Thursday, August 23, 2012

yup, this ain't kansas.

summer's end totally took me by surprise. it's funny how summer never really gets the chance to run it's course. every other season is allowed to last as long as it wants, but we always cut summer off with school and work. how lame of us. poor summer.

i am so ok with this though because I LOVE FALL. i can't get enough. leaves crunching under boot-clad feet, sweaters, pumpkins, halloween (candy), cider, hayrides...obviously fall wins. (side note: 12 days until the return of the pumpkin spice latte)

this is the first fall  in 17 years that i'm not going back to school. at least not as a student. i am relieved to be done with the homework, but i am grateful for this opportunity to work with college students and get to spend at least one more year on a college campus.

i love college campuses. they are like little towns that have everything you need, except almost everyone is the same age and trying to figure the whole entire rest of their lives. i have spent the past three days on Akron's campus and let me tell you, i am starting to fall in love with it. Monday after our staff meeting, i was walking back to my car and just praying a prayer of thanks to God for bringing me into ministry at Akron, but also asking God to really harbor in me a love for the campus and the people in it.

That being said, i did not expect to miss Kent this much...but I do. i loved that school. And to think, i never wanted to go there. Kent has my heart. In my four years there God transformed my heart and i will never forget how he used my time at the school to really shape me. Besides that, i love the people, i love the Navs, i loved my classes, i love(d) my professors...i even grew to love that stupid brain statue. Kent is home.

So naturally, i feel a little out of my element, but no fear! i am good with change. With great joy in my heart, i am witnessed God do amazing things with the navigators at Kent. The amazing staff there now numbers, i believe, 11 or 12 (!) with the addition of a couple from Miami and 4 of my dear friends who graduated with me. i would be lying if i said it was easy leaving them, but, for whatever reason, Akron was unmistakably placed in my heart and i am so excited to see what God does through our team this year.

i definitely feel out of my element. i have already been mistaken for a freshman more than once and I'm still getting to know my team. i am happy to say though, we are quickly bonding and i really admire their hearts in spreading the gospel through building relationships on this campus. i am also really thankful for the people at The Chapel and Campus Focus who are excited for us and helping us to get started. What a blessing to see ministries working together!

If you could, please be praying for favor for our team. We are not an official student organization right now which makes it harder to make our presence known. It is exciting working from the ground up, but definitely not easy, so please be praying that we gain official standing on campus, and also that we would have the strength and joy to persevere in out calling. And of course, be praying for the students we encounter, that they will come to know the love of Christ and grower deeper in their relationships with him.

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