Known and Read of all Men

A few months ago, I listened to a sermon that Elder Wilson preached at one of the general conference meetings. It was entitled, "Remember Your Name". What name? Seventh-day Adventist. He said, "You preach a sermon every time you say, I am a Seventh-day Adventist." The sermon was inspiring, but I don't think I really 'got it' then.

I've heard, even read in the Bible, that our lives as Christians are supposed to represent Christ. It has made sense to me, mostly. Obviously, we don't do everything that the world does because we have something so much greater to live for.

I read the good book this summer, Do Hard Things. One thing that has really stuck with me is that I shouldn't be known for what I don't do but rather, by what I do.

This last fall was my first experience in "real school". I was pretty nervous- cause it was college. I started out kind of shy even though I really don't think of myself as shy. I wanted to witness for the Lord, but I really didn't know what was allowed or what would be accepted in that kind of public setting. I didn't really have a clue how to practically share Jesus with my teachers and classmates.

Fast forward a little bit. I was sitting in my English class. The teacher had just announced that the next assignment was supposed to be about an argument against someone's idea that we did not agree with. Right away I thought about mission trips. I had an acquaintance that had suggested that short term mission trips were not a  worth while endeavor (taking in consideration the expenses ect.) I felt differently about this because of how mission trips had affected my life (I'll save this for another post). I actually didn't want to use this topic for my paper because I would have to express a lot about how God had worked with me and stuff like that. I didn't think my teacher would really understand, and at first when she heard what I was going to argue against, she didn't get it. Anyway, I couldn't think of anything else to write, so I wrote about mission trips. As I explained why I felt that they were so important she started to see them from my perspective. Somehow, through this paper my teacher and I started talking after class about missions, extra. We became really good friends. I started to just be who I was at school. I began to write papers that weren't so blah to me because I was writing about what I was passionate about: God and missions.

Okay, now I'm starting my second quarter in college. I know a few people. I've learned to be more out going, and I'm even more determined to live for Jesus no matter what.

First day of school was Wednesday. Our first assignment for communications class was to ask someone in the class a list of pre-assigned personal questions, answer the same questions for that person, and then get up and introduce each other. The last question was kind of icky: "What would you want people to say about you in your eulogy?" I found it interesting though that almost 50% of the people said they would want to be remembered as "nice". Umm... I guess that's better than mean, but I really hope that's not all my life would stand for.One or two people said that they would want to be remembered as fun or hard working, and pretty much everyone with children said that they wanted to be remembered as a good parent.  I wanted to be honest, but I really felt intimidated by telling everyone what I would want my eulogy to say. I  said that I would want  to be remembered as a true Christian- someone who knew Jesus. It might seem silly, but I was nervous to be the only "different"one, and I was.

Day two of school: Thursday. I was sitting in my English 203 class -shaking in my shoes a little bit again.(note: I have a different English teacher now)  The assignment wasn't going to be graded, but our teacher just wanted us to write a paper in class that would give her some idea of where we were in our writing/grammar skills. The writing prompt was: "If you had a hundred days with unlimited resources to change the world, what would you do? How would you do it? What the world look like in the end?" My first thought was: teach everyone to truly know God, help them to understand His great gift to humanity, and then give them a vision of missions, of service, of a life of giving. These are really the only things that could and will someday (when this world is made new) change the world for good, so that's what I wrote about.

Today, I was standing outside my classroom for communications waiting for the door to be opened. I was shuffling through my backpack looking for something when a guy from the class says hello. I said," hi" and turned back to what I was doing. Then he said, "So, do you go to a church around here locally? This was not what I was expecting to hear right then. I was like, "Ahhh what?"
"Do you go to a local church?" he repeated.
Oh, ahhh...no... I go to the Cashm*r* Seventh-day Adventist church. The guy looked at me and said, "that old little church there? I said, "Yea, well, we're rebuilding right now." Then he said, "That's where I met..." I didn't hear the last thing he said. "You what?" I asked. "That's where I met God." I must of just stared at him funny because he began telling me that he had been there years ago when he was eight years old ( he looked over 30). He said that the pastor was having a big long sermon, but in the middle of it, he had stopped and said, I just feel really impressed to tell you the simple steps to salvation right now, so he did. The guy said, 'That was for me." I said,"Praise the Lord!" Then I asked him if he had visited since. He said he hadn't it was a time when his family was struggling that they had come. I invited him to come visit again. The conversation was cut short as the door to our classroom was opened and we walked in, but the exciting thing is I have a whole quarter  in the same class. Could this be a divine appointment?

I'm learning to trust the Lord. I'm learning what it means to live wholly and unashamedly His. I'm in awe that God could use even me. I'm realizing what my name really means: I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I am learning that living the Christian life is not about what I don't do. It's about what I do. It's about what I do because of what Jesus has done for me. I am learning that my life is an epistle know and read of all men. (2 Cor. 3:2)

This is a long blog post, but I'm just so excited to see how God is working in my life and in the lives of those around me. He is giving me new opportunities everyday. I'm so excited!