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| Josh and the Smith Hall staff, 2013-2014. |
I am blessed
with the opportunity to share a little bit with you about what The Lord has
done in my life through student leadership at AU in hopes that He would use my
words to speak to you and encourage you in whatever capacity you serve.
I remember well
what it’s like to return to AU after Christmas break and all of the emotions
that come with that. I expect that you are feeling excited to be back, anxious
to see how classes will go for the semester and happy to be back with your
friends. I would hope that you are excited to be back on campus and expectant
of all that God will do this semester…but I also recognize that this is one of
the hardest parts of the year for leaders on campus.
It’s a strange
place to be. You have just come back from a month of a time that we call
(comically in my opinion), Christmas “break.” A time full of family, food, long
car rides, trips to Grandma’s house, adventures to new places with Tri-S, and
countless times of having to answer the “Hey! How are you?” and “How is school
going?” questions from people who regardless of what you tell them will
inevitably nod their heads and instinctively say “That’s awesome.”
Some “break.”
How are you
supposed to lead the people around you on your floor, in your ministry, on this
campus…when you feel like you have nothing left to give?!?
So often,
breaks seem to take more out of you than they give. I struggled with
this idea every year of my time as a student leader on campus. I was so
expectant and excited to see God move but sometimes felt like I had less to
give the guys on my floor than I did before Christmas break.
We always talk
about “burn-out” happening at the end of the semester. You know, the feeling
that you get when you are barely staying afloat with all that is going on in
your own life, let alone what is going on in the lives of people that you
serve. But, what The Lord taught me then (and still is teaching me even now),
is that he doesn’t ask us to be “perfect leaders full of joy and energy” when
he calls… but that we recognize that He has called each of us for a time
such as this.
He has taught
me a lot recently about what HE expects of us when He calls…
He expects that we be real and authentic.
It does no good
to us OR the people that we lead for us to allow ourselves to slip into a sense
of pseudo-authenticity and to “fake it until we make it.” One of the hardest
things for us as leaders to do, is to admit to ourselves and those that we lead
that we are tired, worn out and empty. But not until we can admit this, do we
really understand that it is God that ultimately does the work…not us.
He expects that we press into our calling.
When we
recognize and accept the person that God is calling us to be, we can truly make
a difference in the lives of the people around us. He has created each and
every one of us with different gifts and abilities. In each of us, we find
countless aspects of God himself. However, when we refuse to live in the
calling that God has for us, we not only rob ourselves of getting to see Him
work in our lives…but we rob those around us of an opportunity to find their
own calling.
But most
importantly…
He expects us to answer.
The Bible is
full of people who when God called them, didn’t believe that they were capable
of answering the call that He placed on their lives. Before Paul was one of the
most influential Christians of all time, he was Saul…a man who was personally
responsible for the persecution and execution of A TON of people. Before Rahab
found the Lord and was part of the bloodline of Jesus himself, she was a
prostitute, the lowest of the low. We serve a God who sees past our current
circumstances and the things of our past. We serve a God who knows our
potential and who simply asks that we answer, and follow Him.
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| Josh and his beautiful wife, Shoshannah. |
Josh Smith
Smith Hall RA,
2012-2014
Hall Chaplain,
2011-2012
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