Live Out Loud

I should have posted this a couple weeks ago--but here it is, my thoughts closing out this year's LIFEgroup. Freefall, it has been an immense privilege to be invited into your lives, to be entrusted to lead and shepherd this group despite my lack of innate shepherding abilities. I'm thankful for the undeserving patience and grace many of you have shown to me in my cowardly moments of fear or awkwardness or lack of emotion :P  Thanks for loving me just as I am, with my fears, flaws, and failures, not only as a leader but as an individual. It's hard to find communities like this where we can be free to be ourselves, and loved (not just tolerated) for who we are.  Our church has a strong culture of discipleship and mentoring, so take advantage of it--GET DISCIPLED, and start making disciples! I didn't really know what I was doing either but all you gotta do is follow Christ, and invite others to follow you (1 Cor. 11:1). If you're not sure what that means, let...

Four years ago, Jesus gave me a vision for a long-term career in higher education, which I never even knew existed. It came unexpected after a struggle to surrender my career as an undergraduate business student, and for four years God used my time at Deloitte and the college ministry at HMCC to grow my skillsets, character, and passions. Why the career change? I entered the University of Michigan as an undergraduate business student focused solely on excelling in my studies to secure a prestigious full-time job. To my surprise, I received so much more than just an enriching intellectual experience as Christ found me and gave me a new identity, purpose, and passions. As I began to follow my newfound lord and savior, I was challenged to let go of my plans to trust instead. The experience that changed it all Right before my senior year in college, I participated in a community summer missions project with my church instead of taking a corporate internship. Even though I had a hard...

Receiving this surprise cake was one of the most thoughtful gestures I have received in a long time. Praise God for his direction and provision in my life!

“Dear diary, My head is spinning.  I hardly know where to start.  This day started out so perfectly – like every other day we’ve ever had.  As we always do, Adam and I got up early to take a walk with God.  Those walks have always been the highlight of our day. This morning, no one said anything for a while.  We just enjoyed being together.  Then God started singing.  It was a love song.  When He got to the chorus, we started to sing with Him – first, Adam’s deep voice, then I joined in.  We sang and sang and sang – songs about love and stars and joy and God.  Finally, we all sat down under a big shade tree near the middle of the Garden.  We thanked God for being so good; we told Him all we wanted to do was to make Him happy and to find our happiness in Him.  It was such a sweet time – it always was when the three of us were together. I don’t know how to explain what happened next.  All of a sudden, we heard a voice...

"NY will you stay here until I graduate?" ......  (heck no) Perhaps that's the very thing I need to surrender

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” - C.S. Lewis

October is Clergy Appreciation Month and I was really excited this year when the Publication team prepared twice as many prayer cards than we have in the years past. When I first came into HMCC as a freshman, there were five pastors on staff here in Ann Arbor. Since then, we've been sending them out one by one to start churches in places like Austin and Jakarta. To see us add pastors and staff here in Ann Arbor and at our global sites, is an answer to prayers I lifted up since my time in college. How I've been blessed.. I started getting to know Diana starting my senior year, and have had the privilege of being on the receiving end of her prayers, counseling, and mentorship. She was actually one of the first people to greet me at the Posting Wall when I walked into HMCC for the first time as a long-lost freshman. Through the years, one thing I’ve been really impacted by is the countless chances Diana has given me despite the number of times I’ve dropped the ball or m...