Summatime Providence

Hello! Oh summer... where'd ya go? My summer was uncertain and that's an understatement. I came home expecting to have a job, but to my immense chagrin only received an email telling me that my job at harley had been eliminated by the hiring back of a supervisor. At first I thought it was God's way of releasing me to follow a calling to work at a Lutheran Outdoors Youth Camp in the Black Hills. Well, I was wrong. So, worse financial aid+no job+raised tuition=complete uncertainty about attending swat in the fall. And, (I mean this in an extremely non-casual way) God provided every week. I basically had a different job every few weeks. Everything from masonry to coffee to day camp and, ultimately, back to motorcycles for the rally. I've still been worrying though... Finances are really really stressful. But then today my Catholic grandma (the nutty one who hates my mother)wrote me a random check for a grand. Say what? Slowly I'm beginning to see how He works quietly through those places that one least expects. It's quietly rejuvenating.

Hope ya'll had a fantastic summer!

Love you!

Hana

Corners

I’ve been thinking about a passage we talked about in Leading Witness:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.’” (Exodus 14:2)

There are two things worth noting here: first, after all that trouble of escaping from slavery in Egypt, they’re turning around; and, second, that God is backing them into a corner here, so that they’re vulnerable to attack.

I came across this passage in Luke the other day, and it’s kind of similar:

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let's go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.” (Luke 8:22)

Backed into a corner again: the disciples in a boat, in a storm, in the middle of the lake.

Corners keep coming up in our lives, don’t they? About a month ago, a girl from my high school was hit by a car. Her head suffered nearly all of the impact. Ambulances rushed to the scene—she was alive, but only barely. Another corner.

But this is where the story gets good, because God uses those corners to reveal His glory. The Israelites are backed against the Red Sea—so what does God do? He has Moses separate the waters so they can escape. A great storm is flooding the boat, making the disciples fear for their lives? Not a problem. Jesus tells off the wind and rain, and the storm ceases.

And a car hits a girl and causes brain swelling? She came home yesterday and continues recover remarkably well. There’s God’s glory! He is faithful.

Of course, we know very well that the story doesn’t always end quite like that. Usually, people in such serious accidents die. The cornerest corner of all.

But we’ve seen that corner before too, haven’t we? A man hanging on the cross, a gash in his side, breathing his final breath in anguish.

There could have been no Resurrection if Jesus hadn’t died first. God’s greatest glory comes out of corners.

God is good

So, y'all know I was talking about my family a lot during camp, and especially about my dad. Well, one of the women there prayed with me about him, for healing and forgiveness and reconciliation, and I came home, and guess what? My sister started talking about my Dad and how he's been treating my youngest siblings (I have three half-sibs, ages 7, 8, and 8) and how different he's being with them than how he was with us when we were that age. Then my Dad called, to wish me a happy birthday, and I talked a little bit about camp, and it went great. He'd invited my full siblings and I to go to France with him and his wife and the littles, and I've decided to accept. His emails have been so gentle and apologetic-sounding that I'm not as worried about it as I was. It's like he's a totally different person, or something. I'd also prayed to God to help me be a better witness to my family, and I get home and my younger sister, who up 'till now has been an avowed atheist, is asking my brother and I more and more about God, and even going to church with me. She told me, "Hearing you and Lee [my brother] talk, it sounds like utter blasphemy to not believe." She's not Christian yet, but hearing that was amazing. God is good.

Welcome back from Chapter Camp!

Hello! Swarthmore Christian Fellowship has just returned from InterVarsity Chapter Camp 2010, and we're itching for some kingdom work to do. This blog will serve as communication for ideas and inspiration and follow-up in the three months we have before school starts again this fall. Post about new ideas you have, great things you've read, anything God has told you, even your frustrations and doubts as you experience "post-mountain syndrome." We're building community here even though we're scattered over the summer.

- Andrew

P.S. Tagging (labels) makes it easy to locate posts of various themes or topics. Some suggestions for tags are: "prayer request", "NSO", "answered prayer", "random", "Bible verse", "picture", "video", "large group", "small group", etc.!