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Summer of 2009

This summer I did something so vastly different from everything else in my life--something so against my flesh and my selfish desires. Instead of taking that prized internship in Chicago that had actually become a reality, God was convicting me to commit my summer to serving the Ann Arbor-Detroit area through the community summer missions project through hmcc.

From the first week of May until this past Tuesday, I've been trained to grow in my spiritual disciplines as we went to morning prayer, memorized the book of Philippians, studied the Word, and learned to share the Gospel. Through our various fieldwork at an inner-city high school in Detroit, the international community in Ann Arbor, an underprivileged group of children at the Bryant Community Center, and even through visiting the HMCC of Austin--I learned about God's sovereignty, His love for His people, and His desires for us to live every moment of our lives to give glory to His name. In the process, he directly addressed my personal issues with pride, and humbled me as He revealed to me of the sins in my life. To see that God was using me to share the Gospel and minister to people even when I was failing, disobeying, and so sinful--was a true testament of God's grace in my life. I now see it as a great privilege to partake in the great things He is doing in the Ann Arbor-Detroit area this summer.

For me, the hardest part is translating the ONE THING from this summer to KNOW GOD and to make him known--into an active part, the core ingredient, and the driver of my final year as an undergrad and more importantly, my life after graduation. I still feel as if I have a very worldly approach in my life after graduation, particularly being trained in the Ross BBA culture that we are truly the "best of the best" and should all strive to be the best individuals in corporate America.

I can confidently say that God has brought me through this summer of challenges and learnings so that I may love Him more and surrender (more of) my life to my Lord and my Savior. Even though it's scary to look ahead and daunting to think of following Christ even against worldly oppression, I hold onto the hope that the same God that has saved me and blessed me in the past twenty-one years will continue the good work He has started in me.

To senior year and beyond--

NY

Comments

xbobo said…
INDEED. Cheers to senior year and what lies ahead. glad you had a good summer. good to see you enjoyed the decision you made.

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