First Day of School!

We know your laundry habits
xkcd.com/1066/

Welcome back everyone! And a hearty Mines welcome to all the new freshmen and students on campus today!

This is a small blog for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the Colorado School of Mines. It doesn't get updated much, but it has the basic information!

We are a group that loves Jesus, and loves Mines. We meet for Bible studies, movie nights, camping trips and food (lots of food!) We love each other because community is the best way to experience life and faith. If you're curious about what we do on campus and how to join in, please email Krista, our staff worker, she'll get you connected!

We think it's super important to have people you can trust and rely on when going through college, and if you don't have a group, we want you to feel welcome in ours! Our faith is a part of us, but it isn't a hoop you have to jump through, we want you to come and be around us, do life with us and see what you think. We won't force you into anything, judge you or make you feel weird. We just want you to find home here in Golden Colorado!

We look forward to meeting you and sitting down over coffee/ice cream/cookies/Mines Market food (told you we like food!) so hit us up!

You can find us a bunch of places on social media, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, even Facebook!

Just before Fall Semester 2017

The semester is nearly here! Can you believe it?!

I want to welcome you to our blog, it's a bit sparse but it's a way to get to know what InterVarsity and Mines is all about!

My name is Krista Pekarek and I'm on staff with IV and I can't wait to meet this incoming class of freshmen! If you're interested in hearing more about InterVarsity, please don't hesitate to email me and ask! InterVarsity will be hosting some events (usually with desserts and free food!) but we'll also be on campus getting to know people and just hanging out.


InterVarsity's prayer is for every student and staff on campus to be able to make an informed decision about Jesus. We have monthly Large Group meetings, weekly Bible studies and fun hang out times during the week.

We can't wait to meet you and invite you into our community!

Welcome to Mines IV 2016!

New students and upperclassmen,we are so excited to get to know you this coming year! We believe God has awesome things to do on campus in the coming days, weeks, and months!

Large group meets in Hill Hall 209 on Wednesdays at 7:30. We look forward to meeting you!

Follow us on Facebook for weekly Large Group reminders and information about what else we have going on!

We've already had a blast handing out ice cream at our Ice Cream Social!

And even though it seems like school has just started, we are already getting ready for Fall Conference!

Hope classes have gotten off to a great start! See you at Large Group!

Welcome to Mines IV!

New students and upperclassmen alike-- we are so excited to get to know you this coming year. We believe God has awesome things to do on campus in the coming days, weeks, and months!

1st Large Group is Wednesday, August 28, 7:30 in BE243.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

Watermelon seed-spitting contest at the Welcome Back BBQ

Volunteering for M-Climb 2013!

IV for InterVarsity

Handing out oranges to new students on M-Climb!

Hope the first week of school went well! See you all Wednesday!

Prayer

Renew was about Prayer last Thursday: Praying for your friends, praying with your friends, and praying continually. Prayer Meeting was about prayer...so I heard...But really, it was about praying into Renew. And now the Large Group talk even more confirmed how prayer should be our reaction to everything.

Thoughts? How is the renew challenge going? Is God working through your life because of prayer?

Invitation

Howdy, all!

New this semester is Renew, Mines IV's response to God's call to be more like an organism and get out and do. Thrive is for anyone up to a challenge, anyone wanting to listen for God's call, anyone seeking to renew our campus in God-like love. 

The first Renew session had us get out of our comfort zone and meet new people! It was challenging to have deeper conversations with classmates and people we see everyday, but some great stories came out of that. 

This week and the next are all about inviting people with a loving invitation. Just to get into the spirit of inviting them to things we do all the time and enjoy (except for homework, but that can be fun too!).

Burning Embers is a great place to share what we've been doing! The challenges, the successes, and the hopes that God has for our fellowship. 

So tl;dr: Post comments on what God's inviting you to invite people to! The way we keep moving is feed off of the good energy that comes out of this!

Atrophy

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked,“Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her,“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
~ Mark 5:25-34

Some people try to get by with the bare minimum, and that carries them, as Ryan shared with us tonight. But I am very different, and that can be both a blessing and a curse. I compulsively try by hardest to do well, and that carried me up until college. But then Mines comes and slaps (nearly) everyone in the face, saying, “You have to give your whole self up in order to do well in this class, and even if you do, you might end up failing.” Thus, the curse. My life is exercised in an imbalanced way. My slight OCD will force me into wee hours of the night. I try to fix that by adding other stuff to my life. But if you exercise parts of your body completely unevenly, you’re gonna have a bad time. Exercise might be bad.  (This might not be true, but this is why I don’t ever physically exercise.) But God is watching wondering when I’m going to find the time to spend with Him. What does everything else matter? I’m killing myself physically and emotionally without God. When that part lacks, life deteriorates.

Not a Maybe

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Urbana: An Unexpected Journey

One CSM InterVarsity student's experiences at Urbana 12,

 December 27-January 1, St. Louis, MO. 

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.

Practice in Action

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

~ Mark 16 : 15 - 20

The Time Is Now

Then they gathered around him and asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and it all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1 : 6 - 11

Love Your Neighbor

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1 : 3 - 8

A Calling

"'Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash.'" Matthew 7 : 24 - 27

Heroes of Change, not Tragedy

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Judges 16:18-20

A Hero's Call

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 

But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Luke 4 : 42 - 44

The Transformation Into a Hero

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

Judges 6 : 11 - 16

Heroes Stand Up

All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” 

Numbers 14 : 2 – 9 

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed by your lives right now? Tests are starting, the semester is moving along, and life is not getting any easier. Between InterVarsity, school, friendships, and family I’m feeling it. Life is overwhelming and that is just in my little world!

Looking at the evil present in our world can feel so far away and so impossible to change. I barely have it together enough to control my own evil, how can I make an impact in the evils in our world! The Israelites in the story saw the evil in the world and wanted to run away. Their hero, Caleb, saw an opportunity to stand up to the evil.

We are correct when we say that the world’s evils are huge and we are tiny. But don’t we believe in a huge God? One that protects us, takes care of us, and knows what’s best for us? It’s so easy for us to forget about God’s promises. But good news! God is not calling you, he is calling all of us as a community. We all have the choice to be a big part of a really small story or a small part of a huge story that will redeem the world.

Are you willing to say yes to what God has called you to? If life is overwhelming right now, how can you give that to God?

As heroes, we are not allowed to run from evil. Where we go, Jesus comes, and when Jesus comes, evil flees. We have great power, and as you all know “with great power comes great responsibility.”

-Rachael

The Villain Inside Us

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves....

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Genesis 3:4-7, 21-22

Heroes are Friends

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. 

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.   

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Genesis 2 : 18 - 22

Heroes in a Rotten World

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah,about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Hebrews 11: 32 - 40