In Which God Authored Grace

In Sunday School we are reading "Spectacular Sin" by John Piper (great book by the way, I definitely recommend it). Yesterday we talked about how in order for grace to come true, there had to be sin for there to be something for God to save us from.  "Saving grace was the plan that made sin necessary. God did not not find sin in the world and then make a plan to remedy it. He had the plan before the ages, and that plan was for the glory of sin-conquering grace through the death of Jesus Christ" (59). Essentially, sin was necessary for God's grace to even matter. But that doesn't mean that God created sin. It means that he allowed it. Which is an interesting and weird concept all together, but it show's Gods amazing and awesome sovereignty. He knew His plan before He even had a plan.

I'm also currently reading Narnia over again in preparation for Seminary. Yes, it's necessary. You don't know how much these people love their Christian fiction. It's great. But anyway, in The Magicians Nephew, the first book in the series, Digory and Polly get sent to another world and through a series of events end up in the beginning of Narnia with an evil witch, their uncle who sent them there and a Cabby and his wife.

Before this world even started, there was evil in it. Do you see what C.S. Lewis did there? Clever. The evil witch was in the Narnia before Narnia even began. How is that possible? How is there evil without there being anything? Good question. But it's interesting to think about the parallels here.

As Aslan creates the world he sings and breathes it into existence, much like our God. He creates the grass and the trees and the landscape, valleys and mountains and oceans and lakes. Every kind of animal we know and we don't know. He is the image of God in our world. And much about Narnia is similar to the way God created our world (smart, C.S., I see what you did there).

Before Narnia began there was evil. " You see friends...that before the new, clean world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it; waked and brought hither by this son of Adam...evil will come of evil, but it is still a long way off, and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself" (161). Before our Earth began, God knew that there would be evil that He would need to overcome. It was a part of His plan, and it is more majestic, and beautiful and magnificent than we will EVER realize.

It's amazing how BIG God is. He's big. He's REALLY big. He has everything in His hands and has a perfect plan for all of it. And that is incredible. And life-giving. He made us, for His purpose. Not the other way around. And that gives me hope, and freedom to live as He called me to live because I have been and am being redeemed daily. I can do nothing wrong in His eyes and that gives me freedom to be who He called me to be. To be sanctified. Humbled. Redeemed. Loved.

Something to Love

You know what I think is so awesome about RUF? Its a free group of friends, that you automatically have, no matter who you are or what you do or what you major in. Everyone wants to know you and hang out with you and talk to you. They want to get to know you, invest in you, not for their own gain but for Christ's. We want you to come to RUF, not to grow our own numbers, that would be nice, yes, if we had a hundred people in attendance each week, but what we really want is a solid community. A safe place. A place where we love each other and lean on each other and can be vulnerable with each other.

That's what's so special about RUF being a relational ministry. It really makes the person feel valued, feel wanted. I think that is the most important and most valuable way to look at ministry because it gives the person back their face instead of counting them as a number. That's why I'm so glad that RUF is small. That's why I want to grab and talk to everyone who walks out of RUF on a given Wednesday.  Yes, I struggle with that because it's out of my comfort zone, but I really do want you to connect with someone. Have small talk with someone, be loved by someone. Even if it is for 5 minutes.

That's why I miss Mary V and why I wish we had an intern this semester. Because they would make people feel wanted. Because they would have time to make people feel wanted. Me and all the rest of the Ministry team is busy scrambling around our schedules, and we don't always put relationships at the top of our priorities list, which is a character flaw for all of us, but still a hard thing to do in college.

I love RUF, and I'm glad things are going the way their going because I think it is helping us all grow immensly, but it doesn't mean its not hard, and we're not loosing people because of it. I just hope the way we interact with each other and meet new people will help us to sustain ourselves through our transition. I know that RUF national values Baylor RUF and I hope that our Ministry Team can live up to what they need from us. I value Baylor RUF as much if not more than RUF national and I sincerely believe if we keep acting and relating the way we are, we will last through our changing ministry.

I'm so glad I'm in Waco for this last year at Baylor. I miss St Louis and all of me wants to be in Seminary right now, but I know that God has placed me here, in this role for a reason, and I think He is working in me and through me to grow me in maturity and spirtuality to be exactly who He wants me to be.