and, as a community, we sought to respectfully ask students about their perspectives on spiritual things and, if they were willing to hear, share the Biblical perspective. The most exciting thing about it was seeing almost all of our students participate. Our student leaders did a great job training the other students in how to engage with their fellow students. We all wore T-shirts, responded to questions from friends and classmates about the shirts, and came out to the tables in the Union to invite students to stop and share their views with us there. I saw our students praying for each other and encouraging one another, as well as taking steps of faith to share their perspective after listening and dialoguing with students about those students’ views.

The week before that, my Small Group of girls went to a local Rescue Mission to help out during a meal. It was fun to see some of them step out of their comfort zone and serve. Many of us enjoyed talking to the guests there (people from the community facing hard times and from around the country passing through Flagstaff). I heard a few crazy stories and interesting spiritual perspectives. One man, from the East Coast, shared about some of his religious experiences as he has explored various religions, but said only recently he was open to hearing about Jesus again because he met a deep-thinking, authentic Christian who made him re-think some of the reasons he had rejected the Christian faith before. I will continue to pray for him.

Overall, we are encouraged. God is at work within Cru here at NAU. We look forward to what He will continue to do, and we are praying that our community continues to become more authentic and vulnerable while staying welcoming and outward focused. We know that keeping our eyes on Christ is what will help!

God has done some cool things in the last month, especially through a recent outreach we did on campus. Check it out.

Often, it isn’t what you might think. Today I met with two great men, though they are spiritually young. We have been reading through Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden (a great tool for discipleship). As happens often, actually, the was a misunderstanding and neither one of them did the homework from the workbook that I had spent a decent amount of time making sure I had done to be prepared for out time. They had instead read an article called This World: Battlefield or Playground that I had given them as an addendum from last’s week discipleship lesson. I was therefore sitting there with nothing “prepared” but my own biblical knowledge.

As we began to hang out and I asked them how they were doing, it was mentioned that the recent homecoming king and queen were part of the GLBU, and had cross-dressed for the homecoming ceremony and football game. This did not particularly surprise me about our particular campus of Northern Arizona University. I decided it would be a good time to look at Romans 1 and discern what God thinks of this kind of display. I opened to this section mainly to look at Romans 1:32—”and although they know the ordinances of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death,they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” We also looked at 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and they were amazed to see these verses that seem to be describing our culture right now in Flagstaff and in the United States.

We started reading the article, pausing to look at Psalms 1 & 2 and talking about how the are 2 kingdoms in this world, and that God laughs at the pitiful attempts to fight against Him, but also at the wrath of God against ungodliness, and the benefit towards those who “kiss the Son”. We talked about how if we see the world as a playground, we tend to live for when we can frolic, but if we see the world as a battlefield, then we expect to fight. We talked about how we are not yet home, but await the rest from the battle. We talked about how we get a bit of the foretaste of home inside the people of God through the Spirit.

Then I asked what we are going to change in light of these truths. Both of them talked about reding the bible more consistently. One talked about being more bold in speaking up in class as well as speaking to friends about spiritual issues. I took away the need to spend much, much more time in prayer for those that God has given to Lori and I to shepherd.

I didn’t plan to talk about these things, but it is one of the foundational things that affects how I view life, that affects my daily living. It is a worldview issue that I’m not sure would have really come up in our discipleship. Wats fun is that they really want to have a men’s movie night and watch Red Dawn and talk about being at war. We’ll see how it goes.

The theme for the weekend was “All Things New,” which enabled us to focus on our new life in Christ and how walking with God means our perspective and our mission and our hope are all new. It was great to see some of the students open their eyes to see new things about God even from the beautiful creation surrounding us. It was also super encouraging to hear some of the students engaging with one another about faith. I heard one student ask another one how they came to know the Lord, and overheard other conversations about how they are so glad they decided to dive into caring about their faith more up here at College. God is on the move, and we are thankful! Thank you for your prayers. Please pray that community continues to go deeper in our small groups and other activities, so that those students who were unable to come on the retreat experience that depth as well.