it's 4AM...

I am realizing as I sit here at 4am that my clock is changing from an early bird, to a night owl. This is probably a good thing being in college ministry, however my body is not too happy with me in the morning. Oh well!

This past weekend was full of activity...at least Friday night and Saturday. It was the weekend of our Overnighter, which is a time we join Pitt and CMU (Carnegie Mellon Univ.) students together locked in a church from 8pm-12pm the next day. It is a time of fellowship, worship, and training. My group actually got lost (I had a navigator lead me astray, so it wasn't all my fault ;-)) on the way to the church, but ended up going to a Rita's (really good gelato place) and hanging out in the parking lot for a time. It was a good time to destressify from getting lost.

Anyway...we finally got to the church and played some get to know you games. It was fun communing with our brothers and sisters from CMU. We then had a lesson on community and what it looks like. (hence the above picture. They were a community that could not touch their food with their hands) We talked about different types of community (techies, study groups, college student, etc.) and being a part of a unique community in Christ, and how that shows in our lives.

The next morning, I strangely had some energy after 2 hours of sleep, and was ready for the workshop I was leading. We had two to offer the students. 1 was teaching them evangelism in relational terms, and helping them see it in a new way that inspired many students to become more active in their relationships with others. From what I heard it went very well, and many students told me they were challenged and can't wait to talk to friends about Christ.

The 2nd workshop was the one I was doing. We were planning on doing it on Encountering God, and tried to pull from previous resources...but it wasn't coming together. God reminded me of lessons I learned leading the Drama team at CEMC (yay for the remembering of past life lessons!), and gave me new inspiration for the workshop. I began to think..."What better way to encounter God than to learn all the parts he has revealed to us (the trinity), which also included looking at His different names. Once I brought this to Amy we began brainstorming, and ideas flooded in. The workshop ended up being very good in challenging our thoughts on who he is as a whole as well as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Many questions were raised and discussed. New eyes were given to the students in how to see and relate to God, and I believe they will grow deeper in their walks as they contemplate all that He is. **The above left picture is of a group doing a mural of their understanding of God the Father as protector of his people.**

We had a great time getting to know each other, worshipping, and growing deeper in our understanding of who God is, as well as His purposes for us. I want to thank all of you for praying for us this past week. You were just a part of this as I and my co-workers were. Thank you. ^_^