What does it mean to carry hope?

This year my job title is campus staff or ministry intern. The roles include bible study leader, intern team member, gathering freshmen. But another role I have is to carry hope.

What does it mean to carry hope?
I think I am learning what it means to carry hope that Jesus is at work. In the midst of hardship I am learning. In the midst of rejection. When only one person of the 30 we invited to come to bible study come. I am learning what it means to carry hope to the people who come, for my coleaders Aris and Jing. For myself as this is my job and it seems like I am failing.

I am learning to carry hope that God is good and has good plans. And next week we are going to go at it again and try to invite differently. I am not just putting on a smile. I admit this week sucked, but I am carrying hope that god will use this. That we will go at it again in prayer and faith that God will do a new thing next week and every week.

My prayer is this: (for myself, for Aris, for Jing, for CU IV, for all of CU, for the world!)
Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live;
do not let my hopes be dashed.
(Psalm 119:116 NIV)
Amen

Luke 10: Jesus sends us as he sends the 72

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.' (Luke 10:1-11 NIV)

What does this mean for us as Christians in 2012? Is the harvest still plentiful. Here at CU Boulder ,is Jesus at work opening hearts? In the Darley dorm Aris, Jing and I were sent to is God at work?

What about when we spend hours planning and inviting and 1 person comes? Do we give up and go on? Maybe, but maybe we wipe the dust off our feet this week and go at it again . Maybe for next Tuesday we just get to know one person and bring them.

God I want to be faithful to you. Please help us to believe you have good planned for us as leaders and for Darley and the 480 students there.
Amen

Job 15: Where is God? Yet who are we to question God?

But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God. "Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have? Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash, so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth? "What are mortals, that they could be pure,
or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
(Job 15:4, 7-9, 11-14 NIV)

Who am I to question God and his plans?

And yet I do. When ministry is hard and it seems like God is not providing I question God and his goodness and whether he even cares. When Aris and I spend hours working on our bible study and inviting people and one new person comes, I doubt. Does God really care about the Darley dorms, does he really care about those freshmen or about us?

Yes! Jesus died on a cross for them! But maybe they are not ready for a bible study. Maybe right now what they need is an authentic and fun community.

God I don't understand you or your plans. But in the midst I want to be faithful and believe you are at work.
Amen

Who is in Control? Proverbs 16:9

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9 NIV)

Do I really believe this?

Thinking back on my college experience, I would have to say yes. My plan was to go to Colorado School of Mines for an Engineering degree. But God so much more along the way as I became involved in InterVarsity. My faith slowly became a part of my whole life. I met people who changed by perspective. I labored in ways that changed my heart. And today with my engineering degree I work for InterVarsity sharing the gospel and love of Jesus with college students.

Not my plan but Gods. And I love it!

Meditation Psalm 37: Patient in righteous living

Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
(Psalm 37:3-9 NIV)
God I have little faith. But God I want to believe that in time righteousness will being good to the world. Please Lord help my unbelief. Please help me to live by your righteousness patiently trusting in you and acting as you guide even when I doubt.
Amen

Job cries out to God for a Savior

"He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together, someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot. (Job 9:32-35 NIV)

I hear in Jobs heart a longing for a savior. A God who knows his suffering and pain. And God has answered for all of us. Jesus came to live among us to suffer and die for us. The Son of God became flesh for us. Praise be to God our Father and Jesus our Lord an savior.
Amen

Meditation Psalm 34 For those who doubt

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:8-10 NIV)

This is the message I want to believe and feel with my whole heart. That you Lord are good. This is the same message I want people to hear when I share the gospel and when students come to InterVarsity who do not believe. Our God is good. That is why he sent his son Jesus. That is why he loves us. That is why he longs for his lost people to come home to him.

Not because he needs them to or because he is arrogant. But because he is good and he has good for us. In him alone Jesus says is the best possible life.

Please Lord bring your people home to you. Open hearts, send us your servants to boldly proclaim your son Jesus in his life, death and glorious resurrection.
Amen