Campus Ministry Center
of Ridgewater College
A New Year! 01/06/2010
 
What will 2010 bring to you and me?  Many people ask this question, but in reality are they really open to receive the answer or do they already have the answers in their heads about how they want things to be?  That is one of our biggest stumbling blocks as believers, we say we are open to God's leading, but too often we have in our heads what we expect this leading to look like.  Is that really being open? 

You often hear me saying, "What is God up to?"  I say this a lot, so that I can remind myself that God is alive and moving right here and right now in my life and yours.  God is moving everyday, but too many times we get so focused on other things that we miss what God is doing.

My hope for 2010 is that we all will continue to ask this question and really mean it.  That in 2010 we will all start to see with more clarity what it is that God is doing today, and how we can best fit into God's plan for this new year!
 
Oh What a Night! 09/08/2009
 
Just hosted our first Even Tuesday Free Meal and met some great students!  We had a decent turn out considering it was the Tuesday after Labor Day and most students, and Chaplains, think it is Monday!

Had a great meal and talked about all the exciting programs happening.  I was really pumped about finding more musicians for our Sunday Night Live Worship called "The Voice"  Having Matt lead this groups is going to be awesome and now discovering that we have students with worship leading experience, YOU ROCK THERESA, we are going to have one great time praising God and worshiping this semester.  I hope you will come and join us starting this Sunday September 13th.  Supper is at 5:30 followed by "The Voice" and then stay for a movie or watch Sunday Night Football!
 
 
Well here we go!  Had a great day yesterday on campus meeting new students and connecting with some returning ones too!  Highlight was probably spending $2 and dunking our starting QB and Student Body President in the dunk tank!! (you shouldn't have mocked me dude!)  Met some students from Sioux Falls who are a lot of fun, and one them is a dang good rock climber as she challenged the Football team and BEAT THEM!  All in all a great way to start the year.  I haven't felt this excited for quite some time and man does it feel good!  God is really opening up some new doors for our ministry, and after having a good conversation yesterday with one of our Asst. Football coaches I think we might be adding more programs in the weeks ahead!!!  GOD IS GOOD!!!

Blessings,
Mike
 
Fast Approaching 08/03/2009
 
So anyone else a bit freaked by the fact that school starts in just a couple of weeks?!  Where did the summer go?  I feel like time is NOT on my side!

Speaking of time I had an awesome experience leading a Family Camp at Shores of St. Andrew where I had time to really think about......TIME, let me be more specific, I thought about time management and how Jesus figured out the key in his hectic and busy life.

What was JC's secret? SABBATH!  No not only Sunday's, but boy wouldn't it be great if everyone took Sunday as a Sabbath, I'm talking about how Jesus made Sabbath a priority in his everyday life.  Jesus often took time to leave his disciples and others behind, often in the early morning hours, just to sneak away and rest, renew, and re-charge.  It was his time, and he spent it in prayer and reflection with God.


I need to follow his example this year and take time out of my life to be alone and rest, renew, re-charge in some Sabbath time.  My family needs me to do this, my ministry does, and more importantly God needs me to take the time.  Hey maybe for once time will be on my side!

Mike
 
 

It was 10 years ago when the tragedy of Columbine High School took place, when the loss of young lives dramatically changed forever the innocence of youth. 

It is never easy to see a life lost, especially when that life is young and still full of promise, but the reality is none of us were born with an unlimited supply of bubble wrap around us.  We were never assured that bad things won't happen to good people.  We don't live in a world that is pain free.  But we do have good news!

We are celebrating right now the season of Easter, the time that we study and learn more about the ministry of Jesus AFTER he battled death and won!  We have hope for life eternal, life that is free of pain and suffering, life that is forever, life that brings joy and defeats all sorrow.  This is the wonderful gift for all through the suffering of an innocent Jesus, through the death of a good person. 

To read the stories of those who survived the Columbine tragedy to see what type of people they have become 10 years later is a reminder to us all that even in the midst of tragedy God is there and God remains!

Some of you in our area know that our college community has suffered another tragic loss, and our football program is once again mourning the loss of a friend and teammate.  Our prayers go out to all of them, as right now they walk through a dark time in their lives.  Our prayer is that soon the darkness will be replaced with the penetrating light of the risen Christ, who took away the power and the sting of death!

 

 
 

I was reading the Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday and was struck by this thought, "Was Thomas really that bad?"  You know people have really given Thomas a bad rap on this whole doubt thing.  Show me just one of the followers who believed without seeing?  O.k. John talks about believing after he came out of the tomb, but really he needed to SEE the empty tomb for himself, he didn't believe because of what Jesus had taught.

I don't think our friend Tommy was that bad of a guy, and he certainly wasn't any different than the rest of the followers.  His only really offense was that he showed up to the meeting late, then again how many of us can be found guilty of the same offense? 

For me the story of Thomas is a story about us, all of us at one time or another who simply didn't feel that faith was enough but we wanted to see more.  How many times have we asked for a sign from God, or questioned and challenged God in different life circumstances?  I can't be too tough on Tom, I mean I would be a hypocrite if I pointed out his failure but not the many times that I too wanted to see in order to believe.

There are days where I am too much like Thomas, and it is at times like that where I need to be reminded of these words of the risen Lord, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." (John 20:29).

Maybe in some cases seeing is believing, but with the risen Lord it is believing that is a blessing!



 
The Journey 04/13/2009
 

I have continued to be amazed when I stop and think about completing my 11th school year at Campus Ministry!  This has been an interesting journey to say the least, and yet I find that I still get excited by where the journey leads. 

This journey has brought me to high places with active students who just loved to minister to one another, and to others around us.  Those years were exciting, and it is hard to believe that they were not just last year, especially when I consider the recent Alumni Reunion and meeting some of the children of these same students!

The journey as also been a struggle at times, and sometimes I need to pause and remind myself that during the struggle years, I need to take the opportunity to stop and listen again to God and the leading that God is providing this ministry.

I am sensing a moving again of the Spirit in this place, a moving that I have not sensed in awhile, and frankly a moving that I had realized I missed until recently.  Oh I know that this moving is going to bring about change and twist and turns for the immediate future, but you know that is something that I really love about the journey.  What is God up to?  I wonder how many times the Disciples of Jesus thought that way, asking themselves "What is Jesus up to now?" 

I write this on the Monday after Easter, and there is one thing that I know for certain that Jesus is up to....HE IS RISEN AND DEATH HAS LOST!  My prayer for all of us is that we can maintain this feeling of resurrection well beyond this season of Easter, so that we don't loose sight of the fact that death and darkness have no hold on us, because we have a Christ who is up to RESURRECTION!  Today, Tomorrow, and Always! 

Time to head out and take a few more steps.......I will share what I find with you later......

 

    Author

    Mike is a Husband, Father, Minister, Student, and a Follower of the Lord!  Over twenty years of ministry experience, but still not a day goes by that God doesn't share something new with this guy.  Those thoughts he shares here.

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