Thankful for a new start!
In the speech that set aside the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day, President Lincoln said, "No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God..."
In full agreement, I would like to point out just a few of the "great things" God has done in The Rock so far this semester.
* I got a call from Pat Sokoll, pastor of Mars Hill in Iowa City. A kid that graduated with one of his daughter's was going to Iowa State and had attempted suicide within the last few days. He asked if I could have someone visit him. We both thought that Nate (a Rocker about to go on staff with GCM!) would be the man and it just so happened that the guy lived in RCA where Nate does most of his outreach. Well, Nate just popped over and told him that "God sent me here and so you need to go on a walk with me". This young man did and shared the aches of his life with Nate. Nate was able to speak the truth and love of Christ into his life which were among the last words he heard before he dropped out of school. Pray for Jacob. God wants this young man's heart and soul.
* A Rocker’s ex-boyfriend was doing drugs, disillusioned with life, and was considering suicide. He shared his struggles with his "ex-girlfriend now Rocker on fire for God" and she told him to come to Ames and meet her friends with the Rock. He noticed the difference in the quality and character of the Rockers lives immediately. On a night that the Rock had a late-night prayer meeting, those that knew this guy committed to praying for him. From our best efforts to connect the dots, it was during the exact time that prayers for this man were being offered up, that two Rockers, Julie and Brandon, were able to lead this man, Winthrop, to faith in Christ!!
* During the Rock tour, I met Adam and Dan. Two freshmen in temp housing. They connected with the Rockers and visited the Friday Night Rock. After the Rock on the MU Terrace, Adam told me, "this is exactly what I'm looking for. I want in!" Adam then got housing in a different dorm complex, but the Rockers pursued the relationship. When the Encounter Retreat came, Adam was going to do something else until an auto accident stopped that idea in its tracks. He told me at the retreat, "It seems that God really wants me to be here."
Last Sunday, Adam took a huge step of faith and was baptized in the fridged waters at Brookside Park.
* A young girl went to a Rock hotdog BBQ at Friley for a free bite to eat. Sensing that Christians were running the thing, her roommate told her to act like she was interested. She said, "Whatever! I am interested!" Even though this girl, Alli, had been involved in the party scene and all that goes with it, she was looking for something more. She started doing EVERYTHING with the Rock... the entire Rock tour, every Friday Night Rock, the Encounter Retreat, everything. While listening to Tom Short preach on campus, I got to have a long talk with Ali about Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for ALL of her sins. A lot of things got cleared up for her and she committed herself to Christ. At the Encounter Retreat, she was the first one to be baptized as a believer in Christ!
* Another freshman, Peter, has been getting increasingly involved in the Rock. He recently e-mailed Matt to share the good work that God is doing in his life:
I used to get really uncomfortable around large groups of people. I mean I get physically uncomfortable. I would get itchy or break into a sweat and would have a lot of troubles thinking straight. I would tend to be very compulsive and it got me into a lot of trouble socially and with authorities (administrators). I don't exactly why the things happened, they just did. I'm very sensitive to light and sound. At assemblies in the gym with a thousand eight hundred people around me it was bad. But what I realized today is that it's the context that matters. I don't understand why, but I don't feel threatened at all [at The Rock] in front of the speakers with people all around and lights blaring. I just feel like releasing all the love and joy and... euphoric amazement of the beauty of the hearts of people I've met, the natural world, life, the healing power of God. It is all just welling up like water behind a dam and all I can do is pull up the gates and let the water out. I wept for joy at Alive tonight [the GCM work at Drake]. Not for sorrow. Not for hate. Not for regret or pain or fear. For love of life! For love of this wonderful life that is full of trips and falls and mistakes that can never ever ever hold us down. I still feel a little bit of the old what ever it was when I'm just hanging around after the rock, but at family time, or when ever I'm together with my life group, or just having a conversation with Luke or anyone else about the things that really matter, I'm free!
I know there's more, but this is just a simple reminder that we have SO MUCH to be thankful for... in particular, a whole new life!
THANK YOU GOD!
Comments
Whoa, awesome! I love hearing the storys of people giving their lives to God. What an amazing God we have.
The youngest son of the most (cough cough)esteemed pastor, Chris Biang;
PK. Robert L Biang
Posted by: Bob B at November 23, 2005 01:03 PM