One CSM InterVarsity student's experiences at Urbana 12,
December 27-January 1, St. Louis, MO.
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I don’t
really know why I came to Urbana. I remember saying it’d be the chance of a
lifetime as Urbana 15 will (hopefully) take place after I’m done with my
undergraduate degree. I know it would be an adventure, road tripping across
three states, and that intrigued me. But most importantly was the feeling that
God said “Go”. And in the journey of my life I felt Urbana was the place I was
to go to next. So after watching commercials for it freshman year and not
considering it, on the last week of October I decided to go.
Urbana at
first glance is InterVarsity’s student missions conference that happens every
three years. Before, I was uncertain how applicable it would be to me (or how
applicable I wanted it to be). After all, I kind of have this picture in my mind
that I’d stay in Colorado forever and didn’t feel called to see where the
travel opportunities my major could take me, finding hydrocarbons on a
different continent or doing earthquake mitigation in countries that need it.
So the thought of what God might’ve called me to do at a HUGE missions
conference frightened me. Maybe even more frightening was the thought that God
wouldn’t speak to me at all (or rather, that I wouldn’t hear His voice).
So I said
yes to Urbana. I had no idea what it was going to be like, but
I was put on the Leadership track. I honestly wasn’t quite prepared for the
craziness of Urbana- after school ended it kinda just snuck up on me. And academically,
I was coming off a semester in which God had taken care of me, but I was
depressed that I hadn’t given my best during the most crucial stretch to the
end. I was (am) also struggling with what God would have me do with my degree
after college and I desperately wanted to know what His will was so I could
apply to relevant internships and know the roadmap to my life and get on with
it. Even with other personal aspects of my life, I wanted to know everything
and had trouble moving until I did know.
***
Besides
those all-nighters freshman year, the night before our caravan departed held
the least sleep I think I’ve ever gotten. Only the moon was up when I awoke at
3:50 AM. Crossing the Colorado-Kansas border, the sun rose. Crossing into
Missouri, the sun set. Then the moon rose, lighting the night as we rolled on
to St. Louis. I actually enjoyed the long car ride. The company was great. We
listened to a book on tape about Lincoln (which may have aided in my napping at
some time, although it was very interesting). We had fun with the other car,
the walkie-talkies buzzing with clever quips or I Spy hints. Roger that. We
enjoyed the scenery. We talked.
And then
after a long day of driving, five days filled with intense learning, worship,
sharing, and conviction awaited.
I’m still
processing the stuff I learned, the stuff revealed, and the stuff to be carried
out. Here is my feeble attempt to highlight the stuff that stood out to me
(seriously, it would have been much easier if you would have gone to Urbana
with us! :P )
***
So five days
are packed like this: morning Bible study of Luke manuscript style, morning
session (with speakers, videos, performances, and worship), lunch of PB&J,
seminars, Track seminar, evening session sometimes much like morning session,
then small group time. We woke up at 8 and got to bed at 1 or 2 usually.
So many
things to think about…I think the things that hit me the most came out of David
Platt’s talk Friday evening, his talk to the leadership Track Saturday, and a
missionary’s talk to the leadership track, and the evangelism seminars given
there as well.
Teachings, realizations,
confirmations...
Jesus is worth everything. And that means
everything. Platt spoke that we come to Jesus to get stuff, but we need Jesus.
In Him we have everything we want or need. That’s why He’s worthy of
everything: our trust, our plans and dreams, and our affections. Platt
continued, “We have found someone worth losing everything for…He is worthy of
nothing less than that.”
I have to actually realize the cost of
following Jesus. I’ve always known I’d be blessed, and I knew that times would
get rough. I knew that God has a plan, and yeah, we should probably stick
with His path and follow where He leads and trust Him because He knows best.
But to give your life and dedicate it to Him, every bit, every talent, every
passion…is intimidating. And I’m not sure how someone goes from trusting God to
being willing to die for Him. How do you
live out your life as a blank check?
It’s scary
to think about where God might call us to go in our lives in service to Him. I
don’t want to work for say, an oil company in a far away country away from the
people and comforts I love. But it doesn’t matter what I want, because His
plans are greater. “Do we really think we have better things to do with our
time or our life than what is great on the heart of God?” the missionary spoke.
I realized I need to surrender my plans to Him. I want to be done making a life
for myself, taking things into my own hands, worrying about things that aren’t
going to even matter. I want to be on the path God has for me. I had been
struggling with wanting to know the path, and “can I please have a map so I can
get there?!” During the Track session, it was pointed out that you know the
path by staying on it. In the woods you don’t need to know where it goes in
order to be on it. So along with surrendering, abiding on the path. For me,
that means spending time with God alone and that might mean less time doing
things I want to do, like studying. But He’s worth losing that time to. That’s
the least I could give.
During the
Join-In night, we were made aware of the native caretakers in countries like
Swaziland that have an AIDS epidemic. These caretakers don’t have much to help
these hurting people, but they continue to help out of love, putting their own
health in danger. That night, we made 32,000 care packages with basic medical
needs such as Vaseline, rubber gloves, and water-purifier to be sent to
Swaziland. It was great to be able to do something very small, but the thing
that hit me the most from the experience was the extreme love these caretakers
have. They are the hope to their community, and they do it for nothing!
I attended a
few seminars about evangelism and leading movements that contains people
willing to step out and grow. Putting yourself out there and starting something
new. It was great to learn more and be inspired before going back to campus and
putting Mines InterVarsity’s newish direction of evangelism to practice. But in
that, there has to be an intense love of the people of our campus. Building
relationships and loving and guiding the people we know becomes life. We live
life with people, just like Jesus did and then the campus, the city, the world
can see Him through His love in us.
***
Pretty
intimidating and intense, I know. Urbana was super awesome and intense, and
everyone who went has their own experiences to share and amazing things they
learned. I just hope my sharing of my experiences brought something up that God
has been pressing you about. It started with Urbana 12, but it continues with
us in ’13.
I am even
more convinced now that God wants us to be evangelistic, as a fellowship and in
our everyday lives. That he wants us to go all out and give Him everything in
loving the people around us and inviting them to know Jesus. It can be risky,
but He is worth that risk, He is worth everything including feeling incredibly
awkward and being rejected and not having any time for yourself.
So I guess
you can say my New Year’s resolution is to get worse grades. But not really, I
need to focus on what really matters. In a few years, when I’m all done with
school, I don’t want just for “school” or my degree to define my time here,
because that’s not what matters in the long run. Rather, it is just the means
to take me on more unexpected journeys.
In 2013, let’s start
going on those journeys together. Transform our lives. Renew our Colorado
School of Mines campus. And yeah, change the world.
