Summer in the City

So, It happened… My first summer project on staff and not as a student. It would be almost impossible to compare the 2. They are such different experiences. Both incredibly challenging, life changing, and full of fun!
I refuse to pick a favorite… But this summer will be hard to beat.
I wish I had been blogging the whole way through the 6 weeks in Chicago. But to be honest there was no time! So much happened and I learned so much that there would be no way to live it and also blog about it at the same time. But I would not change a thing.

Other than falling completely in love with the city, my 2 highlights would have to be the students and the staff. The adventures and activities were fun. But people make the experience.

There is something about sitting in a room here during worship that really moves me. The Lord is present no matter where you worship. He never changes. But there is something about knowing the people you are worshiping along side that deepens the experience. I can understand what Christ has done in my life. I know His character from my personal experience of Him. But to see Him through the eyes of someone elses’ story makes Him so much richer. Intensified.

As I walk in the room, it is packed with 20 somethings laughing, hugging, and joking. It is refreshing. There is an energy here that makes you feel alive. Seeing their raised hands, closed eyes, and bowed heads in Worship brought tears to my eyes.
Here in this room is evidence of the Lord. People do not, will not change [period].

But Jesus changes us.

Before my eyes are things that you could never guess. Lives that my sheltered childhood never prepared me for. Hurts you can’t see from the outside. Sin committed to them and by them. When I say them, I really mean us.
The world is cruel.

All kinda of abuse, broken homes, alcoholics, drug addicts, gang members, and exotic dancers.  Drug dealers, same sex attraction, false religious background, people addicted to sex and pornography (guys and girls), eating disorders, criminal records. Lies, deceit, fear, failure.  All these were experienced before these students reached the age of 23.

It’s all there folks. We can’t ignore reality. We are broken.

The thing we all had in common is that we are redeemed. We were free. New creations.
None of us are perfect by any means. Our past sin still has repercussions in our lives. But we are not that anymore. By God’s grace He did not wait for us to get it together. He did not mind having a liar in the family, or an alcoholic. He accepted us.

I praise the Lord that he does not mind mess. He is not a type A personality that needs everything just so.
To see these students who have experienced (and are still in the midst of) more pain than I could ever imagine, raising their hands to God with joy on their faces is inspiring.

TO dwell on the bad endured by these students makes me feel like I am drowning. But there is nothing that our God can’t overcome. There is no one that He does not want. Even those we would count as a lost cause. God is able. God is willing. More so than any of us are.

These lives have been transformed because someone was willing to step in and share God’s truth with them. If they had already experienced such brokenness, think of what could have been if they had not met Jesus.

If the truth we believe is not transforming then are we really believing truth.

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