There are many ways I like to pray, but prayer walking is not one of them.
You'd think because of my sensory preferences of information gathering and tendency towards the kinesthetic learning style, that I'd enjoy it very much. Walking, going, and being at the locations of sources of prayer seem like it'd spark a lot of creative and interesting ways to pray as opposed to sitting in a circle in a room with people holding hands.
And it's true.
I've discovered that it's prayer walking in groups that I don't like. The prayer walks I've experienced in groups involved confusion around where to walk or which way to walk; the awkwardness of praying out loud so that the people you pass along the way give you strange looks; and not being able to hear someone's prayer, just for a few examples.
God finally nudged me hard enough to take a prayer walk on campus that I had been putting off all summer.
Fine, I said, but I'm going by myself.
And God replied, When did I say you had to go with anyone? I simply said to go.
Oh. I guess that's right.
So I went.
God's big nudge had come at a time where I was really frustrated with students for not doing things excellently, with myself for not being able to coach them or lead them well, and with the lack of fruit I was expecting and hoping to see after a few years of hard work. I was at a breaking point, and knew I needed to do something to empty me of myself and be filled with compassion for RIT.
I committed an hour of my time on campus. I simply wandered around a
part of campus, stopping every once in a while to write down what I
observed and what I heard. Towards the end of that hour I used the contents of this
list as springboards for prayer.
I've only done this prayer walk once so far. It wasn't an earth-shattering event, but it felt like it was groundbreaking for my hardening heart. There were no evangelistic moments or divine appointments, but my obedience out of the desire to meet with the Lord created a shift in my posture. There were no revelations or inspired images, but there were small, new discoveries of things I thought I knew.
Like bubble tea in The Market. Or that there's a second floor of Global Village where the Study Abroad office is.
God's nudging was for me to do this on a weekly basis, so I'm hoping to get into the habit of spending an hour each week for this kind of prayer walk, exploring a different part of campus.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Creative ways to partner - September 2014
(Note: What is Expedition?)
- Expedition snacks: individual packs of Swedish fish and Goldfish to give out for student participation as we study the book of Jonah. Get it?? Jonah + big fish?
- Expedition decor: send me favorite pictures from a road trip (sunsets, friends, sightseeing, etc.)? Send them via email (tammy_bixler@ivstaff.org) or mail copies to me (ask me for address). I'll post them around the room we use at the conference site.
- Sponsor a Small Group care package:
We now have 11 small group leaders leading 11 small groups this fall. They could use a lot of encouragement and prayers as they continue to reach their communities on campus and grow as a mini-witnessing community.
Would you consider sponsoring a care package to send them this fall? I can definitely give you suggestions and ideas of what to include if you would like help. You can send it anytime this semester.
Here are the small group leaders and their respective communities:- Aidin - International students
- Amanda - Artists
- Doug - Freshmen
- Eric - Grad students
- Jeremy - Co-op
- Jessie - Artists
- Lydia - Health Sciences
- Mark - Commuter & Faculty
- Rachel - Mandarin Speaking
- Tim - Outdoors & Adventure
- Tin - Fitness
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Creative Ways to Partner - July 2014
Please comment or email me (tammy_bixler@ivstaff.org) if you'd like to partner with me in any of these ways:
1. Sponsor a Small Group care package:
We have 9 small group leaders preparing to lead 9 small groups this fall semester. I think it would be so cool if they could receive a fun and encouraging care package from someone who's thinking and praying for them! I can give you suggestions and ideas for a package if you'd like, and you can send it to me anytime this semester.
Below are the small group leaders and their respective small group focuses:
Eric - Grad students
Jessie - Artists
Tin - Fitness
Doug - Freshmen
Lydia - Health Sciences & Commuter
Tim - (n/a yet)
Amanda - (n/a yet)
Michael - (n/a yet)
2. Help me decorate an office wall space:
I have a large empty wall space in my InterVarsity office on campus. I had shelves taken down and I didn't want to paint the wall, so I left the tracking on there and hung a navy blue tablecloth over the wall, thinking I'd come up with some brilliant idea to decorate.
However, I have not come up with a brilliant idea, and it has not been the highest of my priorities, so I'd love some help. If you have ideas or would like to send/give me some decor (e.g. banners, post-its, picture frames) that would help create a welcoming space for meeting with students and remind us of what our ministry is all about, please let me know!
It would just be a big cherry on top if that decorative space could be interactive/engaging (e.g. having students write an encouraging note to post).
1. Sponsor a Small Group care package:
We have 9 small group leaders preparing to lead 9 small groups this fall semester. I think it would be so cool if they could receive a fun and encouraging care package from someone who's thinking and praying for them! I can give you suggestions and ideas for a package if you'd like, and you can send it to me anytime this semester.
Below are the small group leaders and their respective small group focuses:
Eric - Grad students
Jessie - Artists
Tin - Fitness
Doug - Freshmen
Lydia - Health Sciences & Commuter
Tim - (n/a yet)
Amanda - (n/a yet)
Michael - (n/a yet)
2. Help me decorate an office wall space:
I have a large empty wall space in my InterVarsity office on campus. I had shelves taken down and I didn't want to paint the wall, so I left the tracking on there and hung a navy blue tablecloth over the wall, thinking I'd come up with some brilliant idea to decorate.
However, I have not come up with a brilliant idea, and it has not been the highest of my priorities, so I'd love some help. If you have ideas or would like to send/give me some decor (e.g. banners, post-its, picture frames) that would help create a welcoming space for meeting with students and remind us of what our ministry is all about, please let me know!
It would just be a big cherry on top if that decorative space could be interactive/engaging (e.g. having students write an encouraging note to post).
Monday, September 23, 2013
Perfection vs. Excellence.
I am a recovering perfectionist. While everyone, to some extent, desires for control over their whole life, I am definitely one who has a tendency to fight for more of that control than others, or at least get extremely frustrated and disappointed if things don't go the way I picture them. Combine that with a deep desire to help everyone, please everyone, and a detail-oriented personality who loves to plan events, and I can easily become a mess of a crazy woman. But after my college experience with God doing a lot of work in my life, I'd say I definitely am in a much better place now.
The week leading up to Vision Night last Friday was definitely a test of that progress, to say the least. Even with months of planning ahead of time, we still ended up being short-staffed, miscommunicating, and changing things last minute. And on top of that, I was experiencing other unexpected personal and ministry-related obligations.
There were many times where it would've been easy for me to get frustrated or worry, but I didn't. And there were some moments where I regrettably gave in to the temptation. But as I reflect on the night, God definitely met me where I was and reminded me that He was in control:
When I thought about this week I was reminded of a text I sent to one of my student leaders just a few weeks ago, which said, "Don't forget, we're striving for excellence, not perfection." When I thought about the difference between the two, it seemed like it was a very fine line. So how can I make sure I'm actually striving for excellence and not perfection?
The week leading up to Vision Night last Friday was definitely a test of that progress, to say the least. Even with months of planning ahead of time, we still ended up being short-staffed, miscommunicating, and changing things last minute. And on top of that, I was experiencing other unexpected personal and ministry-related obligations.
There were many times where it would've been easy for me to get frustrated or worry, but I didn't. And there were some moments where I regrettably gave in to the temptation. But as I reflect on the night, God definitely met me where I was and reminded me that He was in control:
- First of all, 122 students showed up from all over the Rochester Area. We were expecting 100 as a max, though were probably realistically thinking it would be less. Praise the Lord!
- Five University of Rochester students came! For a chapter plant that has been struggling to get students to commit and participate in activities, this was a huge success. It was a joy to have them join in on what God was doing throughout the Rochester Area.
- Overall, once the night got started, things went pretty smoothly. There were no major hiccups or large schedule changes.
- During one of my anxious moments (that I didn't really have to be anxious about), one of my own students was there to say that everything was going to be okay. And it was.
- Working on the poster boards and plans was fun. It reminded me of how much I love being behind the scenes, developing creative spaces for people to encounter the living God and respond to the love, grace, and mercy God extends to us. It also reminded me of how much I appreciated the staff workers who did the same for me as a student.
Looking up the definitions of the two words seemed to clarify the differences:
per·fect
[adj., n. pur-fikt; v. per-fekt] Show IPA
adjective
1.
conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type: a perfect sphere; a perfectgentleman.
2.
excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement: There is no perfect legal code. Theproportions of this temple are almost perfect.
3.
exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose: a perfect actor to play Mr.Micawber; a perfect saw for cutting out keyholes.
4.
entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings: a perfect apple; the perfect crime.
5.
accurate, exact, or correct in every detail: a perfect copy.
ex·cel·lent
[ek-suh-luhnt] Show IPA
adjective
1.
possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good.
2.
Archaic. extraordinary; superior.
It seems like for perfection, they use words like 'ideal,' 'exact,' 'correct,' and 'flawless.' There's a mold to fit with rules to abide by, and anything less than that falls short. With excellence, it seems like you're shooting for 'above average,' and caring more about the quality than working towards exact dimensions. It seems like for perfection, there's one answer, and one answer only; for excellence, there are many possibilities and room for growth. With perfection, there's temptation to take extreme control over things out of your control; with excellence, there are opportunities to fail and learn. There's bondage in perfection; there's freedom in excellence.
With that in mind, I think Vision Night was done excellently - it was an improvement from the year before, and there are ways we can increase the quality for next time. And hopefully, I'll remember the difference between perfection and excellence in whatever ways I serve the Lord.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
40 Days of Prayer: Day 1
We launched our 40-day prayer campaign yesterday and the theme our Regional Spiritual Formation Director sent us was about good soil, from the parable in the book of Mark.
It reminded me of a talk Bill Hybels gave at this year's Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit which I attended earlier in the month. He mentioned the same parable, but from the book of Luke, and talked about something he had noticed when he read it, even though he had read it many times before.
He noticed that there was a 75% rejection rate. Three out of the four types of soil rejected the seeds that were sown. Hybels pointed out, though, that it would be really easy for us to grumble about the rejection. However, "instead of complaining about how few trees have grown," he said, "we should spend more time planting more seeds...different kinds of seeds."
Plant more seeds. That's something that stuck with me since the Summit. To me that's a call to make more invitations. Often I and many others get lost in the insecurities and fears of inviting people more than once - let alone once - to meet Jesus. We make it all about us, our reputation and how we feel and let rejection stop us from reaping the harvest that is plentiful.
Plant more seeds. I also think it's a call to be creative. You know that quote that says, "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results?" Sometimes we need to change the input if we want the output to be different. So it calls for us to think outside the box, discover our gifts and passions, and diligently steward those gifts with commitment and discipline. We need to explore new paths and try new methods with the expectation that there is a good possibility we may fail. Our success is defined differently than the world's. We are called to obey. We are called to be faithful.
Plant more seeds. I think it's a call to pray. We need to listen for where God is leading. I am not inherently faithful, and obedience is not always easy, and sometimes it takes a lot of discipline to be creative. None of this seed sowing should be on our own or by our own power. We need to abide in Jesus.
Why? Because the trees that come from planted seeds that grow in good soil - lives that are transformed by the living God of the gospel - are worth it all.
It reminded me of a talk Bill Hybels gave at this year's Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit which I attended earlier in the month. He mentioned the same parable, but from the book of Luke, and talked about something he had noticed when he read it, even though he had read it many times before.
He noticed that there was a 75% rejection rate. Three out of the four types of soil rejected the seeds that were sown. Hybels pointed out, though, that it would be really easy for us to grumble about the rejection. However, "instead of complaining about how few trees have grown," he said, "we should spend more time planting more seeds...different kinds of seeds."
Plant more seeds. That's something that stuck with me since the Summit. To me that's a call to make more invitations. Often I and many others get lost in the insecurities and fears of inviting people more than once - let alone once - to meet Jesus. We make it all about us, our reputation and how we feel and let rejection stop us from reaping the harvest that is plentiful.
Plant more seeds. I also think it's a call to be creative. You know that quote that says, "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results?" Sometimes we need to change the input if we want the output to be different. So it calls for us to think outside the box, discover our gifts and passions, and diligently steward those gifts with commitment and discipline. We need to explore new paths and try new methods with the expectation that there is a good possibility we may fail. Our success is defined differently than the world's. We are called to obey. We are called to be faithful.
Plant more seeds. I think it's a call to pray. We need to listen for where God is leading. I am not inherently faithful, and obedience is not always easy, and sometimes it takes a lot of discipline to be creative. None of this seed sowing should be on our own or by our own power. We need to abide in Jesus.
Why? Because the trees that come from planted seeds that grow in good soil - lives that are transformed by the living God of the gospel - are worth it all.
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