Seniors 2016: Jon Kim

"Men of Cru, the women around you are your SISTERS. Guide them, protect them, love on them as you would your own blood sisters..... We want to see our sisters flourish, to become absolute beasts for the Lord!"

I sat down with Jon Kim this past fall and I could tell something was different.  Over the summer Jon had ridden his bicycle all the way across America.  There is no doubt it takes real fortitude to make it on that kind of adventure, but it was obvious that the journey had cultivated much more than physical strength.  Jon was different down to the soul!  

I’ve always known Jon to be faithful, funny and talented.  He’s smart and easy to get along with. From the moment he transferred into Cornell University as a sophomore he was a dedicated part of Cru. He is notorious in my book for showing up to the Community Group in College Town when literally no one else did! From day one, he was definitively "all in" as a servant leader in our Ministry.  But he came into his senior year with a whole new level of confidence and tenacity.  Jon came back more deliberate, assertive and diligent than he was before.

Jon and his girlfriend Jocelyn Lee

I remember asking Jon "Dude, what sermons or podcasts or audio books were you listening to while you rode your bike all summer?" His maturity was obvious and evident. Jon grew over that summer in a way that I have likened to "taking spiritual steroids!" I wanted his reading list so I could pass it along to other guys!

John came back to campus this fall with a renewed vision to help other people grow and thrive at Cornell; especially men.  Last year Jon was a big part of the Cayuga Heights Volunteer Fire Department -a testament to his adventurous spirit.   This year he decreased his involvement specifically so that he could spend more time helping and mentoring younger students.  Jon helps to lead one of our Community Groups.  These groups of 8-14 students get together each week to eat, study the Bible and talk about life.  Cru’s Community Groups help facilitate spiritual, emotional and social health. We believe these gatherings are very important, especially at a place like Cornell where the academic rigor and competitive environment tend to isolate and separate people.  Along with his friends Grant and Josh,  Jon helps other men to grow in their faith and understanding of God’s design for life.   

During his "senior share" he had some powerful words to share with his classmates. Jon talked about "growing up" and becoming a "man" of God as opposed to a "boy."

Making reference to 1 Corinthians 13:11 where Paul says, 'When I became a man, I gave up childish ways', Jon began by confessing the ways that 'boyish immaturity' and a general refusal to "grow up" and take responsibility had seriously caused other people pain. Throughout his life, self centeredness had facilitated sin that had hurt family and friends. Rooted in the gospel, Jon boldly recognized his faults. He continued; "My story of brokenness is also a story of redemption. I stand here because of God’s redeeming love. He has torn me from my old ways, he has taught me and re-taught me and continues to teach me how to put off my boyish ways and to put on the armor of God. To stand and fight. And we cannot fight on our own."

From there he proceeded to give tremendous exhortation talking about men as spiritual leaders and fathers. A father is responsible for setting the spiritual climate in his family, and for showing sacrificial love to his wife. He said "Where a father and husband and brother shirks his duties, brokenness and weakness follow. When a man is missing from his home, the family is at half strength. Now, (even if we aren't married with kids) we as men do have a family right now, and they are all around us: it’s the church. Jesus looks around at his disciples and followers in Mark 4:33 and says, “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” In 1 Timothy 5:2, there are instructions for the church: “do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as SISTERS in all purity.”

"Men of Cru, the women around you are your SISTERS. Guide them, protect them, love on them as you would your own blood sisters..... We want to see our sisters flourish, to become absolute beasts for the Lord!"

Jon continued saying, "Another way to develop manhood: Go and WORK. Work for the good of the church. In Genesis Ch. 2, after God creates man, it says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK IT and TAKE CARE OF IT.” Men, you are designed to WORK, to be FRUITFUL, PRODUCTIVE, in a way that PLEASES THE LORD. Men, whatever they are in charge of, they must do it to the best of their ability for the glory of God. Men, you will set the spiritual climate in your homes when you have a wife and children. You also will set the spiritual climate in this family at Cru. Get involved. Get tired. Influential preacher Charles Spurgeon says, “A perfect man is a working man.” That was our design in the first place! We as men need to rise to the occasion!"

Jon definitely worked hard this year! As one of the main leaders of our music ministry he helped coordinate the numerous musicians ensuring that we had a group ready to play each week. (He also plays drums!)  Jon’s role required him to both organize logistics and take care of people.  He helped manage everything from scheduling to transporting of sound equipment to organizing the volunteer musicians and helping everybody to grow theologically.    

Jon is related to two of my other favorite people, David and Hannah Kim!! 

I am very impressed and very grateful for the way that Jon stayed so involved throughout his time here at Cornell.  Many seniors can tend to “fade out” but Jon is a man of endurance and character.  Week in and week out, he was walking alongside his friends and serving his fellow Cornell students in and through the ministry of Cru.

"Born Again:" A testimony of "R"

Note: For some students, placing their faith in Christ means tremendous amounts of family strife and even persecution.   "R" is a student in our ministry who has an amazing story.  Because she is still in the process of communicating to her family about her new life in God, I will not be printing her name.  

"R" wears new jewelry now because she is a Christian and all of her old jewelry was Hindu.  She had images and pieces that had all been consecrated and dedicated to false Hindu "gods". She discarded all of her idols and packed her jewelry in a box on April 29th, as she put her faith in Jesus Christ!   Her Community Group leaders, Anna and Margaret went to the store and bought her some new necklaces.  

I love R's story because in it we can see God's grace working through many different people all throughout the school year.  

It all started last summer, when our own Rachel Chuang sent R a facebook message. We love sending welcome messages to incoming students to let them know that the Body of Christ is alive and active on campus.  R was Hindu, and so she wasn't immediately sure what to think of Rachel's hospitality.  But she said: "Rachel is such a sweet person and we connected and messaged each other over the summer."  When R arrived on Campus Rachel invited her to check out Cru.  God also connected R with another Christian girl who is part of a different fellowship.  It's pretty clear that God had plans for R this year!

I met R back in February when she got invited to our winter retreat.  We sat around the table in a small group and studied the book of Jonah.  I didn't know where R was at spiritually, but I could tell she was really interested in the scriptures!  When she was getting dropped off that evening, she said to me "Thank you."  And then, even though it was the first time that I had ever talked to her she said "I'm not a Christian.  I'm just checking it all out."  I said "That's awesome!  I'm glad you came out this weekend!"  R has always been very open and willing to talk about what she is thinking.

After the Winter Retreat, R began to attend Anna Thompson and Margaret Gao's Cru Community Group on Tuesday nights.   Each week they would hang out, eat together and study the Bible.  R relished the chance to ask questions and engage with other women about the truths of the gospel.  The group meeting on Tuesday April 26 was considerably significant in R's life.  She regards the study that night as the "catalyst" for enabling her to surrender fully and joyfully to Christ.

She recalls, "On that day, we read a portion of Mark’s Gospel regarding how Jesus healed a man who was tormented by the demons known as Legion."   Anna talked about the reality of spiritual warfare and the discussion that night focused on Jesus' supremacy over demonic forces.   R said "The lesson that Anna taught us was that God is all powerful and mighty and demons are nothing compared to God. It was comforting, but I was still afraid. Because that discussion gave me an insight into what I was dealing with since I was a little girl."

She continued, "Ever since I was a little girl, whenever I went to bed, I would feel this oppression. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. It felt like some kind of force or pressure was pushing down on me throughout the entire length of my body. It was a heavy, uncomfortable atmosphere. I was always afraid. I always went to bed in fear. And that CG meeting made me realize that what I was facing with was most likely a demonic oppression."

The next day, R met up with a Christian friend to talk more about Jesus and her experience of Spiritual warfare.  She said "Our conversation made me realize that in other religions, there are entities such as demons, who portray themselves as gods or goddesses and these are the things that other people in those religions are giving their love, devotion, and life to. Hinduism is heavily, heavily embedded with idol worship and many 'gods/goddesses'—now I call them entities. I was brought up in this environment of idol worship, performing rituals, having those rituals done to me. Although I wasn’t religious, I still respected and prayed to those entities and consequently made attachments to those things. I basically gave reasons for whatever demon/entity that has been oppressing me to stay attached to me. I also realized that this oppression became more pronounced once I started College, which translates to when I started getting involved in Cru. I started to feel more things that I don’t remember feeling such as fingers stroking my head. It now makes sense because when I first joined Cru, I was starting to learn about the Truth, about Jesus Christ, our one and only God…and this thing does not want to let me go."

The next few days were filled with gospel conversations, a whole lot of prayer and an intense spiritual and emotional journey.  At times R felt very oppressed and scared, but in and through prayer things began to shift!  On April 29th at about 1:00 am, R sat in her room with a friend named Sharon.  She took off her Hindu Jewelry and took her idols and bhagavad gita (Hindu guidebook) off of their shelves and proceeded to pray to Christ.  She repented of any and all idol worship and surrendered to Jesus.

The next night, she came out to our Friday night Large group meeting.  Every time someone would ask her how she was doing, she would excitedly answer, "I've been born again!"  It was awesome. At our last Leadership Meeting of the year, we had R share her story! It was an amazing time of celebration as we looked back on the year through R's testimony. The story of God's faithfulness and grace was and is an encouragement to our faith.

Please pray for R as she continues to grow in Christ. Her witness is already very passionate and overt. This summer, she plans to continue to read the scriptures along with a couple of other books like Tim Keller's Reason For God.

Kainos Community

We believe that God created ethnic diversity and that he loves it.  Jesus Christ makes it possible for people who are really different from one another to come together and experience amazing fellowship!  For the Glory of God, Cru at Cornell is a distinctively multi-ethnic community.   

Pastor (and author) Bryan Lorritts has been a huge influenced me tremendously on this topic of multi-ethnic Churches.  His message at Wheaton College titled "The Multiethnic Church as the Cure to Ferguson, Charleston and Beyond" is amazing!  

Although world history is full of division, warfare, oppression and a whole lot of racial tension, we believe there is a better way.  Things are not as they should be; God did not create mankind to devour and destroy each other!  But our disregard for God and his perfect ways, (what the Bible calls "sin") is the reason everything in the world and in our lives is so messed up!  

Sin creates animosity between man and God and also between people.  Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again in order to defeat sin and make the way for people to be reconciled back to God.  Jesus' victory over sin also enables mankind to enjoy communion with one another.   The gospel bonds people together like nothing else can.  

In Ephesians chapter 2 Paul is explaining the amazing community that God's grace makes possible.  He says that Christ's sacrifice on the cross actually "Killed the hostility" that existed between Jews and Gentiles.  Being brought together in Christ, people from different backgrounds and cultures were able to experience profound unity!   

In verse 15 Paul says that God  "created, in himself, one new man in place of the two..."  The greek word for new in that verse, is the word Kainos.  Kainos is the word used to describe something that's never been seen before; Kainos implies something that is unprecedented and revolutionary!  God's grace breaks into our racially fractured world and brings a new and beautiful peace.  Through Jesus we can have access to the Father through the Spirit. 

One of the things that makes Cornell so special are the cultural and ethnic demographics.  It’s amazing!   Cornell has people from every U.S. state, students from a wide array of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and students that are literally from countries all around the world.  Even still, the natural tendency of people is to "silo" themselves into cultural and sub-cultural enclaves. Generally speaking, most people hang out and share life only with people who are very much like themselves; they are not truly experiencing the blessing of cross-cultural interaction. Sadly, even among Christians in the Church this has historically been the case. As a ministry, we strive for something different! We actively embrace the glorious opportunity to live out the kind of intercultural "togetherness" that is completely out of the ordinary.

God loves the world and is at work re-connecting a diverse collection of people to himself. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John gets a vision of heaven where he sees, gathered around the throne of almighty God, a unified family of Christ exalting worshipers. He sees a gathering of people from "every nation, tribe, people and language." When someone comes to one of our Friday night meetings we want them get a glimpse of heaven! We want our inter-cultural fellowship to be an overt display of the power that the gospel has to bless and unite all kinds of people! In and through every part of our ministry, we want the peace making, transformational power of God's grace to be tangible and active on this campus! Being a part of Cru means coming together and sharing life with people who are different. It means uniting in worship and in mission so that "all the families of the earth will be blessed."

(Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:11-22, Revelation 7:9, Genesis 12:3)

Class quotes 1

Here are some more quotes from our Seniors of 2014.

Robin Ying "So I leave you with these final words which, even while living in the promise of grace and the hope of holiness, remind me daily of why we are here. We have all eternity to sing praise to God. We have all eternity to fellowship with one another. But we only have this lifetime to preach the Gospel! Let the Gospel transform you, that you may be made holy, set apart from the world so that this campus, too may be transformed."

(Robin will actually be staying at Cornell for another few years getting his PhD. I'm really glad that he'll be around!)

Lauren Lee We’ve talked a lot this year about the importance of community, and I’m not disputing the fact that having a strong Christian network is important,  but it doesn’t replace a real, sincere personal relationship with Jesus.

Nick Biebel If we graduate from Cornell but have not given God our all and loved those He’s placed in our life here, we missed out.  Don’t miss out.  Do Cornell differently.  It takes sacrifice and acknowledging our limits.  But it’s worth it.

Nick will be sticking around next year as an intern with us.

Kaytlin Fischer - "I think an important question to ask ourselves is, Am I content with my weaknesses? Not my sin or foolishness – we need to fight against those! But God shows us in 2 Corinthians 12 that He has given us these weaknesses for our joy.  The more aware we are of God’s grace, the more humble, prayerful, joyful, etc. we will be. And we are more aware of God’s grace when we are weak. So we can thank God for the weaknesses He has blessed us with!! Because He gives them to us so we can more fully experience the joy He has for us. When we are weak, God’s strength is more displayed in our lives."

To End Homelessness in Ithaca

Local Ithacan's are familiar with a tucked away piece of land out behind Wegman's grocery store known as "The Jungle".  It's essentially a campsite wasteland where the homeless set up primitive shelters and tents to live year round.  Depression and drugs are rampant but food is scarce.  Last year there were 4 homeless deaths in Ithaca.   Efforts have been made in the past to help "clean up" the jungle -people volunteer and go pick up trash and try and make it all somewhat less dumpy.  Over the years, those who care for the poor would also visit this tent slum to provide clothing, blankets, food and encouragement.  But the Lord inspired a few passionate people to imagine an Ithaca without the jungle -an Ithaca with no homeless!  

Nic Brenner and I were walking thru Lowe’s Home Improvement checking out palm sanders when we bumped into Barry Segal.

(Barry is Ithaca ‘old guard’ –legend purports that he used to paddle a kayak across Cayuga lake every morning to get to work.)   He’s a character for sure; hard to miss with his pants tucked into his cowboy boots, sporting a bright blue and white Johnny Rocket leather jacket.  He’s pushin’ 60 years old but he still runs errands on a 750 Suzuki GSR.  (he doesn't normally wear a tuxedo though!)  We both bought sanders as Barry filled us in on the latest details of his homeless mission idea.

Some years ago, Barry decided to read and re-read Isaiah chapter 58 for a whole year.  Through that meditation God burdened him for the poor and he’s been brainstorming ways to serve the needful ever since.  Joining arms with other concerned and committed Christ followers the idea to provide housing for a couple of guys has morphed into the audacious dream to completely end Homelessness in Tompkins county.

God provided and Barry mobilized hundreds of volunteers

Last year there were 4 homeless related deaths in Ithaca.  In the fall of this year, Barry purchased two houses on Court street in downtown Ithaca.   The Syracuse Rescue mission entered into partnership with him and in December we joined together with other volunteers to begin remodeling the houses and getting them ready for occupants.  At the end of the Christmas break, I took Sophomore Sam Rabkin over to help and he got thoroughly pumped up about the endeavor.  He was a huge part of mobilizing our ministry to continuously serve.  Starting during the Christmas break and exinto the spring semester there were times when Cornell Cru students were serving a couple nights a week as well as Saturdays.  We did everything from demolition to flooring, from painting to cabinet installation.  Students were learning a ton.

Austin and Tom rip up old carpet

Here I am with Intervarsity staff Charles Fick

Moving old stuff, making room for new stuff.

The home is not the type of shelter where people  stop over and spend a single night. It’s much more of a transition house.  A place where men can live indefinitely, in fellowship, paying reduced rent while working to get back on their feet.  It was Barry’s desire to make the places look as nice as possible.  Even though we were utilizing primarily volunteer effort, there was a commitment to excellence and quality as we completely remodeled each and every room.  Barry’s hope was that the quality would help the men to rightly understand God’s  love and that the aesthetics would help inspire hope for a brighter future.   Barry intends to provide some vocational training for the residents and to facilitate a Christ-centered community.  

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER (different angle)

Residents are living in the house right now.  In late February, Stephanie and I got to attend a reception celebrating all the work that's been done in the past year to end homeless.  It was a glorious time to gather with Christ followers from across the city who are committed to serving the poor and making a difference.   Ithaca's Community Faith Partners are a big part of making it all happen along with key individuals like Barry Segal, Carmen Guidi, and others.  Right now, there is no one living in The Jungle.   Certainly this is just the beginning, but as a ministry we feel so blessed to be a part.  You can keep up with the work at:
http://www.rmsyr.org/ithaca-programs/
and
http://courtstreethouse.org/
and
http://www.communityfaithpartners.org/

Invention of the "Double Loco"

It's no secret that we really love Taco Bell.  It's our favorite restaurant....it's a part of our life.

5 years ago we moved to Ithaca.  We were tired and weary from an arduous winter road trip across the country.  We were actually not certain that Ithaca had a Taco Bell location -though in fact we had prayed that it did!  Driving thru the city on our first night, we decided to grab dinner at the Bell.  I still clearly remember Jack saying "Jesus loves us huh dad!?" when we saw the sign!

A few months back, we filmed our 'creation' of the "double loco."

Why we join Community Groups

 In order to truly be growing in our relationship with God, experiencing Gospel-centered fellowship and participating in the Christ-exalting mission of the Church (Matt 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8) we must be a part of a small group.

We’ve been back in town just over three weeks now and so this past Wednesday we attended our first community group with Blaze Christian Fellowship.  We would have attended sooner, but the week before was Stephanie’s birthday and I decided to take her out to dinner.    It’s important to get plugged into the local church right away, and I fundamentally believe being part of a community group is the best and most effective way to do that.   Since being back in town we have consistently attended the worship services as well as a large outreach/service event.  When we were around this summer, we went to the annual church picnic.   Those are all very important venues for connection, but I am convinced that in order to truly be growing in our relationship with God, experiencing Gospel-centered fellowship and participating in the Christ-exalting mission of the Church (Matt 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8) we must be a part of a small group.   In our CRU ministry at Cornell, we uphold Community Groups as our primary vehicle for both discipleship and evangelism. 

We picked a great week to start because it was Frito-Pie week!  Once a month the group eats together and has a more informal hang out time.   We all gathered in one of the members homes and I chowed three full bowls of fantastic red chile and beans while talking and getting to know other people.  Our kids were with us, and they too got to eat and make new friends.   It was fun and familial and everybody seemed really cool  -as people usually do when you first meet them;)  After eating we simply chilled and eventually someone started up a game of Mad Gab.  I don’t like games really, and I would have preferred to remain on the couch talking about trucks and chainsaws with some of the other guys, but playing together is a great way to get to know others and have a shared experience, so I jumped in with both feet.   Sadly my team got destroyed! 

A more typical meeting will include time studying the Bible, sharing about life and praying together.  Joining this new small group I have some specific hopes, desires and things I want to see.   

First of all, we are joining a small group for our spiritual health.  A Small group is a place where we are reminded of the good news and enabled to live in light of it.  

Our God is a glorious and amazing God.  He loves us and he has created us to live life intimately connected to him.  He is the source of life and joy and satisfaction.   He also created us to live in fellowship with all the other people he loves.  The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, like a family, with God as our father. 

We are created in God’s image and that is why we are such relational beings.   Our Trinitarian God himself dwells in community; God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist within a loving fellowship and he made us to do the same.   God is a loving community and he created us to live life in loving community and he has declared plainly that it is not good for man to live alone.   Sin decimated our relationship with God and completely jacks up our relationships with others, but Jesus’ death on the cross conquers sin, and thru him and with him we can experience the joy-filled fellowship with God and others that we were made for.   In a small group, we get together with others to live rightly remember the truth and worship our amazing God. 

In a small group you get to sit with people who know you and who know you who can help you apply the gospel to your life.  It’s easy to show up to a worship service, sing some songs and hear some good teaching, but we need more than that.   I heard one teacher explain that we can experience conviction at a church service, but it’s in a small group that we experience repentance and thus real transformation.  I think we can receive exhortation during corporate worship, but in order to really live Christ-like we need the encouragement that comes in the small group setting.  

A small group is a place where we can be around older wiser Christians who can help us follow Jesus and experience his power in our lives.   

We really want to be a part of a group with some older married couples.  I asked to be in this one because I know one of the couples and I think we could really benefit from some time with them.  Not only are we currently walking thru difficult times, but Stephanie and I are in sort of a difficult and complex stage of life!  We need role-models and people around us who can support us and coach us and help us.  Words like discipleship, accountability, challenge and discipline all come to mind, but it all boils down to truth and grace.  We need people around us pointing us to God’s words of life and we need kind, loving, help –even when we don’t deserve it.

A small group is a place where we can participate in mission.   

Jesus has called and commissioned and empowered us as his followers to spread his name and advance his kingdom all over the earth.  A month ago we were living in New York, and today we are in New Mexico and in both places we are called to witness for Christ.  While here in Santa Fe we are praying that God would use us to advance the Gospel and I have specific friends and relatives who I am praying for intentionally.  But again, as the Christian life was not meant to be lived alone, the Christian mission was not meant to be done alone.   Jesus himself, as God did ministry in community with the Father and the Holy Spirit as well as his group of disciples.  Whenever he sent his guys out, he sent them in pairs or small groups.   In order to spread the good news and see people come to salvation we need the power of the Holy Spirit and the support of the body of Christ.  I want to be a part of a small group where we are praying together for people to see God’s glory.    I want to be a part of a small group where we can invite friends and relatives to experience gospel fellowship and see God’s grace in action.   I want to be a part of a small group where I can bring people to encounter Jesus. 

I’m joining this small group because it’s a connected to a church that I really love and believe in.  (It’s important for there to be some structure and helpful to maintain order to have the group leaders connected to and accountable to the elders and church leadership etc.)   Though I have not lived in Santa Fe for many years now, I have known the pastoral staff here for a while and have been attracted to the vision and potential of Blaze Christian Fellowship since the beginning.  The vision of Blaze is To spark a passion for God through His Gospel in the hearts of people so that they inturn ignite the world around them for Jesus Christ -but I before I read that on the website, I saw it being modeled in the life of the pastors and members.  My heart beats for that, and I want to join with others to se that happen!   I want to see thousands and thousands of people in Santa Fe, NM come to know God.  And the way to effectively be a part of all that is to be in a small group. 

The group I went to the other night was a little bit too big I think.  There were probably enough people in that group to form two healthy community groups.  But to be honest, I would rather have a group that’s kind of big than a group that’s too small because we have a big mission!  And since our God is big and our mission field is big, I like having a team that’s big. 

A current ‘buzzword’ is Missional Community.   A missional community is just a group of people who love Jesus, who worship Jesus, who trust in Jesus who are following Jesus together,  on mission –making disciples of all nations.   Fundamentally, I believe a small group should be more than a bible study, more than a small group of people who like each other, more than a weekly accountability time, more than a class.   I think this group will be a missional community and that’s why we joined.   

Amazing Send-off, Eventful Road-trip

We left Ithaca almost two weeks ago to come to New Mexico for a while.  Prior to leaving town we had some awesome times with our friends and our students at Cornell. 

Ned LaCelle with our kids 

Anna-Kate and Lucy Sheehan with Jack

After our Fall retreat the Sheehan family stayed with us for a day.  Their kids and ours had so much fun, Jack busted his teeth out!  They were apparently ready to come out, though in fact they weren’t actually loose yet.  Nothing brings excitement to a cup of morning coffee with friends like a kid walking up to you with blood dripping from his mouth looking bewildered and saying “uh oh.” 

Sam Ramsey got to be there for the family memory too.

 That Tuesday night we filled our home with students for a time of celebration.  We gathered in our living room to spend time praying and singing and thanking God for all that He has done in our midst throughout the first 6 weeks of school.  We also feasted on desserts and hung out til late in the night.

One Cornell Cru tradition is called “caking.”  I don’t know where it started, and I don’t claim any responsibility for it’s continuation, but it involves smashing cake on a person’s face on their Birthday.  It’s something the students do to each other, and it’s typically pretty entertaining.  It’s always a “surprise,” and the planning and execution of it are always eventful.  The students have never caked me……until now.  My birthday fell during fall break, but that afternoon a bunch of students came over to hang out and help us pack up some boxes.  By evening time we were eating some Pizza, and Jorge came up behind me with some cheesecake for my face!  Jack loved the whole idea and so he joined in as well.

We planned on leaving the next day, but it took a little longer to get say goodbye to people, get organized and pack the trailer.   Friends came by to lend a hand and hang out.  People graciously gave us cards full of encouragement and prayed with us.  Some even blessed us with gas money, which was very, very helpful.   Adam and Nic came over and we loaded our trailer and helped me get everything lashed down and ready to go.  It seemed good…but the only problem was how heavy it was. 

The next day we got a late start; around noon we hit the road.   But our minivan was not happy about pulling that trailer.  Our suspension was bottomed out and we were creeping down the road shaking and straining our transmission.  We made it to Elmira, NY which is about an hour down the road.  We ate lunch, and then after brainstorming different possibilities, we finally resigned to the fact that this was not going to work!   We were going to have to bring my truck.   Steph compared our van trying to pull that trailer to a dying bumblebee who’s just stung someone.   We drove back to Ithaca, quickly tossed everything from the trailer into my truck and took off in caravan.   We only made it to Jamestown, NY.

The next morning, we got up and drove to Erie, PA.  But we barely made it because the truck started freaking out!  We had to have it towed to a shop and we ended up wasting the whole day waiting for it to get fixed.   All in all the trip was starting out terribly!  Thankfully it wasn’t too expensive and we only needed the distributor to be adjusted.  So, that night, we made it to Cleveland.

After that, things went pretty smooth.  We were bummed to have to drive across the country in separate cars, but we switched the kids around, fired up the ol’ walkie talkies and it all turned out o.k.  And, it’s actually pretty handy to have both our vehicles here in Santa Fe right now. 

We made a lunch stop in Kearney, NE at Luke & Jakes BBQ with some friends and then spent a couple of nights with family in Colorado before we came down here to NM.  

Ladies Paintball Trip

Commando crawling. Bullets flying. Voices screaming. Knuckles bleeding (just a couple). Nails breaking. That’s right, the women of Cru had a paintball shoot out on Saturday. We had about 10 women (including me; Stephanie) most of whom had never played paintball before, show up for an outdoor adventure. The weather was gorgeous and everybody had a lot of fun!

This fall some good friends from church let our ministry set up a paintball course on their property and we have had 3 different groups of students out to play paintball. Our friends Ned and Karen LaCelle graciously provided hot dogs and lemonade for the women as an after battle picnic lunch.

We played several rounds of paintball and then drew parallels from the “battlefield” to life on campus. We followed up the games with two really great discussions about the nature of communication and relationships. We talked about how men and women bond differently and discussed some of the barriers that keep us from having close friendships with other women. Through our discussion, a freshman named Kaitlyn shared about how our paintball experience helped her understand why she doesn’t feel close to her athletic teammates. Though she spends lots of time doing things with them (ie., practice) they don’t share the deeper level heart things that enable people, especially women, to bond.

We also talked about how life at Cornell can be isolating, and students can spend much of their time there just “hunkering down behind a barrier” rather than taking the risks involved to move towards other people. More than one woman shared that her “default mode” for life on campus is living life alone and often in isolation because that is easier. We talked about the Biblical truth from Ecclesiastes 4 that two are better than one, and how God’s design for us is that we live life together , in community, on a “team” with others; which can be more difficult but much more rewarding. A senior named Charlene pointed out the fact that celebrating alone, really isn’t much of a celebration – you need others to share it with. As I think about my own life, and all the facets of it, I would have to agree we are better together.