Three or four months ago, I stopped into our college minister Jerry's office during my (then) break at 10:30 am, probably with the intention of talking to him for about 5 or 10 minutes about something semi-important.

I ended up staying for the whole hour, and come to think about it, I was probably late for my editing class.

Jerry had just been at an annual college chaplains' conference, so I asked him if there was a topic of conversation that had been popular throughout the weekend.

He talked for quite awhile about a major issue college ministers are currently facing: developing programming/encouraging dialogue amongst students who are in the 18-22(ish) range and have arrived at college with the same basic questions of faith they've had since they were confirmed into church membership.

Lingering questions they've had answered, perhaps, but not in a way that was sufficient for their faith exploration and growth.

He went on talk about the mindset present in a wide array of church communities, a "Q&A" mindset of sorts:

You have a question, we have an answer. (Or, We'll find one.)

Beginnings and ends.

Bringing faith full-circle.

Step-by-step guides.

This, according to Jerry, has sustained some sort of spiritual growth amongst churches, but our generation, "Gen Y," continues to seek more than automatic, easy answers and inactive faith journeys.

"Gen Y" is, I'd say, very unique. If I look around and think about what defines those students here at Muskingum and my friends at other colleges across the country, the questions/thoughts would be like:

How do you know that?

Are you sure?

We'd better look into this.

and...

Is God really like that?!

This is why college students' hearts and minds really amaze and intrigue me. It seems like students want God to matter, make a difference in their whole life. And even if they're not at the point of making a decision for that, they want to see how whole-life integration works in others they know.

This is just really awesome to me.

The ultimate paradox, then, becomes a reality:

As we engage doubt, ask questions, explore new ideas, think, leave our old assumptions behind and approach God in wonder of who He really is, we grow. Even if our own skepticism initially annoys us, we are able to know that seeking God through inquiry really does go hand-in-hand with growth.

So...I like these Web sites a lot, especially because they take time to explore issues relating to life, God, relationships, careers, family...the list goes on. I hope that you too will find them to be reliable and helpful.

explore.

boundless.org
everystudent.com

Keep serving Jesus.

-Jessie

I'm displacing just a little bit of time before writing my final response paper for Women & the Bible. My good friend Alicia has a cool, unique passion for photojournalism and is sweet about people using her photos for ministry & personal use. Anyway, here are a few of her snapshots.

Left: Brown Chapel on a sunny day. Muskingum is a church-affiliated school (PCUSA) and the chapel serves as a place for worship, concerts, lectures and other happenings. That kind of sounds like a viewbook, yes, but the chapel is a special place, and God is at work big-time on this campus.

Below: From left to right, the Ska House, Lambda Chi Omega (our Christian sorority) and the Lighthouse, where I've lived this year with five really beautiful women. Next year I am going to be an RA in Kelley Hall, our largest co-ed residence hall on campus, and two new women will be moving into the Lighthouse. I am excited to go 'back' to dorm life, but will miss 133 Lakeside a lot. These girls are in for some huge ministry next year, though!

If you've been reading, thanks. :) I have the intriguing, sorta stalkerific StatCounter (my friend Joe introduces me to these things) and have had the chance to look at a few of yours, too.

Keep reading! Hopefully I can be semi-consistent in posting.

Today I was re-reading the first few pages of Searching For God Knows What (check out Donald Miller's Web site here), and came across this:

"To be honest, though, I don't know how much I like the idea of my spirituality being relational. I suppose I believe this is true, but the formulas seem much better than God because the formulas offer control; and God, well, He is like a person, and people, as we all know, are complicated. The trouble with people is that they do not always do what you tell them to do. Try with your kids or your spouse or strangers at the grocery store, and you will see what I mean. The formulas propose that if you do this and this and this, God will respond..."

Okay, so Miller is a brilliant creative nonfiction writer and can get away with more than most Christian writers just because, well, he's Donald Miller, but there's something bigger here, I think.

We throw around a lot of jargon like "A relationship with God is vital," or "My relationship with God is my all," but I got to thinking about that when I came across this passage. How often do I take intimate relationships that are the most consistent (most loving, most important, etc.) --my parents, for example-- for granted?

A lot.

In a time when inconsistency is the norm and fulfillment hasn't really taken root anywhere, our understanding of covenantal relationships has become skewed.

It is woven into our everyday living, really.

How, then, can we even begin to approach God -- the most life-giving, interactive and transforming relationship we are able to have?

Miller, in Searching..., goes on to explain that our basic ideas of God, in their very first stages, can be trapped inside a box which we have carefully wrapped and, at our own leisure, will open and deal with tomorrow, or something like that. (He really doesn't use that exact language, but ding, ding!, I know I do this.)

Perhaps God would have it for us to begin to understand that His relational characteristic is much more than, well, just a characteristic, but something greater -- something life-consuming...something even revealing our own insecurities, doubts and questions.

It's crazy to think that God's constancy, of which we have no accurate example than, say, our family or close friends, could be so complex! The simplicity of the gospel message, I think, is so wonderful because of its ability to communicate a God who is, in fact, mysterious and passionate and complex in a way that is overwhelmingly awe-striking.

In our struggle to understand God as One capable of relating with and to us infinitely deeper than any other person we know in the 'here-and-now,' it brings comfort knowing that as we wait upon Him (Ps. 130), putting all the hope we can in what He has promised us, He will hear us. Beyond-question, unchanging listening.

To just be with God. No agenda. No desire for concrete 'productiveness' in our interactions with Him. To be satisfied -- and thankful (really, really thankful) for what He's doing in our lives and in our hearts.

Keep serving Him.

-Jessie

"The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven...
And early power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice."
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

+ Clothed in flesh.

+ Life-aim of humility.

+ Rejected. Risen.

+ Heaven reaches down -- hope's restoration.

+ Abounding, revolutionary grace.

How exciting is it that God's provision in Jesus not only points to a large picture of His overwhelming plan for Creation, but also His unique and beautiful drawing-in and caring for those shoved aside by communities and their people.

And that His mercy would know no limits!

Really, it makes me want to ask, "Why?" while trying to understand that the question isn't easily answered and all I need is response -- obedience -- trust.

Take care, all. :)

"The stark reality is that Jesus holds the power to change this world, but this world is seeing less and less of Him through the people who bear His name. We have developed the worst kind of memory loss. We do not remember what needs to be remembered, and we try to ignore what should never be forgotten. As a result, when we finally do make a noise, it leaves nothing real in its wake. It is obvious to all who hear that the explosion was a fraud.

If, indeed, the world and this nation have become places that we condemn and criticize more often than affect, something is drastically wrong with the example we are living...

We must stop being flashbangs:

• Choosing style over substance
• Communicating truth by false means
• Impersonalizing our faith
• Living by rules we do not take the time to understand
• Looking for the perfect thing to say instead of the right way to live(!)"

Woah. This guy (Mark Steele) gets it.

My prayer is that I would really be able to get over myself, not in a "I have a clear understanding of humility before God" sense, but in authentic obedience to the One who draws near to me in spite of my "choosing style over substance" and tendency toward self-completion.

God-intervention.

That He would --and will continue to-- step into our world toward a rising up of joy and radical change.

It's His intention, and He is willing to employ us.

Big stuff.

So...here's something I've been thinking about in the past few days, in part because of "Flashbang," a Relevant-published book by Mark Steele (which, by the way, is hilarious and really honest):

Our production-orientation has us screwed up.

I can see this in my own walk with the Lord and am imagining I'm not the only one who must continually offer up my ego-projection to God...a God who doesn't seem concerned about the face we put on for the world to uncover and 'figure out.'

There's something really refreshing and wonderful about being raw (some striking synonyms: new, unconversant, unpracticed, unseasoned, unskilled, untrained...) before God. Not just "I'll give you the parts of me that really need your work and keep a tight grasp on all the rest," but full-out, uninhibited surrender.

You know, I think sometimes we mull over this (idealistic) image of ourselves to the point where a tendency toward 'image upkeep' kicks in: reflection centered around maintaining --and even nurturing-- our own uniqueness, passions, abilities...

It is all too easy (comfortable, even) to be entangled in this mess.

What about Paul's urging in Romans?

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

So...lots of predestination stuff, yes (more on that this summer, maybe), but look at his invitation: a call to be conformed into the image of Jesus -- in Americanspeak, to leave our baggage behind and allow Jesus to pilot the plane...on a long, sometimes strange, but pretty thrilling ride. Cliché, perhaps, but real.

This image stuff is exciting, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of "Flashbang." (Steele has a blog for the book: check it out here)

Until next time, keep serving Jesus, folks.

Today during discipleship with Laura, we read the third chapter of John's Gospel. Take a look at this passage:

John the Baptist's Testimony About Jesus

John 3:22-30, emphasis added

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less..."

Here John the Baptizer is -- a called, equipped servant of God with a full understanding that his work could only encompass so much; a recognition that even he was unworthy to untie the sandals of the One for whom the way was being prepared (John 1:26-27).

I love his response in v. 30: "He must become greater; I must become less." It brings me hope to know that Jesus' closest friends recognized his Messiah-authority and had such humble but firm responses to his ministry beginnings.

When we attempt to step out of the comfort and support of this place (a tough task in and of itself), God tends to work through the immediacy of outside perspective. His greatness is enough. Not only is it enough, but it is vital, and will propel us forward in the biblical understanding of humility: not being 'stepped on' or 'taken advantage of,' but genuine trust in the One who calls us to respond in obedience so that we can actively be a part of his working in our world.