Oh man... where to begin? So, last year the leaders of Cru thought that it would be a good idea to introduce an "areas" concept. Brough, Pomfret, Northside. This was to help break campus up into chunks to help make the task of "Putting the Gospel within arms reach of everyone on campus" and ensuring that "everyone on campus would know someone that passionately follows Jesus Christ" wouldn't look and feel more daunting. It's a good technique. When you have a big job to do, one of the best ways to help you accomplish your goal is to put it into bit size chunks. So each area has a team, comprised of those that lead bible studies in that area. Then, each area has a male and female leader for the men and women's bible study leaders in the area. "Leaders of Leaders" as they are called. They are the "managers" of the area. There duty is to be the liaison between the bible study leaders and Cru staff. They are problem solvers, prayer warriors, orchestrators, planners, senders, mobilizers. It's a huge task to undertake. One of my close friends, Brandon Mckay, was in charge of the area with Hope Petersen this year.
I mentioned earlier in a post today (which I wrote on Monday) the importance of going hard these next 6 months. I made a commitment for a year to focus hard on pursuing God, growing as a man, and specifically growing as a leader. Some of my close spiritual friends told me to be prepared, because God would challenge me. When we choose to follow God, then he puts things in our way to cause us to grow. I've often heard the metaphor of God being a great author, and it's one that I personally, being a writer myself, can identify with and can definitely see the truth in. The point of a story is that you have a character that undergoes a change. Without change there can be no story. Conflict causes a character to change. There can be no story without conflict, without some obstruction, some difficulty, some challenge that is placed before the character, forcing them to grow. (This is the part where I make a shameless plug for Donald Miller's "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years where he explores this idea of story, character, conflict, and God as an author, and the story not about a tree, but about an entire forest) God definitely doesn't forget and I think he's had his mind on that commitment I made for a while, my desire to grow as a leader for him. He's slowly been dropping me crumbs from the table, giving me taste of slightly more solid food every time, offering a challenge meant to push me beyond what I have experienced before so that I may adhere to that commitment and be grown by him. Tuesday night, I was offered the biggest challenge yet. I was asked to be the next Brandon. I was asked to be the men's leader for the Brough area next year.
Excitement, wonder, confusion, surprise, giddiness... these were all emotions that I've felt since then. "Why me?" Why would the staff choose me? I'm flattered, but what have I done to show that I'm capable? I don't know, I'm not sure that I've done anything to show that I'm ready, that I'm mature enough, etc. But you know what? It doesn't matter. In the end, we are all "inadequate" but yet God chooses us anyway. God's in control and knows what he's doing. I wouldn't have been given this opportunity if it were not in God's will. He probably knows what he's doing. He's been using "inadequate" people for years and that's the point. This isn't about relying on myself or what I know or what I've got to do this job, it's about relying on God to do this job through me and praying and using the tools he's given me, the person that I am and the personality I have and being a warrior for God. It's time to reject a little passivity eh? I love a good battle, and a crazy adventure. God likes them too.
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