Go deep and cast the net wide.

Luke 5 is following me everywhere.  Well, not quite everywhere I guess.  But it's enough to get my attention.

Last Sunday, during our leadership meeting, two graduating seniors (and previous exec team leaders) from our chapter led a short manuscript, inductive Bible study of Luke 5.  They had studied the passage with the thousands of others at Urbana this year and wanted to cast vision to the core members and leaders of the chapter to take risks for the sake of the gospel.

It was clear that in the same way Jesus was calling Simon to follow Him, Jesus was calling us as a chapter to "put out into the deep" and "let down our nets."  Casting fishing nets in the deep part of the lake in the morning after fishing all night and catching nothing?  Come on, Jesus, seriously?  Apparently, Jesus was being serious.  He was calling Simon the same way He is calling us now to take risks of faith for Christ even when it may seem ridiculous at times.  He was calling Simon the way He is calling us now to reach out even when we've come up empty before.  He was calling Simon the way He is calling us now to take action when we're tired and have already started washing our nets.

The questions that lingered with our chapter were:  what risks do we need to take?  What will it cost?  What do we need to leave behind?  Where do we need to cast our nets?

The questions weren't quite answered that night.  Maybe for some individuals, but not quite as a whole.  It was exciting, though, to see how the following Sunday's meeting began connecting those loose ends.  By using Tootsie roll candies as a visual for the students on campus that we are called to reach, a couple of our current Servant Team (exec team) leaders gave us a bigger picture and cast the vision for our spring quarter New Student Outreach (NSO) events.

This is it - this is where Jesus is calling us to put out into the deep and let down our nets.  Our RIT chapter needs to invite everyone - friends, professors, students they don't know - to NSO and follow up with them, not just so we could have a lot of people at our events, but so that we could invite them to meet this Jesus who has so transformed our lives.  We need to invite whoever we can because we don't know whom Jesus is inviting to say 'yes' to Him.  If we're expecting a 75% rejection rate, we need to sow more seeds.  We need to cast our nets wide.  We need to go where everything's a lot less familiar, a lot less comfortable, a lot more uncertain of the outcome.  We need to go to the deep.

The next day after the first leadership meeting where we studied the Luke 5 passage, I went to a nearby retreat center to spiritually re-calibrate my vocation with the Lord.  At the midpoint of my retreat when I sat down for lunch, there was a little calendar that had Bible verses and a little devotional thought for each day.  Lo and behold, here's what it said:

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.  But because you say so, I will let down the nets."  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.  --Luke 5:5-6

We're tempted to haul in our nets, grumble, and go home until hearing the invitation, "head to deeper water and see what you can do there."

My, my.  How indeed the Lord calls us personally and communally into deeper water - inviting us to trust Him more and more.

Quarter system blues.

RIT currently works on the quarter system.  That means instead of 2 semesters of 15 weeks of classes, they have 4 quarters (summer is one quarter, so really 3 in a school year) of 10 weeks of classes.  It also means that instead of the typical 4-6 week break for winter between semesters, they only have one week-long break for the holidays.

I was in Ohio with Nathan visiting his family for the holidays, then went to St. Louis for Urbana, and went straight to NYC where I promptly remained sick before returning to Rochester and returning to campus that following week.  Unfortunately, I feel like I've made no progress and picked up right where I left off before the holiday break.

Last year at this time I enjoyed the January break from campus so that I would have some time to focus on planning, processing, and preparing for the second semester and get a head start.  It gave me a break from worrying about the day-to-day campus issues with individual students and the chapter as a whole to realign myself with God's vision and to prepare my heart and my mind to start fresh.

I've lost that break because of RIT's quarter system this year, and I'm feeling some of the consequences.  Things pile up in the blink of an eye, and it's a bit overwhelming.  It's especially disorienting for a person like me who thrives on planning ahead, takes a while to process things, and strives for excellence.

Next year, however, will be a whole different ball game.  Starting this Fall, RIT will be switching to the semester system, which will include the winter break in January.  I am certainly looking forward to it.

Urbana then and now.

Urbana 2009

At Urbana '09, I had no clue what to expect.  I had just finished the busiest school semester of my life, made some tough decisions about my priorities and responsibilities, and committed to another year of serving on the E-board of my InterVarsity chapter.  I was tired, I was nervous, but I was as ready as I could have been.

At Urbana '09, my mind was blown just by being there.  There's something amazing about being in the presence of thousands of other people attending Urbana who desire to see God's kingdom come to this earth.  The mission to make God's vision become a reality wasn't just for me, my chapter, or the other chapters in my region - it was for anyone who was willing to say 'yes' to Jesus.

At Urbana '09, I was a student.  I was figuring out what life could be like after graduation and where God was leading me next.  I was learning to be faithful with the things I had learned through my college experience thus far.  In being obedient in those small things, God would help lead me to whatever my future may be.

Urbana 2012

At Urbana '12, I knew what to expect...for the most part.  I had just finished my first fall season as a married woman living in the Rochester area and working a tough semester on RIT's campus.  I was excited to serve at Urbana and ready to go.

At Urbana '12, I was excited to serve the thousands of students who were being convicted and called, challenged and invited to take part in the work God is doing around the world and in their very own backyards.  I was looking forward to the stories that were to come - whether that would be a few days upon our return to campus, or even the many years down the line as students step into what it means to say 'yes' to  Jesus every day.

At Urbana '12, I was an InterVarsity staff worker.  I'm still figuring out what life could be like and where God is leading me next.  I missed a lot of sessions, Bible studies, and performances.  I missed a lot of opportunities to sit with my students in order to welcome late-comers registering, set up for a major join-in event, or count the very decisions students were making.  But I came to serve, not to be served.  I was fulfilling the roles I had so admired when I first came to Urbana as a student.  I am still learning to be faithful in the small things, and what it means to say 'yes' to Jesus' invitation.