"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.

Rachel Chuang

Rachel's Story (Short Version) from Cru Northeast on Vimeo.

Rachel Chuang graduated a semester early and she is currently serving on our staff team as a part time employee!  She is incredibly helpful in a million ways.  At some point, I'll write some more about her, but for now, enjoy this video with part of her story.

Senior Maggie Wong

Comforted by Grades GRACE!

Maggie Wong sat stressed and anxious pouring over Powerpoint presentations that seemed completely foreign.  How did she get so behind? These "review" notes sure didn’t feel like anything familiar!  She was trying to cram for an upcoming test and it was not working!  Failure loomed inevitable and each click of the mouse felt like a bucket of bricks coming down, crushing and burying her deeper under the pile.   And then there was a phone call!  Could it?.....what?..... oh wow; bad news!  Nothing was going as planned; stress fueled negativity consumed her.  Sadness and hopelessness clouded her already stressed out mind!  

  

Maggie Wong graduated a semester early and is now interning with the International Justice Mission (IJM).   I am excited for her, but we are definitely going to miss her here on campus this spring!  Maggie served as a Community Group leader and she also helped emcee our Friday night meetings.  

Maggie grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. (A fellow south-westerner!)  God blessed Maggie with both a wonderful family and a good home church.  Like many adolescent's 'Mags' had a knowledge of God and some interest in spiritual things.  But it was here in college that Jesus really got a grip on her heart!   This year during our Christmas party, Maggie got the chance to share some of her story with over 250 of her fellow students.

It was during her sophomore year that Maggie began to struggle with the academic intensity of Cornell.  Her grades were slipping.  This was basically a new experience for Maggie.  She said "All throughout middle and high school, I was on top of my work, but somehow I fell totally behind in everything and felt like I was constantly catching up in all my classes.....Cornell is a rigorous academic institution, and the classes are hard, the professors are tough. There’s such a pressure to succeed and to be ambitious, and all of this leads to a huge emphasis on GRADES."

Maggie (right) with Rachel Chuang

It may be hard for outsiders to understand why even a slight dip in GPA can function as such a life altering crisis for some students.  Suffice it to say that "Making the grade"  here at Cornell is about actually getting good grades.   Every sub-culture has it's metrics; for some it's how healthy, "organic" and fit you are, for other's it's about how you dress or what you drive.   But the Ivy league success markers revolve around being academically excellent (and then vocationally good after that).   And most of the students who study at places like Cornell have had their eyes fixed on their report cards for many many years.  

But the reason it can be so dramatic is even deeper; it's about the heart!  Maggie explained: "My identity and my worth and sense of purpose were all tied very closely to my grades, so when this sense of security was suddenly threatened, I was absolutely terrified and had no idea what to do.  It was very unsettling."

Maggie speaking at the Cru Christmas party! 

I'm pretty sure every single student sitting there in the Physical Science Atrium that night could relate to Maggie's feelings.  The question everyone answers with their life choices is this: "What will you look to for peace and stability?  Where will you run for hope?"  

Sitting there freaking out about everything Maggie recalls "I felt like was going to fail this prelim and mess up my GPA, my life was not figured out, everything was going wrong, my mind quickly spiraled down down down, and I was just like, “God, why is this all happening?!” I was getting really worked up about all of this. But then I kind of paused and, -it wasn’t an audible voice, but I just had this thought in my head: “Hey. Stop worrying. God’s got you, everything’s gonna work out, it’s gonna be okay” And in the same way that stress was overwhelming me, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the most powerful comfort and peace I have ever felt.

That moment was a turning point.  God literally blessed Maggie with clarity and perspective. She couldn't stop thinking about it!   Before it had been hard to study because she was preoccupied by stress, and now she was simply overwhelmed with the presence of God!   The next day she feverishly wrote down her thoughts "reflecting on God and what he was doing in my life, and I realized that God was continually giving me opportunities that tested and challenged my trust and my faith in him. I realized that I had never fully placed my trust in God, but I had really put a lot of faith in other things like my grades and in my friends. Yet even when I had the best of those things—incredible friends who really cared about me and spent time with me, top-notch grades and perfect academic record—I wasn’t satisfied. I still felt empty, I still felt lost. I still wanted more. And the first time I ever felt fulfilled and satisfied, the first time I truly felt the peace and comfort I had always desired, was that moment the night before—when I was messy and broken, raw and real, humbled before God.

Maggie's experience was powerfully humbling.  In the face of failure, she was confronted with her humanness!  The main thing hindering most of us from putting real trust in God is the fact that we put so much trust in ourselves!  But in the face of failure, the illusion that we are completely strong and capable and trustworthy begins to fade away.  In and through her struggle, Maggie was able to evaluate more adequately.  And God graciously allowed her to see his incredible strength and her own undeniable weakness.   God took Maggie to the end or herself in order that she might understand her own smallness and comprehend God's bigness.  Through this, God graciously gave her an opportunity to stop trusting in her own efforts and live a life of trust in God.  

Maggie looked out at her classmates and declared: Do you know that God is near to you? He desires for you to know him and believe in him and trust in him. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) God cares for you and he wants you to lift up your troubles to him, he wants us to tell him what we’re doing and feeling, and he wants to give us peace and rest.

I want to encourage all of you to seek him, reach out to Him, and find him. I want to challenge you to rely fully on God and entrust your future to him. Find hope, peace, comfort, security, and meaning to life in God alone.

I dig this shot of Mags on our team in Haiti. 

Of course, Maggie continued to work hard at school.  But she was able to apply herself here at Cornell with a new found confidence.  She actually ended up passing that Astronomy test, and graduating early to boot! But she did a lot more than study during her time here as a student.

Maggie is an ambassador for Jesus.   She was a very helpful and committed servant leader in Cru!   Her life here as a student was a living testimony to the satisfying and life giving power of Jesus!  Walking in close fellowship with some of the other ladies, Maggie labored to walk by faith and help others to encounter the grace of God.   Right now, she is working with the International Justice Mission to rescue thousands of slaves, protect millions of vulnerable people and prove that justice for the poor is possible.

*Maggie is the third student from our ministry here at Cornell to intern with the International Justice Mission. If you are not familiar with IJM, please visit their website here: https://www.ijm.org/

Sabeth at Cortland

Last year Sabeth Gardiner did an awesome job serving as our primary staff member at her Alma mater, Cortland State (SUNY Cortland.) All summer long, I wanted to write at least a little bit about her!  Looking back, I'm glad I didn't because there is even more to say now that we have kicked off the school year.

We met Sab a few years ago when she joined us at Cru's winter conference along with her best friend Elise.  Although she was a student at SUNY Cortland, she jumped right into the Cornell fellowship with both feet.   Her enthusiasm for life and contagious exuberance made a big splash and right off the bat she brought a lot of energy! (And especially when she's with Elise!  Wow! Pure firecrackers those two!) Sab became fast friends with our other students and we all had a lot of fun that week. 

Sabeth actually became a Christian while she was in college.  She got involved in Cru and took her walk with Jesus very seriously.  That January at the winter conference she pretty much finalized her decision to intern.  Sabeth is a gung-ho, friendly, energetic woman of God.

Last year, as an intern, Sabeth Gardiner was our primary staff member serving at SUNY Cortland.  She was a part of our team here at Cornell: she attended our staff meetings, our leadership meetings and our large group friday night meeting, but during the week she labored on the campus 30 miles away from Ithaca.  I was essentially connected, and  Mercy Gbenjo would head out with her once or twice a week,  but at the end of the day, Sab was very much sluggin it out solo* lots of the time!

As a relatively new Christian, and a fairly inexperienced leader, Sabeth often felt overwhelmed. To be honest, there were a few times when I myself wondered if in fact I had done her a disservice by giving her so much responsibility.   But despite her own misgivings, she navigated the difficulties with a persevering heart.   She got up every day, went to campus, and met with students.  She mentored some younger girls and provided some helpful direction to the small band of student leaders.   

But Sabeth was never quite sure that it was "working out."  In fact, even as the year came to a close last spring she had fears that most of her labor had been in vain.  She wondered if the the whole operation was gonna fall apart!  But God is faithful, and the gospel is powerful even when we proceed with trepidation.  A few weeks ago, at the first Thursday Night Large group meeting, as the new year kicked off, we were able to rejoice together at God's incredible work.  The student leadership team at Cortland is on fire!  The girls that Sabeth mentored are ready and able, and their kick-off meeting was awesome!  40+ people gathered together for a night of worship, preaching and Bible study. 

All in all, as we kicked things off this year, it became clearer than ever that Sabeth really did an incredible job! 

Mike McCarthy is one of the main guy leaders out at Cortland, and he got to give part of his testimony out at our Fall Getaway.  Mike hit the nail on the head when he affirmed Sabeth from the front, remarking that "we are all benefiting from the work Sabeth did last year on campus."   There is no doubt that God used Sabeth's efforts to encourage and develop and align all of the student leaders out there.   

Cru at SUNY Cortland students at the Upstate Fall Getaway

The ministry out there is off to a great start this year!  Sabeth is no longer interning with Cru, but she continues to volunteer and show up and serve in a lot of ways!  She is very much still a part of the ministry, and in many ways, we still consider her a part of our team!  

Sab finished out her year at the Rocky Mountains Lifelines Summer Project.  

*"Solo" only as far as full time staff are concerned.  Of course there were the student leaders doing a ton of the work!  And beyond that, a man who has been a faithful and extremely helpful presence for many years out in Cortland, is Alan Masters.  What a boss!  Additionally, the pastoral staff at Grace Christian Fellowship are a huge support to our Cru ministry in Cortland.   

Senior 2015: Esther Koo

"I grew up in a Gospel church, where half the congregation was black, the other half was white, and there were four Asians: my dad, my mom, my sister, and I. It was fun, and I thought all churches looked like that!"

Esther Koo is one of those people who really "gets" what we are trying to do as a ministry.   She is an extremely dependable and faithful servant who has contributed a lot to our movement here at Cornell.  There is no actual way of tabulating how many girls are  plugged into Cru and growing in Christ  because of Esther's leadership and example.  She is a real shepherd of women, she's an encourager and she has a lot of spirit!  We call it "Cantonese Fire!"   

Esther has an inquisitive mind.  She asks great questions and is commited to thinking about things critically.  

A few weeks ago at Church, Esther Shared about a particularly pivotal moment that occurred during her sophomore year. She said "I was meeting with my mentor, who was an upperclassman in Cru, and she posed the question to me, “Why are you a Christian?”  I responded that I enjoyed having the knowledge that God had a plan for me, and I could trust in Him for the future.  My mentor acknowledged that, but then proceeded to share the Gospel.  I was about to write it off, because I had heard it many times, but I realized that the Gospel should have been the answer to her question.  And for the first time, I was convicted by it.  I realized that up to that point, my “faith” consisted of Christian values and [knowledge of] Bible stories.

She continued: "Applying the Gospel to my life meant confronting sin.  I did not know the destructive effect that sin had on my thoughts, thinking about people in an unedifying manner and projecting my desire for affection physically and emotionally on the way I perceive others.  What’s more, sin is a barrier to an intimate relationship with God.  However, the power of the Gospel shatters that barrier and when I recognized sin and laid it at the foot of the cross, I felt freedom."

A couple of years ago on the Haiti spring break trip. 

Esther's zeal for Jesus is pretty overt.  She's served as a Community Group leader for the past several years and she's been a big part of our Spring Break mission trips every year!  Thankfully Esther will not be leaving Cornell next year.  She'll stick around to get her masters degree so we get at least one more year with her!

Esther also lived in the 10 girl Cru house.  

Seniors: Katie & Anna Johnson

It is so fun when siblings get to attend Cornell together!  

Katie and Anna Johnson are twin sisters who served faithfully in our ministry here at Cornell.  Right up til the last minute Katie was on campus helping me to interview and equip next year's Community group leaders.  Her dedication to shepherding and encouraging the younger women in our ministry was just awesome!  The Johnson twins are both literature buffs and Katie studied English here at Cornell.  She is hoping to teach high school in California while Anna is pursuing a job with the International Justice Mission.

 In her Senior exhortation Katie introduced us to a painting by the Belgian surrealist painter named René Magritte, called the Treachery of Images.  It's a painting of a pipe and underneath it it says "This is not a pipe."  The sentiment is simple and yet extremely profound.  

   
It says “this is not a pipe,” because it’s not a pipe; it’s just a painting of a pipe.  It is an image of a pipe and although it can provoke us to think about a pipe, in the end it cannot do what a pipe does.  A person would be foolish to live as though the image is all that there is!   Katie explained:  In the same way, much of what we see is only a representation of God, not itself god.  We are materialist and sensual beings who think that what we perceive with sight and touch in the physical world is what is most real.  But Romans 8:25 says that we hope for what is not seen, because we already have what we can see, and someday that will go away.  The world will fade away, but God is eternal.  C.S. Lewis said going to Heaven will be “the real wakening; the dream is ended, the morning is beginning.”   It is so easy to live our life consuming and consumed with all kinds of "images" and idols.  

Katie at one of our women's times

Katie is very good at helping others to see Christ through our favorite heroes from the past or from fiction.  They can function as echoes of the real Hero, like the drawing representing the real pipe.  She pointed out that Jean Valjean’s (Les Miserables) generosity to the poor reflects how gracious God is to us; Captain America’s purity reflects how Jesus lived the perfect life for us; Mulan is fearless in the same way that Jesus courageously came down from his throne in Heaven for us; Sydney Carton laid down his life as nobly for Charles Darnay as Jesus did for us. (A Tale of two cities.)  I know that many high schoolers will be blessed to have Katie as a teacher!  

Anna running Cross Country 

Throughout her time here at Cornell, Anna was involved with the on-campus chapter of the International Justice Mission (IJM).  IJM is an incredible organization that works primarily to end human trafficking and rescue modern day slaves.  IJM is a Christian non-profit that expends a lot of energy working to restore rule of law, protect the vulnerable and thwart oppression all around the world!   Anna's heart beats for the poor and those in need. While she was a student, Anna was constantly working to help Cornellians become more aware of important issues in our world.  Whether Anna ends up working full time with IJM or not, we know that she will continue to mobilize others to fight for enduring peace.  

Anna and Katie lived in a house with 8 other women leaders in Cru.  I called it "the girl house" but they called it Alpha Omega house.

Class quotes 2

Here are some more excerpts from our senior leaders.  The class of 2014. 

I've mentioned before, that Brian Green is notorious for helping people understand God's unconditional grace. One thing that enables him to convey the hugeness of God's love is his willingness to talk about his own sin and shortcomings. He definitely did that on senior share night -confessing sin and talking about the transforming benefits of life lived honestly before God and others. He ended with this.  

I'll sum up my call to vulnerability with my personal testimony. I grew up felt very sure that I was not good enough to be worthy of anyone's love, especially not God's love. "There is so much wrong with me, how could anyone love me for who I really am?" So I hid who I really was from everyone and never opened up. The most beautiful moment of my life was realizing that even though God knew exactly who I was, He loved me anyway and was willing to die for me so I could know Him, be fully known, and experience His love. So I go to God vulnerably, with all of my failings, knowing that He loves me completely. And I do the same with friends, family, coworkers -- everybody, knowing that God loves me for who I am right now and hoping that we can love each other the same way.

Caroline Emberton gave a well worded encouragement to get involved in various organizations on campus.  She pointed out how good it is for Christ following leaders to serve within campus organizations and not just sequester themselves.  

Being a leader in the community can help you grow in your faith because you can be challenged to really wrestle with and understand other people’s viewpoints and you get out of your comfort zone. One of the best lessons that I learned was that God does not expect you to be perfect, he just wants you to have the faith inspired courage to stand. Be willing to be that person to stand, and be a servant leader in communities that are completely out of your comfort zone.  

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."

Boaz Gets Crazy with Ruth

With a story line straight out of a country song, the Book of Ruth chapter 3 finds Naomi devising a way for her daughter in law to get a husband!   It’s a farm town Friday night at the end of harvest season and she’s determined not to let a quality cowboy like Boaz get away.   Convinced that every guy is keen for a moonlight romp in the hay –or barley as it happened to be in this case, she’s certain she knows how to take this relationship to the next level!  

I made my first visit to Tabernacle Baptist Church this past week.  Numerous Cru students are members there and they are very supportive of college ministry all the way around.  Pastor Paris has been teaching thru the book of Ruth –and yesterdays sermon aligned nicely with the stuff we’ve been talking about at Real Life the last couple of weeks; Marriage, sex, and dating.

The book of Ruth’s three main characters are:

Naomi –a Hebrew widow who is wounded, bitter and broken by the hardships of life.

Ruth – a Moabite, one of Naomi’s daughter–in-laws.  She is also a widow.

Boaz – an upstanding Hebrew man, prosperous, hardworking and Godly.

In Chapter 1, Naomi leaves Moab in hopes of finding life and food back in her native land of Judah.  Ruth was determined to stay with her, and famously declares “your people will be my people, and your God, my God.”  (Ruth 1:16)

In Chapter 2, Ruth meets Boaz while gleaning grain in his field.   (According to the Mosaic law, farmers/landowners  were to refrain from harvesting their whole field and the poor were allowed to pick whatever they could along the edges. Leviticus 19:9-10) He treats her with kindness, blesses her with food and instructs his workers to make sure she “finds” plenty of grain.   He invites her to keep close to his guys in his field so that she’ll be safe.  He doesn’t even really know her, but he’s immediately looking for ways to tangibly bless her life. 

Boaz is a stud all the way around, and as a distant relative of Naomi he’s a potential “kinsman redeemer” for Ruth –basically he could buy her out of widowhood and marry her.  That would be fantastic!  Boaz is a man of character, he’s generous, he looks out for others.   His workers respect him, he cares for the poor –this guy is the kind of guy anyone would want their daughter to marry –and Naomi becomes set on making that happen. 

In Chapter 3, it’s the end of the harvest season.  It’s kind of like “county fair” time, and Naomi contrives this plan to “catch a catch” as pastor Paris put it.   Here’s the plan in verses 3 and 4. 

Ruth 3:3-4

Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”

“Sounds like seduction” said Pastor Paris!  I agree!  I’ve heard numerous sermons trying to make this whole interaction seem less funky, but I’ve always thought it seemed sketchy–especially given the norms of the day!  Pastor Paris refused to shy away from the shadiness and unpacked this section with tremendous contemporary application.

Naomi  basically tells Ruth to put on some perfume, get dressed up, wait for Boaz to finish eating and drinking wine and then go “lie with him” out in the barn.   Really wanting Boaz and Ruth to hook up –she makes a plan for them to actually hook up!  

Ruth’s supposed to go out and “uncover his feet?”  Paris explained that in Hebrew, it could certainly insinuate an uncovering of much more!   “Lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”   So she’s supposed to find him in the night, when no one else is around, crawl up to him wearing perfume, uncover at least his feet, and make herself available for whatever he says to do?!  Were the ladies in fact counting on the uncommon virtue of Boaz to make this turn out differently than one would expect?  Ruth told her mother-in-law “All that you say I will do” –some say she was just being a respectful daughter?   Was she acquiescing to a shady plan because she was trusting and naïve?  I can’t believe it!  I think both of these ladies, were defaulting to “Moabite methods!”*  Sleeping with a guy isn’t the best way to get a husband –but it has worked for billions of people!

At midnight, with his “feet” exposed, Boaz awakes with incredible fright to hear Ruth’s proposition.  Things definitely get crazy –but not like you might think!

Rather than engaging inappropriately with a woman who is not his wife, Boaz makes a declaration of NO COMPROMISE!  First of all, check out the way he starts talking about the Lord.  He then promises that he will follow the legitimate procedures for making Ruth his lawful wife.  He will not take what is not his.  Instead, he gives.  He sends Ruth home with grain for Naomi.  He’s a man of integrity, and rather than taking any short-cuts, Boaz is determined to do things God’s way!   Taking the responsibility upon himself, he proceeds to expend himself to arrange the marriage.

Here’s what’s crazy –on that day, and on this day –BOAZ HONORS RUTH!  He loves her, he cares for her, protects her and cherishes her.  In short, he loves her in the same crazy way that Jesus loves! 

*Moabite Methods:  What i'm calling Moabite, are certainly common enough.  People making up their own sexual ethic, trying to make marriage happen however they can etc.  But, it is interesting to see where the Moabites started.  We're talking about a whole culture of people who were literally spawned into existence thru an act of devastating sexual brokenness.  Check out Genesis 19:30-29

What is attractive?

Is it important for a husband to be "attracted" to his wife?  And for a wife to be attracted to her husband?   I say definitely YES!  But what's attractive?   I counsel single college students and married people alike to allow God's word, and the truth of the gospel to inform their "attraction."  Now certainly, at some level, beauty is something we respond to intuitively.  It's not something we can totally figure out like a math equation.  For sure.  But I do believe it is possible and critical to let the scriptures shape our thinking rightly in this area.

One huge truth that I think men and women really need to take hold of is the glaring fact that God made people.  Yes! (Genesis 1:27) And people -by his design are tall and short, skinny and fat, dark and light in tone.  The creation testifies loudly through and through that God loves diversity!  A lot.  He created it!  And among humans there are all different eye colors, nose shapes, leg lengths, hip widths, foot sizes, and everything else.  Cosmo, Maxim and the P90X infomercial proclaim that there are only certain body sizes and shapes that are beautiful, but apparently God disagrees!  He is the one who made you fearfully, wonderfully!  He knit you together in your mothers womb, so if you are short and pale -it's because that's how he wants you to be!   You're "big boned" are you?  God made you that way -truly your "frame" was not hidden from him.  You can feel bad about that -but only if you regard Jillian Michaels' opinion over God's and only if you crave the world's fickle approval over Jesus'.  

In heaven, we'll have glorified bodies.  That's clear enough in the scriptures.  But I can find no indication that all of our bodies will look the same!  I sincerely believe that when we get to heaven -and when we have new and perfected bodies, I'll still be skinny, my wife will still be short and Tim Tebow will still be a brick house!  Will  Edgar still be Asian?  I believe so...


Go ahead and work out!  Be healthy, move around, jog a little!  But seriously, start hating sin, and quit worrying about that butt God made you!

In 1 Peter 3:1-7, Peter informs the women that their "beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."  He commends to them the "Holy Women of the Past" who were truly beautiful because they had Hope in God, contentment of spirit, Godly submissiveness and true fearlessness.  I pray that I can raise my daughter(s) to exemplify such character!  

At our meeting on Friday night, I asked the ladies to strive after that kind of beauty, and I challenged to guys to evaluate whether their standards of beauty have been informed more by the Bible or by pornography?  

Have your standards of beauty been shaped more by what God regards as beautiful or what contemporary porn affirms as beautiful?  

Should a guy be attracted to his wife and regard her as beautiful?  YES.  But where does he get his standard of beauty from? 
Gospel Coalition blog contributor Barry Cooper writes: 
"The pornography epidemic, raises (or rather, lowers) the bar on what we expect of a prospective spouse because of its unremitting insistence on physical performance and cosmetic beauty, over and against mental and moral qualities...[Christian men] may pray unctuously for the Lord to provide a wife of noble character (Proverbs 31:10-31), but [their] hearts are being continually conditioned to lust after the wife of maximal hotness. "Charm is deceitful," God protests, "and beauty is vain!" But we dismiss him like one of those impertinent pop-ups that gets in the way of what we really want to see.
How different would the world be if dudes were spending as much time in their Bibles as on the computer?


Christ-ones are called to be different in every way!   Reflecting on the way that the  Gospel changes everything, Tim Keller pointed out:
In the world, "Women tend to be attracted to men with good incomes, and men tend to be attracted to women with 'good looks.'  Is the Christian community behaving in exactly the same way?  Or have we been transformed by the gospel."

Is the word of God re-calibrating every area of our lives?  Including what we regard as attractive and fundamentally beautiful?   Or are Christian men and women just letting the magazine rack define things for us? 

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.