It’s funny, often when we don’t have regular organized activities, it is then that God has the space to work. This was one of those weeks for us. We didn’t have our regular Friday night fellowship, and yet God opened up some opportunities to go deeper with several of the relationships that were formed through that time and allowed time to form new relationships. While having organized activities are important for building community and developing an understanding of who we are and what we stand for, I wonder if we in the US put too much emphasis on them as where God and we are shared. I think spending time together outside of the group often has a greater impact in the long run.

Some not-so-quick hits:

• “Based on this passage I need to believe in God even if I don’t see miraculous things and I need to tell other about God and Jesus,” that was a direct quote in a M:28 group with a couple of students friends this week. Wow! Where did that come from? But it was awesome how this student was figuring it out for himself. Praise the Lord. Another comment we heard from a different student was, seeing how hard it was for the disciples to understand Jesus’ message and yet they followed, “we need to be more patient with ours and others not being able to understand. Even the disciples had a hard time.” The students involved had little respect for God and the Bible when they came seeing the lives of Jesus followers in the area who loved on them and lived out their faith, they were compelled to seek more.
• Spent some quality time with some student friends as they helped me with tasks they “could do,” “Ricky” helped me pick up three Spanish students from the airport and he helped us move and deliver furniture at the Big Howdy Used Item Sale. “Nate” came over and helped me to start the monumental process of cleaning out and organizing the rat’s nest that is my office. Many other international students formed the backbone of the Big Howdy Used Item sale and made it the smoothest ever.Still the conversations together while we served together were profound. “Ricky,” a staunch Catholic, and I talked a lot about faith, life, and his understanding of Jesus which was much more significant than he ever let on before. “Nate” shared with me that one of the things he appreciated about ISI is that he feels like he is accepted. There is no dichotomy of “us” and “the students.” He felt were a real community. Luke 10:1-12 tells us to receive hospitality of those you serve and love on. I think we are learning what that means.
• God has placed a couple of Catholic friends in my life this last week. Had some wonderful discussions with them. Above you see the three Spaniards “Ricky” and I picked up from the airport. They shared, “you are our saviors” when all we did was pick them up from the airport with a smiling face and a willing heart… I forget how significant that is. Also had a late night discussion with “Nick” from Italy after I picked him up from the airport. (Ask Lisa how late… it kept her up…) Great discussion. I learned much about how compartmentalized religion and life are for a Catholic.  Based on what I was hearing, it seems that in Catholicism, one can have strong faith and still live a life that does not reflect what the Bible says because of the system. I’m sure some Catholics would disagree while others would not. There is a strong sense of grace but also the importance of “doing religion”. I’m still trying to figure out how that works. Great discussions though. There is so much common ground and yet some key differences. I’m glad that even though we have different interpretations of the Bible, there is still one Book that we accept as true and one Jesus that we follow.
• God opened up a opportunity to share at a Fort Worth Church opportunities to serve international students at TCU. Made some good new contacts and some old.