Yesterday, Friday, the 18th was a GREAT day for me. But, being honest, it had it's ups and downs. But the ups defintiely outweighed the downs this time around. I'll start from the beginning.
7AM woke up in the morning. Had a bowl of cereal.
Had Music Theory class but I had to leave halfway through because the Freshman band was playing in chapel this morning. So I left for the sound check.
Chapel was SO great overall. We played Blessed Be Your Name, Cannons, and then threw in the chorus of Majesty, and closed with the bridge of Jesus Paid It All. I found out afterwards that the sound guy and the head of the worship ministries at Point Loma both thought that this was our best set we've done thus far. And I had multiple people tell me they really enjoyed it. Knowing that God used us to bring people to His throne is such a great feeling.
After we played, we had the guest speaker, Pastor James White. He was a black preacher from North Carolina, my place of dwelling for 11 years. Knowing that and that he was black (like me ;), I knew this would be something special. And it was. He spoke on John 20:24-30 (great passage I recommend reading). The passage is about Thomas and the other disciples seeing Jesus after His resurrection. He spoke about our doubts and that we all have them. But he mentioned that there are good doubts, and this was the type of doubt that Thomas had. He didn't doubt Jesus in a negative way; he
wanted to believe, but he just couldn't believe without seeing. And when he saw, he was able to believe again.
Two things that really stuck out to me from his sermon were these things he said:
"Even when you lock the doors of your life, Jesus still finds a way in." - this quote came based off of verse 26 where it says the doors were locked but Jesus appeared inside anyway.
"It's not over even when you think it's over." - Pastor White said this many many times and it was a very key part of his message. Thomas thought it was over. He thought Jesus was gone, but it was not so. Jesus rose from the dead and fulfilled what He said He would do.
After chapel, I had another class, and after that, I was blessed with the opportunity to have great conversations with great people and a really great lunch. Side note: If people ever tell you that the caf food at Point Loma is always bad, they don't know what they're talking about. They have GREAT food sometimes. End side note. After class I got to hang out with more awesome people and I had an awesome time doing it. I love being able to be done with school and then just lounge around and do nothing but fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
So then I went to a student ministry called Beacon of Light. Beacon of Light is a homeless outreach ministry that goes to downtown San Diego and ministers to people by giving them food, Bibles, and sometimes simply just someone they can talk to. This was my first time going to Beacon of Light and actually my first time going to any off campus student ministry. Me finally going may or may not have been because a cute girl asked me to go. Regardless, that wasn't the important factor in me going. I really felt God leading me to go last night.
On the car ride there, I was praying for God to speak through me and I believe that He answered that prayer in a powerful way that I didn't expect. God definitely did far more than I asked or imagined. (Ephesians 3:20). We started off in a parking lot and one homeless man walked up to us right away. I engaged him in conversation and he seemed to be rambling and I almost dismissed him as being cenile or crazy or something but as I listened, I found truth amidst the vague wording. His name was Teddy and he was talking about God's blessings and one thing he said actually stuck with me. He uttered multiple times, "Truth is your greatest ally." and then went on to talk about how truth covers you and God honors those who tell the truth. It was interesting to say the least.
Teddy left, and we prayed as a group and then we split into two groups. We ran into a bunch of different people and some of them were really characters. They were a lot of fun and it was actually really interesting to see how many of them talked about God. One man said, "Well, He's taken care of me this far. I know He will keep me safe until it's my time to go. I'm not done yet." He was I think in his 70s. Having a faith like that, knowing God was the only one sustaining him was inspiring.
One final story about this I want to share was my last experience of the night. I'll make a long story short. As I was talking to one group of people, I saw a younger looking guy sitting by himself and felt the Spirit leading me to talk to him. So I did just that. He was 21, named Alex. It was really crazy talking to him. He actually had weed on his lap when I sat next to him and as we were talking, he started to roll it. I honestly don't remember how the conversation started but I just know that God was speaking through me through the use of Scripture and just trying to tell him that there are better things in life than getting high, that it's only a temporary feeling but God can be a lifelong and permanent feeling. Another girl joined our conversation halfway through and I could tell God used her story to. She was able to relate with Alex and I could tell that he was really listening to the both of us. We didn't end up leading him to Christ or anything like that, he wouldn't even let us pray with him. But, I felt like we brought him close to something that would give his life meaning, something he did not feel. His heart was hard but I could tell that is softened a little bit that night. He has a lot of junk in his life from being homeless to not knowing his parents to things that I didn't even get to hear about, but I know that God loves him and wants to reach him too. I know He has plans for a future and a hope for this man (Jeremiah 29:11).
I definitely think I need to go back and serve in Beacon of Light again next week if I have the opportunity and try to talk to him again.
We drove back to home sweet loma and I played some ultimate frisbee with some of the RAs in Hendricks and other various people. Also my first time doing this, and I'll just say, ultimate frisbee late at night is intense! And a lot of fun.
After we played frisbee, most of us went on a burrito run and I got a CALI BU (if you don't get the reference read
this blog). Great times with even more great people.
The Lord definitely blessed me all over the place on Friday.
I love my school.
That is all.
