As the title may suggest, today was a perfect Sunday.  It was a beautiful day in Western Virginia (got up to about 68 today, which doesn’t happen in November!), and that’s just the beginning.

We (my co-tern Mary Katherine and I did all this together) drove to Roanoke to worship at Christ the King.  Ed Dunnington is the pastor there, a long-time RUF Campus Minister, and the service was great.  Good music, good sermon, and it’s always a pleasure to celebrate communion with believers, strangers or friends.  Afterward we enjoyed a potluck lunch with the congregation!  (Potlucking seems to be a hobby of mine: when I visited Holy Cross PCA in Staunton, they had a potluck that Sunday too!)

From there, we drove to Lexington and hung out with John Pearson and his family.  John is our RUF Area Coordinator, so I’ve met him a couple times in the past, but it was great to get to know him better, meet his wife and kids, and enjoy the beautiful afternoon playing kickball in his backyard.  Great family, great backyard (there’s a creek that runs through it!), great afternoon.

The drive back to Blacksburg was breathtaking.  This time of year, 81 South points directly into the sunset, and it was amazing to see the blue afternoon sky melt into the fiery glow of the sun setting behind the mountains.  At the same time, we were listening to Nickel Creek, Phil Keaggy, and Andy McKee: all groups and individuals that are truly gifted at creating music from the void of wire and wood.

And now, I’m sitting back at home, relaxing to The Avett Brother’s new CD (I and Love and You), enjoying the dwindling hours of my day of rest.

In a small college town, such as Blacksburg, there are students everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  It makes interacting with students easy and natural, but one of the struggles I’ve had is separating work time and social time and rest time, and that definitely stems from the town being… overrun with students.  So last Friday, when students scattered for Fall Break, I took the opportunity to get away from Blacksburg for my first real break of the semester and do a little backpacking.

MK (my co-tern) and I headed up to Harrisonburg, where we met Matt and Libby, the UVA interns, and Kathryn, a Maryland intern.  We piled into one car and headed to the Skyline Drive and our trail-head.  After gearing up, we plunged into the wilderness.  5 miles later, including an 800-foot ascent in under a mile, we found ourselves on top of Rocky Mount, overlooking Massanutten and a little bit of Harrisonburg.  We set up camp, ate dinner, and enjoyed the sunset and conversation around the fire.  We hiked the 7 miles out the next day, and spent the afternoon lounging at my grandparent’s house, watching football and resting our sore… everythings.

The mountain we camped on top of, from where we parked the car. If you look close, you can see the switchbacks.

The view from the trail.

“I love the outdoors.”

“The campsite is only a mile away, guys. Just 800 feet above us…”

Near the top of the mountain…

Who says girls can’t be tough?

Enjoying the scenery from the top of Rocky Mount.

Watching the sun set over Harrisonburg.

October has certainly been a busy month!  Fall Conference (pictures below), football games, backpacking for Fall Break (pictures on the way), and this weekend, I leave for a wedding in Lenoir, NC, and more RUF training in Atlanta.  And all this on top of the “normal” intern week!

Ed Dunnington, a former campus minister and current pastor of Christ the King Roanoke, was our speaker at Fall Conference.  He gave four great sermons on sanctification: what it is, two divergences along the way (legalism and lawlessness), and how it happens.  Many deep conversations with students have stemmed from his talks, and more than that, I was reminded of and encouraged by the truth that God, who has begun a good work in us, will not give it up.  In sanctification, God will make us into what He has already declared us to be in Christ.

In addition to Ed’s sermons, there was plenty of time to relax in the sun, throw some frisbee, go hiking, and participate in the 80’s night festivities.  The campus ministers kicked off Air Band-a-palooza with an intense rendition of Spinal Tap’s “Gonna’ Rock You.”  All of the schools present brought their own distinct understanding of the 80’s (ironically, by many people who weren’t even born in the 80’s…), and Saturday night was capped off by cooking s’mores around a campfire and an 80’s dance party.  Much fun was had by all.

Air Guitar

Mountaintop

Jump!

Awww

“Everything was lit by a halo of light.”

This. Is. Spinal Tap.

Friday night was our first annual Hoe-kie Hoe-down!  It was a fantastic night of square dancing, cricket spitting, BBQ, plaid, straw hats, live Bluegrass music, and more fun than you can carry in the back of a pick-up truck.  It was a great time for new people to get connected to RUF in general, for freshmen to meet and hang out with some of the upperclassmen, and for the whole group to get over that “high-school dance” awkwardness and just have a good time.  Particularly exciting for me was watching some of my freshmen come out of their shells, boogie (I’m sorry, two-step), and man up and ask girls to dance!

Check out the RUF @ VT official site for many many more photos, but here are some of my favorites:

Yes, this is my boss.

I need to get one of these for my mantle.

If you’re not at least tappin’ a foot, you’re doing something wrong.

One of our many square dances. Not to be confused with contra dancing, two-steppin’, or flat footin’. Trust me: there’s a difference.

What a band!

This was JR’s wife’s idea. Obviously I wasn’t going to think of a prom-style photo backdrop, complete with hay bales, table cloths, pumpkins, hats, and boots!

Friday night lights.

We all feel the effects of the fall, whether we choose to recognize it or not.  We don’t know why we do the things we do.  We’re hurt by others, both close friends and family.  Mosquitoes exist.  Every day we are confronted by the fact that things are not the way they were meant to be.

Today, two Virginia Tech students were murdered.  I didn’t know them, having only been here for two weeks, but nevertheless, I believe that this will be a largely significant even for me.  Inevitably, I will run into people that knew them in various capacities.  My job is to meet with students, some of who will have had classes with them, lived in the same dorm, or been involved with them in Campus Crusade.  More directly, I live with three guys who are all involved with campus crusade: one as a student, one as an intern, and one on staff.  If they didn’t know them, much of their energy over the next weeks and months will be spent helping others wrestle with this tragedy.  Although removed from this event in many ways, I don’t doubt that this will be a frequent topic of conversation for the foreseeable future.

So what do I do?  How do I bear the burdens of others in this context?  What does the Gospel of grace say to this situation?  How is God at work in the hearts of students, whether RUF or not, whether they knew the students or not, whether believers or not?  These aren’t questions I’m necessarily looking for an answer for, but want to try and keep in mind over the next weeks and months as people try and make sense of this in a million different ways.

Please be in prayer for this situation.  For the families of the students, for friends of the students, for people on campus that didn’t know them but are shocked by it, for people that remember the shootings on April 16th years ago and wonder why God would let yet another tragedy befall the campus, for the counselors at Tech, and especially for those on the campus that are there to bring the light of the Gospel to students, whether the RUF staff, Crusade workers, BCM, IV, FCA, or anyone else who has a heart for students and a heart for the Gospel.  Pray that we, as people who are still being remade, would minister well to broken students at a broken campus in a broken world.  Praise God that we have the hope of the Gospel that God is making all things new.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted on here.  And what better time to post than the day before school starts for students here at Virginia Tech!

One of the presuppositions of RUF is that God is at work.  In essence, it’s a summary of reformed theology. It gives us confidence as we go forth to do ministry on college campuses: God is great, and He is at work in us and in our students.  It gives us consolation: my justification is not based on whether or not I think I’m successful.  God has already worked in me.  It give us hope: God will accomplish His purposes.

I’ve found it a useful reflection the past couple days to consider how I’ve seen God at work and where I need to trust more that He is at work.  I’ll share some of that here, but would encourage you, whether you’re a fellow intern, supporter, friend, or some random person that stumbled on this post, to consider how God is at work in your life and look for areas in which you need to say “Father, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”

God’s grace to me and His work in my life has been most clearly seen the past three weeks (and especially this past week) through others, especially in hospitality.  I’ve received encouragement, beds to sleep on, meals, a place to do laundry, and most important to me, fellowship.  In addition, I’ve been blessed by several other first-year interns checking in on me.  This has come in the midst of moving troubles and my first week in a new town where I only know a handful of people.  Thank you to all of you who have provided, called, and more.

An area where I’ve been having trouble remembering that God is at work is in anticipating relationships with students.  I’ve been oscillating between “how am I ever going to find students?” and “wouldn’t this be a great way to connect with guys!”  Between hopelessness and self-reliance.  I need to remember that God is sovereign, and He has ordained who I will know, how we will relate, and the ways He will work in both of us over the year.  Not that God’s planning means that I don’t have to work, but I can and should take heart in the fact that His grace renders my work effective.

The Lord is King! Lift up your voice,
O earth and all ye heav’ns rejoice!
From world to world the joy shall ring,
“The Lord omnipotent is King!”

I just hit 75% support!  Now, you college professors out there might be thinking, “He shouldn’t be excited about that.  Why, 75% is a C!”  And you high school teachers are thinking, “A C?  Man, college has gotten easy.  In my book, that’s a D!”  And while yes, I still have more support to raise to meet budget for the year, 75% is a huge milestone.  It means I get to move my stuff to Blacksburg… and stay there!  Get settled, get familiar with the area, get to know the church, and hopefully make some friends!  God certainly has provided for me abundantly and graciously.  I literally laughed (and I’m not talking just a chuckle here, I’m talking red-in-the-face belly laughter) for 15 minutes when I heard about the support that put me over the edge.

Many of you know this, but as people have asked how they can pray, I’ve consistently asked for prayer that the 75% mark would be reached by August 1st.  As you may see at the top of this post, it is currently July 31st.  The call that put me over the edge came at 9:00 PM, just an hour ago.  I sincerely believe that it is no small coincidence (or rather, no coincidence at all) that, with the fervent prayer of family, friends, and strangers all over the country, I hit the 75% mark a mere 3 hours before August 1st began.  Thank you.  Is our God not great?  Does He not hear and answer prayer?  Is He not loving, providing, and generous to those who don’t deserve it but He loves anyway?

I implore you, please join with me in praising our great God.

The Lord is King! Who then shall dare
Resist his will, distrust his care,
Or murmur at his wise decrees,
Or doubt his royal promises?

Support-raising has certainly taken me around (and around and around) this summer.  After having lived in Raleigh for 5 years (with brief stints in Charlotte for holidays and Clemson for summers at camp), I have quickly become a man on the move.  June brought Atlanta, Clemson, Raleigh, Grand Rapids, and Charlotte, and July took me from Charlotte back to Raliegh, then to Harrisonburg, Waynesboro, Blacksburg, Raleigh, Charlotte, Clemson, and next week, Atlanta.  After many hours on the road and many miles put on Carter (I finally named my car, short for Carter-Finley, the NC State football stadium), I’m ready to park it in Blacksburg.

Thankfully, I’m close to being able to do that!  I’m currently $2,700 short of the 75% that I need to be able to stay in Blacksburg, and hope to have it by the end of training next week.  Thank you for your prayers for me, and please continue to pray that God would provide and that next weekend, after I move my stuff to Blacksburg, I would be able to stay there with it.  Also, as I transition to Blacksburg, pray that I would quickly get to know the church well, become familiar with the area, and connect with my roommates and others in Blacksburg so that we become friends.  Pray that Blacksburg quickly feels like home.

To conclude this update, here’s a story from my little time out at camp last week.  It’s funny because it’s true:

I sit down to dinner in the cafeteria, and two Pumpkinseed girls (10-13) and two Bowfin girls (7-9) join me.  The sixth seat at the table was then occupied by another counselor, Kayla Edwards, a friend from NC State.  Dinner progressed, and eventually one of the campers (who had been there before) asked what I had been doing all summer.

“Short version: asking people for money.”

Then, Kayla pipes up with a “He’s a beggar.”  (#1)

“Why are you asking people for money?”

“Well,” I said, “I’m trying to move to Blacksburg, VA, to work with the church there, but I need support before I can move.”

“He’s a hobo,” Kayla contributes.  (#2)

Finally, Pumpkinseed asks, “So why weren’t you here on Sunday when all the campers got here?”

“Well, I was actually in Raleigh, NC on Sunday morning and didn’t get here until late Monday afternoon.”

“Oh.  Is Raleigh where you live?”

“It used to be, but I don’t really live there anymore.”

And then Kayla’s gem: “Yeah, he lives in his car now.” (#3)

–

Like I said, it wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t sorta true.

by Donald Justice

Excepting the diner
On the outskirts
The town of Ladora
At 3 A.M.
Was dark but
For my headlights
And up in
One second-story room
A single light
Where someone
Was sick or
Perhaps reading
As I drove past
At seventy
Not thinking
This poem
Is for whoever
Had the light on

I have felt, alternatively, like the author and the person in the room on the second-story (if indeed there was someone there and the light wasn’t simply left on by neglect). There are days when I rush through. Not just in the car, but work that needs doing, and things that need thinking about. And there are nights when the light on is mine. Sometimes it’s work. Less often it’s a good book. Most of the time it’s the inability to fall asleep due to the mountain of thoughts running through my brain, be it fundraising, trying to figure out why they stopped Arrested Development after three seasons, or trying to plan out the week.

I’m looking forward to moving to Blacksburg. I’m in Harrisonburg at the moment, looking at Massanutten from my grandfather’s basement. The Blue Ridge Mountains truly are beautiful. I’ve seen the French Pyrenees, the Himalayas, the Smoky Mountains, and many more, and I can honestly say that there are no mountains before the Blue Ridge that I would rather live in the shadow of. I’m looking forward to settling, making Blacksburg feel like home, and being the person on the second-story more than the one on the move.

Camp started today.  The staff gathered at the picnic shelter at noon for a staff meeting, making sure that everything was ready for the first first week.  At two o’clock the gates opened and the excited (yet nervous) campers rolled down camp drive (at a safe and prudent 15 mph), climbed out of the car, and started what will undoubtedly be the best week of their summer.  For the past two years I’ve been part of this: welcoming new campers, helping the starry-eyed new counselors, painting banners, getting too-little sleep, sweating 24 hours a day (it’s in South Carolina, next to a lake, in June and July… you do the math), making awards, swimming, hiking, canoeing, sailing, and everything else.  Again, camp started today.

One of the hardest things for me to trust in consistently is God’s sovereignty.  I know that He is sovereign, that He directs and guides me, that the events of my life, both blessings and hardships, are part of His plan for me.  But I often think that I have a better idea for what I should be doing.  I think I could be making a bigger impact as a counselor than a fundraiser, that I would grow more in faith through the challenges of camp than through trusting God and humbling myself through fundraising.  I think that I know what’s best for me better than God does.

But this idolatry, I think, is a symptom, not the root of my sin.  My sin is unbelief.  I believe that God is sovereign, but so often doubt if He is good.  I believe that God orchestrates the events of my life, but don’t believe that those events are designed for my good.  I believe that God’s glory and my growth are separate in God’s mind.  I know this is sinful, I know that it’s not who God says He is, but day to day, this is how I operate.

The truth is, God shows His glory in using all of the events, all of the blessings and struggles, all of the joyful times and adversities, to produce growth in me.  That God can and does use even our worst sins and even the most appalling of situations to make His name great and to sanctify His people is the greatest proof I know of His goodness and power.  Christ’s death and resurrection prove both.

God has called me somewhere else this summer.  I wouldn’t trade the past two summers for the world.  I’ve grown, been stretched, made great friends, and hopefully impacted lives.  And I’m sure that, given time, I’ll feel the same about this summer.  But today, I miss camp.  For those of you there that (somehow) find a spare minute or two and made it this far, I hope the breeze is cool, the lake is high, and the mosquitoes are docile.