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June 2024

 

I got to spend some time with this group of guys in Colorado. It was so beautiful and I enjoyed getting to take some time off after the big SICM trip. It was also a sweet time to get to know these guys more in depth and experience their servant-heartedness while we were all taking care of each other: making meals, cleaning, and trying to include everyone in the fun. 
From left to right: Stian (green hat, former UTD campus pastor, Collin campus pastor), Mick (blue hoodie, UTD alum, Collin campus pastor apprentice), ME, Kevin (tall guy, Collin campus pastor), Steven (glasses, Denton campus pastor), Brandon (old guy, UTD campus pastor), Jared (chain necklace, UTD alum), and Jonathan (Broncos jersey, UTD alum).

I love seeing the stars—it's so rare to see them in the city. Obviously my phone does not do it justice by any stretch, but you could see stars stretching across the entire night sky in Colorado. When I look up and see the vastness of stars, it reminds me of how small we are and of Job's story, when God tells him:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

It seems silly in that moment to try to control everything in my life.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Summer FOCUS is halfway over! It has been ah-mazing seeing our students from all of our campuses come together to worship God together. Reflecting on campus ministry, it truly is such a special time in their lives. A time when they are figuring out who they will be for the rest of their lives, what career paths they will start heading down, and we get to meet them at this crossroads and help them figure out how to move forwards with God in the mix. I think every summer I get excited for what God has in store for FOCUS, for our pastors, our community, and the students who will come in contact with God's love right where they are!

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