today, the 2100 team went to inn on the park to have lunch with the worship and theater teams for urbana this year. we scattered ourselves throughout the tables available, and i sat next to a woman named audrey. audrey is a staff worker in san diego (coincidence? i think not!) and a staff worker named yasmine who is based in seattle. conversation was getting to a slow start, so i just kept my mouth occupied by taking bites of my lunch.
i noticed that audrey kept asking me questions, mostly about school and my sorority. and since i pretty much knew nothing about her, i started asking her how she got to be a staff worker in san diego, and she was telling me how she went from working at UCSD's successful fellowship to helping start up the chapter at southwestern, a community college located a stone's throw away from mexico and whose students are less than ambitious and predominantly from less affluent families. you can imagine how difficult it is to start up a chapter on a campus where students don't live there, and have very little interaction with their classmates outside of the classroom. not to mention, the lack of motivation of the students most likely took a major toll on her ministry. however, audrey found that hanging out in the cubicles where student organizations were located would allow her to completely change one woman's life.
she was just telling me all of these stories from her life and how she made such a big difference in her acapella group in college unknowingly, and her experience with a student who completely changed her life around, becoming willing to give up the pleasures of life to follow the Lord. she kept reinforcing how God used her in so many ways that she would never expect, and she was even telling me that He could use me to make a difference, especially in the greek scene. when audrey initially told me this, i had heard all of this before, either from my friends or myself. however, hearing it from a complete stranger had a much greater impact than i could ever expect. i understood that God really could use me to reach out not only to the girl in my sorority, but to all the other broken people on campus that are hiding their brokenness by pretending that everything is swell.
i knew that everything she was telling me were things that i already knew, but hearing it from someone who has been out there and who knew nothing about me, yet could see me being used in so many ways was extremely eye-opening. i could hear that God was using her to speak to me, and i could also see that God could use me in the same way as well! she gave me her contact info, so that i could get more in touch with greek ministry, and i can't wait to creepily friend her on facebook.
then i got to thinking, and i realized that none of this was by chance. it was no coincidence that i got an internship with 2100, it was no coincidence that i attended the luncheon with the theater and worship teams this afternoon, and it was not by chance that i sat at the table where i sat, and it was not by luck that i sat next to audrey, and it was definitely positively not coincidence that she was telling me what she was telling me. there was no way that she could've known that what she was saying would have such a large impact on me, but it did.
then tonight, we went to the evening session of ONS and helped to welcome the asian american new staff. it was great to see the great number of asians going on staff, especially when the culture emphasizes success and prosperity versus dependence on the intangible. hearing where all the different staff came from, but yet share a similar culture was especially apparent to me, and i came to see the leap of faith they took in becoming a staff worker. if their families are anything like mine, they have been taught their entire lives to work hard in school to find a good job so that they can make a good living. however, their very act of following God defies what they've learned their whole lives. not only are they sacrificing comfort and a certan standard of living, but they are really trusting God to take care of them. this reminds me that if these staff can put their lives on the line for Jesus and trust that He will take care of everything, why can't i surrender a homework assignment, a term paper, or a final test? if God will take care of even the birds and these staff workers, won't He take care of me as well?
then i got to thinking, and i realized that none of this was by chance. it was no coincidence that i got an internship with 2100, it was no coincidence that i attended the luncheon with the theater and worship teams this afternoon, and it was not by chance that i sat at the table where i sat, and it was not by luck that i sat next to audrey, and it was definitely positively not coincidence that she was telling me what she was telling me. there was no way that she could've known that what she was saying would have such a large impact on me, but it did.
then tonight, we went to the evening session of ONS and helped to welcome the asian american new staff. it was great to see the great number of asians going on staff, especially when the culture emphasizes success and prosperity versus dependence on the intangible. hearing where all the different staff came from, but yet share a similar culture was especially apparent to me, and i came to see the leap of faith they took in becoming a staff worker. if their families are anything like mine, they have been taught their entire lives to work hard in school to find a good job so that they can make a good living. however, their very act of following God defies what they've learned their whole lives. not only are they sacrificing comfort and a certan standard of living, but they are really trusting God to take care of them. this reminds me that if these staff can put their lives on the line for Jesus and trust that He will take care of everything, why can't i surrender a homework assignment, a term paper, or a final test? if God will take care of even the birds and these staff workers, won't He take care of me as well?
