Encouraging Start

Yesterday was an encouraging day, and the KFC Building was open for only half of it! Campus has life again as SHSU started classes, our cleaned floors were received incredibly well, students came by with renewed excitement, prayers were offered by and for me, we had a great first Bible study of the semester, and my productivity was higher than normal! I praise God for His encouragement.

Lord, at the beginning of the day today, I ask you for the focus you need in me to extend your kingdom one encounter at a time! May excellence compel me forward in your service. With all the new pieces of information that will come my way today, Holy Spirit, teach me your ways in those decisions. So much is before me that I could easily be overwhelmed today. May your strength, Jesus, and faithfulness work in me today. Amen.

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:9-10

Prayer for Punkinsaw

My 4 year old son, Tyler, has a hilarious way of bringing things together with his goofy words and keeping our family prayer times light-hearted! Last night, while he was praying before bed, he asked God for a safe trip to Punkinsaw. I had just prayed for a safe trip to Pine Cove for the Z2 Convergence, and Tanya had been talking on the phone about students coming from Arizona, all around Texas, and Arkansas! So Tyler prays for all of those in just one word: Punkinsaw! Amazing! We busted out in laughter as we finished our prayer time together! It was awesome!

God stirs our lives with the salt of laughter! I praise Him for Punknisaw!

Prayer for Wisdom

I praise you, Father, for your presence. Today your wisdom and understanding wait to be experienced by those of us looking for them. Whisper to us, Lord, that our hearts may find you again today. Prepare us, Spirit, as we wait to see you this day in your wisdom. Amen.

"Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy." Proverbs 3:13-18

God's Word and Prayer

At the end of this year, my mind goes to the transformation that has happened in my own life in the course of one year. The list would be long indeed! Big statement here. Though mostly inside, God has changed me more this year than any other year since the life-changing transformation that happened while I was at Pine Cove as a boat driver in the summer of 1998.

As I look back on the year, what I see is God's word and prayer. Even though confusion, frustration, questioning, struggle, pain, and discernment could make their case to be what characterizes this year for me, I notice the sometimes subtle presence of God's word and prayer.

The nature of my job (to teach Bible classes) kept me going back to God's word. In my preparations God surprised me regularly with small things. As I reflect on this, it seems like God purified me little by little through it all with his word.

"Is not my word like fire, says the Lord..." Jeremiah 23:29a

Prayer was there too because of the nature of my job. At times I forced myself to ask others what I could pray for because I knew prayer changes things. It did. Even those small prayers said out of obligation, those prayers I'm supposed to pray because I'm the campus minister. Even more, I see those prayers said through silence, reflection, and tears from this year. Flash prayers like, "What is going on, Lord?" or "Give me patience, God!" opened up vistas of divine revelation.

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." Ephesians 6:18

God's word and prayer. Commit to these in 2012 and reflect on what happened in your life at this time next year!

Go in peace! Serve the Lord!

A Gift of Prayer

We praise you, O Lord, for your goodness! You alone are God; there is no other! We fall down in your presence! You alone come near! You alone are able to work righteousness and justice!

How often it is that we claim to possess what only you can claim! How quick we run to cherish the gifts we receive without recognizing you, O Lord, as the one who gives them to us! How slow we are to see our family as worthy of our sacrifice and time!


Father, open the gifts that we give you today! With every one, we show you our heart one more layer deep! Savior, we wait for your surprises with eagerness. Remind us, Holy Spirit, today when we need to see you most! Encourage us, Lord, to fight ever-present temptations with your energy!


We praise you, O Lord, for your goodness!

A Small Prayer

At the end of this semester, Father, allow us the opportunity to see your kingdom in our small, seemingly insignificant actions. Nourish our spirits enough to reach the depths of your love in offering a smile. Help us to imagine and discern new possibilities for living fully alive as we give away our attention. Provide us relief, Lord, from our constant conformity to busyness. And strengthen us as you transform our lives according to your business. We trust you with every small, yeast-like, kingdom-oriented action. Amen.

Christmas Break To-Do List

Below is a list of good ideas for college students to consider doing during Christmas break, a time when we are tempted to go on break from our commitment to Christ. I tailored this idea specifically for the Kats for Christ ministry.

1. Discuss how you’ve grown spiritually this semester with at least one family member.
2. Take one whole day alone with Jesus.
3. Hang out with one person from high school with whom you need to reconnect.
4. Read one book of the Bible you’ve never read before.
5. Plug in fully to your church – volunteering, attending, going to the college ministry – even if it’s way less awesome than the Kats for Christ.
6. Tell your parents how much you appreciate them.
7. Pray regularly that God would make you the kind of student that glorifies Him best.
8. Pray through your course schedule for next semester and discern whether God would have you change anything.
9. Read one Christian book. (Ask Chris if you need ideas!)
10. Take at least three days in a row to fully rest.
11. Contact Chris at least once to let him know how things are going and how he can pray for you.
12. Help your parents in some way that surprises them.
13. Prayer walk a college campus in or near your town, even if it’s a rival school.
14. Pray for the Kats for Christ ministry every day (and write down anything God shows you).
15. Pray for your upcoming professors. By name.
16. Think up ways to serve your upcoming professors.
17. Pray through your areas of campus involvement. What needs to change?
18. Pray through your Kats for Christ ministry involvement. What needs to change?
19. Go through your closets at home and donate things you know you will never use anymore.
20. Keep doing the spiritual habits you’ve developed at college – avoid skipping even once, or it’ll be hard to keep the habit all Break.
21. Call your closest friends regularly, and keep each other on track spiritually.
22. Connect with Christian youth in your town (or even their parents), and help them think about preparing for college.

Even though this list is for those in college, some of them remind me that I too am tempted to "go on break" from my normal commitment to Christ!

Lord, may you strength me as I get ready for Christmas break. May my mind and heart turn toward your goodness and newness offered everyday. You have made today what it is, with its struggles and triumphs. I praise you for this day! I thank you! I imagine your smile wrapping me up into your love during Christmas break. Lead me, Lord, closer to you!

My Finals Week Prayer

"May the Lord give you His perspective, even during finals week!

May His wisdom guide you to study diligently.

May His patience compel you to attend to one thing at a time.

May His peace multiply any rest you receive.

May His food energize you continually.

May His quietness permeate your breaks.

May His calmness reign in your anxiety.

May His love make you smile.

May His grace help you receive your final as a gift.

May His son's humility bring you confidence.

May His Spirit's power bring to your mind all that you have studied.

May the Lord be praised for all He does, even during finals week!"

Your Hand

"My heart, my mind, and my strength are yours today, Lord.

I commit them into your hand.

When my inward desires stray even just a little, may your hand steer my heart.

When my thoughts distract me from your purposes, may your hand focus my mind.

When my body is overcome with weakness, may your hand sustain my strength.

My heart, my mind, and my strength are yours today, Lord.

I commit them into your hand."

Christian Chronicle Article

Through the last few years, I have talked several times about the prayer sign on campus. It is such a freeing thing in my schedule and has definitely continued to evolve each semester I sit out on campus. I was asked to write a little article in the November 2009 edition of the Christian Chronicle about my experience with the sign.

I can't find a direct link to the article online, but you can download a pdf copy of the Christian Chronicle on the right side of their site. My article is on page thirty five.

Other campus ministry articles in this edition point to how campus ministry is a major mission field often overlooked as a mission. We often think of it as one of the regular ministries of a local body when it is more appropriate to approach campus ministry like a foreign mission effort. It just happens to be in the same town.

Enjoy the reading and send me feedback on my blog.

Brother Lawrence

Practicing the Presence of God is a good read for someone endeavoring to journey closer to God. Brother Lawrence sought to live life with God as a continual inward conversation with God done in humility and out of deep love.

This is an appealing endeavor for me, since I have been known to speak aloud to God as if he were a person in the room. The flies on the wall regularly asked me with whom am I speaking! As I read about my 17th Century Brother, I thank God for the reminder to talk with him and think on him regularly!

What is really cool about Brother Lawrence's admonition is that it is like prayer on speed! You are conversing with the divine, but you cannot stop at the Amen! You keep going. You must continue. It bleeds into your life. You must turn your mind to God as you do everything. It is a sort of OCD obsession with letting God in on doing laundry or homework or grocery shopping or driving or you name it! God is present...waiting to have that talk!

As you read his treatise, you get the sense that an inexpressible joy exudes from every pore! It is an attractive thing for me. To be so content with God...to be so aligned with his will...to be so one with his desires...to be so in his presence that the normal means that we have of accomplishing this oneness (i.e. times of prayer, worship) can be readily set aside. We are already there. We are already tasting the heavenly presence. Attractive isn't it? It is for me.

Well, at the risk of getting many of us checked into a mental hospital, I want to encourage us to spend our day talking aloud with God. Be aware of his presence. Ask him his thoughts. Wonder at his creation. Thank him for his blessings. Inquire what he would have you do. Experience his love.

Let me know how it goes.

A Morning Prayer

Lord, hear our prayer. Thank you for the night and any rest that you allowed us to have. We praise you for the chance to live another day and recognize that it is you alone who gives us life. Our breathing comes because of you as does all of our abilities.

May we feel your warmth this morning as we begin this day. May your smile surround us and penetrate our attitudes. Please give us the energy that we need to use the abilities you gave us to the fullest.

We pray for those you send our way today, some to bless us and some to be blessed by us. Keep us alert and ready to resist the temptations that would lead us away from your path.

May our eyes and ears be fully open. Amen.

Amazing Conversations

Well, today was filled with amazing conversations. I tried something that I haven't done too much of in the past. I guess I am calling them prayer bombs. They actually go off during the conversations that I have with my readers.

I will ask them to read the passage for the day. While they are reading, I pray for them. I pray that God open their hearts and minds to understand Him better. I pray that His word do great things during our conversation. I pray that their eyes open to see Him in me. I pray that I use the right words to give them understanding and that God give them the true understanding that they need to live for Jesus.

Do you know what happened today? God blew up the place. Our conversations were unlike anything I have ever experienced on an LST project...and this is my fifth project! Every one of my readers opened up to me or God's word for no reason. I didn't do anything special except throw these prayer bombs.

They asked me for advice concerning specific problems they were going through. They were brought to tears at not being able to read again. They were intensely curious about why I followed Jesus. They made new commitments to following Jesus. It was pretty cool to witness.

More Than One

Yesterday I was once again surprised by God.

A guy came up to the prayer sign (he'd been there before) and asked to sit down with me and pray with people too. I gladly invited him to come on. [In our previous conversation last week he asked me to do this later on. I had told him that I think people tend to not come up when there are two people there, but he would still be welcome to come up. I didn't know what would come of this.]

So, as I looked up to see him yesterday morning, I figured that this day would not be a very "busy" day as far as people coming around. As the morning progressed I began to see how unfounded my supposed observation was about having two people there. Several students stopped by. In fact, I think eight students stopped by yesterday, the most ever since I've begun! So much for my supposed observations.

One girl knew the guy sitting with me from a class they had together. It was only as she left to go to Spanish class that she took notice of the sign. This began a conversation that would take all of the next hour and a half! We talked about sin, church, relationships, sex, lyrics to songs, Jesus, the Bible, denominations, and more. God began to reveal himself through the two guys sitting next to this prayer sign to this girl. Also, God once again showed me how silly my presumptions are. 

I look forward to more people coming around this "God space" on campus. I think it would be great to have a huge group of people coming around just to enjoy God's presence for the morning! How good is God? Can this group make a significant impact on campus for God's kingdom?

Will you surprise me, Lord?

The Flower, My Prayer

Praying tonight I find encouragement through flowers I bought for Tanya.

I was looking for a way to express my desire for God's presence to open up into students' lives and spread through campus. I was reflecting on the campus revivals in the 1960s and 1970s where huge gatherings of college students met. They began a normal service that soon turned into the bustling business of God moving through hearts and lives. The common factor in these stirrings of the Spirit was public confession of sin, repentance, and encouragement in the Spirit.

While these clouds thoughts float around in my head I look to these flowers and see this opened flower. I immediately know that this flower is my prayer. There is no other way to express it. I feebly say something like, "May students' lives powerfully open up to display your glory in them like this flower."

These words, however, hardly express the complexity of my desire. Time is involved. Just yesterday this blossoming flower was like its companion you see just behind it ... closed, shielded, and not too impressive. Through time God's glory opens up and students look different.

Students ask me to pray for their unimpressive, bad choices and temptations. They don't see the beauty God has waiting to burst out! If only they would see it, Lord, and wait like this flower responding to the divine will so perfectly! Get through this testing and you will see what God has in store.

They desire to fulfill your purposes for them not knowing that their situation is being redeemed through God's own presence in their life. It will come in the season it comes.

My prayer is this flower, spreading its arms toward its creator, screaming of its maker with every breath, responding to His gentle unseen promptings, and giving off the fragrance of Christ. Interesting prayer indeed.

Conversation with God

"I miss your coming to me. You like to fill your time with anything but me. When left alone at home you'd rather see what you might be missing on TV than do the things I've been whispering in your heart. I love your enthusiasm. I gave it to you. What is taking you so long? Take comfort in me. Take my strength. Take my diligence. Take my endurance. I need you to start. Let's do this together."

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Today I pray for those who will be impacted by hurricane Ike. It could still run right through us. My prayer is also that the hurricane doesn't strengthen like they anticipate. The damage will be less for sure.

Pray with Expectation

My day is filled with expectation. I can't wait to see how you show up today, God. Surprise me with a whisper. Overwhelm me with your presence. When temptation comes give me your strength to patiently wait until it passes. As people come and go, today, let me be an extension of your presence in their lives. Some need a smile; some need a touch; some need forgiveness; some need an ear; all need you. My day is filled with expectation.

Frank Laubach

I am trying a new experiment that I borrowed from Frank Laubach. He worked among the Moros on one of the Philippine islands. He journals about his experiment. On January 20, 1930 he said, "Two years ago a profound dissatisfaction led me to begin trying to line up my actions with the will of God about every fifteen minutes or every half hour." He talks about seeking to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master.

I must admit my intrigue. His conversation with God and desire to respond to God's will is impressive. It reminds me of Christ's passion. As I read through his journey, I am overcome with his honesty in his failure and his humility in his success.

As a part of this experiment, Frank commits himself to intercessory prayer for the Moros. He notices through this intense focus on others that people seem to treat him differently. This sentence is just as interesting to me: "I feel, I feel like one who has had his violin out of tune with the orchestra and at last is in harmony with the music of the universe." Wow!

I could go on and on (perhaps I will later), but I have begun this little experiment of Frank Laubach's. I'm not exactly sure yet what it looks like to align my will with God's, but I do know that my thoughts are more filled with God than normal. This scares me, but I also feel Satan waiting patiently to test this experiment with all his might! My prayer is that I walk through this instead of run with a full head of steam. May God be praised and may his strength work mightily!!

Thank You, Jesus

Lord, please guide us in your presence as we travel. Let us constantly have you in our minds as we exchange gifts with friends and family. You are the reason that we feel compelled to give. Without your gift, we would not be able to truly live. Without your gift, we would not have hope for eternal life. Without your gift, we would not be empowered with the Holy Spirit to give ourselves.

Thank you, Jesus, for your faithfulness.

Prayer Sign

My sign reads, "Need Prayers? I will pray for you." I have been having all kinds of responses to my sign. Just yesterday a lady told me that she has seen me sitting here for a few weeks. She said last week she felt the Lord telling her to come ask me to pray for something going on in her life...she struggled with what to do, but she ended up not coming. Yesterday she finally came and we had a great conversation about God working in people's lives. She thanked me for doing this and said she would come by.

Two days ago a student came to me pointing to the sign. She said, "I need this." A really close friend was tragically killed in a car accident a week before coming to college. She was headed to the counseling center for this very reason. I told her that I will be here if she needs something. It was at this moment that I was positioned right in front of the counseling center on campus. More students will probably come.

I continually see students from our group on campus. Some of these students stop by regularly and we have great conversations. These are conversations that would not have ever happened had I been in the office.

I praise you God for giving me the courage to go out on campus and be available to students. Continue to bring students to you through my being available to them. You are such a good God.