Lo que Dios hizo

So I've been having a crazy amazing time down here. I just got back yesterday from 3 weeks in Buenos Aires Argentina, 10 days of which I was at a Harvest Evangelism conference with Abby Irvin. So this whole time Ive been learning, making mistakes, testing my own desires, and trying to follow God, and being surprised by Him. I dont really want to leave this place though. I seriously don't have to. But the main reason I'll come back is for UNC. I have a vision for it. I have faith that God wants to work miracles on campus and that He desires to show His face to His people and that His name will be famous. I was freaking terrified to go on this Evangelism conference bc, heck, it was evangelism, I didnt want ppl to think I was a Jehova's Witness or that I wanted to push my faith on them. But thats far from what happened. This is what I learned. I learned to bless people, fellowship with them, pray for them, and proclaim God's fame. I learned to encounter the Holy Spirit, and that sharing with others and teaching them to encounter the Holy Spirit as well is just enough space for God to work. Like for evangelism, and well, for living, the more we stop trying to do things and convince people of our religion and the more we shut up and start praying and believing is when things start to happen. So that's a very general summary of what I'm bringing back to Carolina.

Right now, I know a handful of people from Carolina who are desperately trying to seek after God, and another handful who are just bored with it, and have no desire to associate themselves with God. Through amazing grace, I've been brought out of that. But those people must be crazy, you know, straying from God and being bored with faith. Not so much. I think part of the problem is me. And every other person on campus who claims to be a Christ follower. Let's actually point people to the cross. In our encounters with people, instead or in addition to trying to counsel them or preach to them or encourage them, let's first and foremost let all that be paired with helping them to encounter God.

Um, not really sure if I'm digressing or not, but really the point of this is to share with a bit of what God's been teaching me, what you should expect when I get back, and also to share this scripture I read today. Check out 1 Peter 1, especially verses 13-25. I can't help but think of InterVarsity when I read it. IV and all the Christians on campus as well. (Go read it now) Okay, so as a campus ministry, we want to be God's hands and feet in extending grace and love to the campus and to each other. GREAT! Seriously! But I think we need more of a foundation than that. Yes, we may say in a vision statement or something that we are doing this because of God's love that compels us or something, but as a campus ministry, we need to build up more of a foundation before or as we are moving outside our walls. Walls...now thats another topic for another time. Anyways, so hang with me for a sec, bc I see that in this passage, we are called to love each other sincerely, which once again we so desire for campus, a love that is extended to all in an unbiased manner and that is full of grace, but look at all that is written beforehand. WE ARE CALLED TO A LIFE OF HOLINESS. I wrote down 9 points to pick apart this passage. They are: 1. prepare your minds for action. 2. dont live in ignorance bc we are new creations in Christ. Thus, dont conform to your old desires. If we keep on sinning in our old ways, we are forgetting the life to which we are called. 3. Why should we stop sinning? Because it is written "be Holy, because I am holy." But this is difficult, thus....4. put your hope completely in the grace that will be given to you when Christ is revealed. 5. live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 6. Know your salvation! It wasn't paid for by perishable things, but by the blood of Christ, which covered all our sins. 7. Through Christ we believe in God, not through earthly love or through buddhism or through a bit of every religion or the good of humanity, but through CHRIST. 8. Purify yourself by obeying truth. 9. By this purification, you have sincere love for your brothers. THUS, love one another deeply, from the heart.

Ok sorry, outrageously long, but if we as Christians want to get to the last 2 points, we must purify ourselves. Our love for each other is nothing and means nothing and will do nothing lasting if it is not built up upon a foundation of understanding God's love for us and turning from our own sin and putting our hope in God.

I see more students preaching. I see prayer time not as a few weary souls who decide to go to the back of the auditorium for prayer, but I see people turning to their neighbor and laying hands on each other in prayer, tears streaming down cheeks, people repenting, hearts overflowing with joy, people asking their friends who aren't in IV if they can pray for them right then and there. I see it happening in UNC as it happens in Heaven.

There are people in Argentina who are praying for my campus. Believers there who don't have the will to stand when they worship, because they fall to the ground in humility and awe. A Christian band called Interprete Desconocido (im listening to their music now) of some 19-20 year olds who are SOLD OUT for God and want to travel the world bringing people closer to God's Kingdom, but don't have the money to get a Visa or a plane ticket, and who would LOVE to come to UNC's campus at some point. I can see them playing at UNC, boldly proclaiming the Gospel, preaching, praying over people to be filled with the Holy Spirit, lives getting rocked by that, I see some people from our campus ministry translating, I see the faces of my fellow Tarheels bowed before God. There is a church in a small town called Zarate that I briefly testified in proclaiming God's goodness and who I told about Bart Ehrman and how I have faith that God wants to call His son back to Him, and so they are praying for Ehrman as well. (The band is from that church). A woman from that church told her cousin about me and my testimony who is a leader in a church in Lincolnton, NC, with a mostly Hispanic congregation, and wants me to visit the church and who is praying for our campus as well.

This is only a small, small testimony of what God has done, is doing, and will do. I've messed up. I'm a sinner. We all are. But God loves us and there's nothing we can do about it. We can dwell on our sin and let it consume us, or we can repent and run into the arms of our Savior which are open wide and waiting for the return of His children. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

Bendicciones a todos mis hermanos!!