I still remember
meeting Nelson during our first fall semester at a kick-off event up on North
Campus.
He was sporting a tasteful but truly ‘pimpn’
gold chain and a well matched outfit. He came by our table and I got
to connect with him just a little bit.
He was living in a “program House” here called the “LLC” or Latino Living Center and since I was
planning to lead a community group up there
I invited him to check it out.
Throughout
his freshman year Nelson was a pretty consistent part of our small group and he plugged in to our ministry full
on. He got to know other freshman dudes
like Owen.
Owen is boisterous, fun and
loud –traits we fully discovered the first time he showed up to one of our
bonfires. Taking hold of the 8 pound wood
splitter, Owen lead the men passionately taking on the toughest logs and
turning them into burnable sticks.
During the
summer between his freshman and sophomore year here at Cornell, Owen was
seriously considering transferring schools to attend a small Christian school
down in Florida. I personally thought
that was a lame idea mostly because he was such
a passionate leader and we had
a lot of work to do here! I was hoping and praying that he’d return to
Cornell (and thankfully so were his parents!) I
called him two weeks before classes started to ask him what his plan was. Even at that point he was waffling back and
forth and I was like “dude, classes are about to start! You’ve gotta make a decision!” Shortly after that, he told me he’d be back in
the fall, and I made plans to co-lead a community group on West Campus with
him. I'm so glad he came back! I can't imagine our movement here without him!
While at
Cornell both Owen and Nelson were pre-med.
They did well, but that path is definitely a
challenge and carving out free time was always a chore. I loved seeing Owen on the Big Break trips
because he seemed so free from the day to day stresses of life on campus. He’d absolutely come alive leading, revving
everybody up and engaging the lost. For
my kids, Owen will always be a legend because it once took like 10 people to
wrestle him into the ocean surf. Throughout the afternoon he’d been mischievously
and methodically ushering his fellow
students into the water against their will.
But to get him back required some extreme team work!
Although
both Owen and Nelson grew up church, College was a time of significant growth
in Christ. And for Nelson, it really
wasn’t until late in his junior year that he truly became born again.
Throughout
that year, Nelson had been wrestling with God about different things, all the
while staying fairly plugged in. It was a season of struggling in many
ways. He and I didn’t meet up on a weekly basis, but
we’d catch up whenever we could to talk about life and Jesus.
I remember
well though the afternoon, we’d planned to meet up, and then for some reason, I had to call him
and cancel on him. But, it was the Lord’s
will for us to hang out and so a couple of hours later, while walking thru Sage
hall, I saw Nelson studying. He had
some time free and so did I so we
grabbed some cokes and sat down.
I asked him
how things were going, and his answer completely blew me away!
“I think I
just became a Christian last night.”
“Are you
serious?” I responded. “Tell me what happened.”
Nelson
proceeded to tell me the incredible story of God meeting him in a transforming
and personal way. Sin had been working
him over and yet he felt compelled to seek after God. He ended up reading through the copy of “For
Your Joy” that we often give away. He
read through the whole thing and he told me that “everything just made sense.” The familiar content of the gospel came alive
to him in a new and clear way. The scriptural
truths regarding life in Christ were becoming real to him in a way that they
really hadn’t before. He sensed he needed
to respond somehow. Grabbing a copy of
our Knowing God Personally booklet sitting nearby, he read it through as
well. At the end, he felt the Holy
Spirit prompting him to get off of his bed, kneel down and pray to Jesus. He surrendered his life and put real faith in
God.
I had
assumed that Nelson was a believer already.
In addition to professing belief in Jesus, he had demonstrated a
commitment to the body of Christ, he had participated in mission and had exhibited
zeal and fruitfulness. And yet, he realized
that in his heart, he had not yet fully come alive and submitted to Christ as
Lord.
And so,
sitting in the Sage Hall snack bar I rejoiced with him and thanked God for
mercifully pursuing and revealing himself.
There was
one other student who was constantly hanging out with Owen, Nelson and those
guys throughout college. Joey is a gifted, charismatic, incredibly
social party animal who actually had an encounter with God during his freshman
year. When I first met him, he was trying to seek
after God. He was also studying
engineering which I felt was a terrible fit in light of his personality and
giftings. I told him he should look into
the hotel school which he did and shortly after that he became changed his major.
That next
summer, he plunged deeper into a life of partying and recklessness abandoning
the call of God. I don’t think there is
a single other non-Christian student at Cornell who I have prayed for more than
Joey. Since the first day I met him, I have sensed
that God has a plan for him and I’ve dreamed of how God could use him, if he
would stop living for his own glory and recognize God’s. And yet up to this point, the world’s idols
have continued to captivate his heart.
For me, Joey serves serves as a tragic example –a literal poster child
of what it looks like to waste Cornell.
He graduated. And, he is set for
worldly success in all kinds of ways.
But he is missing the thing that matters most.
I continue
to pray for Joey in hopes that some day he will experience the transformation
of the Gospel.
ADDED LATER
I found this old picture of the guys trying to get Owen into the water
ADDED LATER
I found this old picture of the guys trying to get Owen into the water
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