The Bible is full of stories about farmers, and Jesus often compared the kingdom of heaven to planting seeds. Thursday night Mike's campus ministry group held their back-to-school luau, the big kick-off event of the year. This week I heard him describe the importance of it as being "equivalent to a church plant," and I thought, 'Every year!' Every year is starting over. Imagine if once a year, your church lost 25% of its people, and at the same time your town's population grew by 25%! You would never know what the coming year would be like. Big numbers? Low numbers? Introverts or extroverts? Baby Christians or mature Christians? In what combination? Will our leadership team be faithful and committed, or will they drop out of BCM--or out of school altogether? Who will come back and who will decide to transfer to another school? I prayed a lot Thursday for the luau, but I'll be shame-facedly honest...sometimes I pray for a lot of people to come and for it to be a success sincerely for the sake of God's kingdom, but sometimes I'm praying it because I love my husband and I want him to be satisfied and happy with what he's doing. I was honest with God about it (might as well, He knows my heart better than I do).
And that's when the farming thing clicked. Farmers have to start over every year, too. And they never know how each crop will turn out. Will they reap a big harvest, or will they suffer from drought? Flood? Bugs? Disease? Weeds? They can work hard preparing the soil, planting the seeds, watering, weeding, and so on, but ultimately it's out of their hands. Only God can send sunshine and rain; He alone controls the size and health of the harvest. (I bet farmers' wives pray for their husbands' success, too!) It brought peace to me, and hopefully to Mike as well when I shared it with him, to realize that even if every year isn't a "success," with a packed house at every worship time, Mike is still "successful" in the eyes of the Lord if he faithfully obeys the Lord's calling.
The luau went well, by the way. We had around 75-80 people there, most of them new, and I think everyone had a good time. Now to see who shows up for worship Tuesday night!
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| Mikayla had a slight advantage in the limbo- |
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| The champion! |
And now a glimpse of the past!
August 27, 1985
I still haven't found my keys so I'll buy a new one tomorrow. Only about 20 people went to the seminar this afternoon, and it was the most interesting one yet! Mrs. Pascoe (high school Sunday School teacher) came by to see us this afternoon, when she dropped Steve off. She's so neat. Dina and I got a refrigerator, cable TV, and the Arkansas Gazette today--$$$! I've seen so many fine guys today--Steve's roommate Mike has beautiful eyes, and David W., who Aunt Sue babysat, is a doll. (sigh) We had a Tiger Traks picnic tonight (Dina and Carla worked) and then played Simon Says and had a scavenger hunt. (Funny--we did a scavenger hunt at our luau!) It was really fun, but wore me out. Two guys delivered our fridge tonight--it was so much fun! They were cute, and teased us, and it was great. The Betas are supposed to serenade us tonight--I hope they come!! I'm nervous about tomorrow. I changed my schedule when I registered this afternoon--dropped Honors Contemporary World and Woodwind Ensemble and got American Civ. and Choir. It should be easier, I hope. It took me 1 1/2 hours. I got real frustrated. I've got $149 credit.
2 comments:
Such a great post, Kec, and timely for me. You are a blessing to me!!!
it's interesting how you were ministered to when young and now the cycle is being reversed (Not that you are old... I don't mean that). I hadn't thought about college ministry changing from year to year or about sowing seeds on two different levels. May God bless your work this year with much fruit!
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