Go. Love.

So after graduating in May last year, I decided to stick around the Anderson area to work instead of heading back to the Northern lands of Michigan. This has been a blessing but also a curse. A curse because I have to explain to people that I graduated, but yet I chose to stick around, but a blessing because I have probably learned the most valuable thing I could possibly learn here in Anderson. Love.

I’m going to say something that may wig some of you out and some may not agree with and that’s ok, but here it goes! Do you know that massive bible they make you buy for intro to bible (The red one that adds a million pounds to your backpack)? I love the footnotes it has, but there were two scriptures a footnote focused on that rattle my bones a few months back when reading Matthew which reads:

Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as Your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasures in Heaven; then come, follow me.”

Wait… Did Jesus just call me to be perfect? Did he literally just say be perfect?

The answer is yes.

The only two times Jesus ever called us to be perfect. Not only that but his call to be perfect revolves around the love commandment. This shook me hard when I first read it and really caused me to reevaluate myself.

Why? Because I tried to avoid the people of Anderson as hard as I could.

I didn’t want to be involved with them and I didn’t want to become one. They’re mean, trashy and  hopeless people who probably hated everyone for no reason (Or so my over-privileged private Christian school bubbled self-thought).

But back in September, I had the privilege of joining the core team for a revival movement that  was hitting Anderson in November (1st-8th). As we began meeting and planning I got to meet these “Andersonians” who were not only on fire for Jesus, but on fire to tell people about Jesus and I began to hear stories of encounters these people had before the revival had even started.

Side note: Even though I do believe in street evangelizing, that’s not  my focus. If anyone wants to argue that topic with me feel free to contact me. But heads up, I will win the argument.

Ok CJ, you are all over the place. Where are you going with this?

Well, as we began training to go out and minister to people, we had an order of how to talk to someone. Love, Listen, Discern, and Pray. Now I want to focus on the words love and listen because that is the focal point of what we are to do as Christians. When we went out and approached people in the city and just simply asked them, “Hey how are you doing?” they began to break down. Telling us all the pain and hurt they were going through and this is before they even knew we were Christians and we were there to pray for them! (This what I like to call divine appointments). It was unbelievable to hear some of their stories and what I found that week of revival is an unbelievably broken city that just wants to be loved and heard.

Here’s my point.

When was the last time you listen to a complete stranger? Mine was the other day as I listened to the Mcdonald’s employee talk to me about her frustrations at work and how miserable she was. All I did was listen and as I drove away told her I’d be praying for her. She was shocked. Do you know it’s easier for a stranger to talk to a stranger about their problems than to their friends and family? When is the last time you offered that kind of love and care for a complete and random stranger?

Side note again: It’s never random. God places you in those situations.

What if instead of talking about how bad the people in Anderson are and how Anderson is in the top 10 worst cities in America, you instead went out and got to know the city and got to hear stories and show love? What if you left your university and got on your hands and knees with the people that surround it?

Jesus calls us to perfectly love everyone. We may not accomplish that, but that’s why he threw in grace when he died on the cross. But don’t use that as an excuse to get out of going outside the walls of comfortability. As student leaders, be an example of the love Jesus showed the women at the well, the adulteress, and everyone else he came into contact with.

Here’s the best part. Where you can spend a thousand dollars on a Tri-S trip to do this for someone who you can barely communicate with, you can drive two minutes into downtown and not have to worry about cost or language barriers. And honestly, probably even someone who is within 20 feet of you right now.

Love is light and fear is darkness. Light never loses to darkness. Flip the lights on in a dark room, the light wins every time. It’s not even a competition. So don’t let fear stop you from showing God’s love.

I pray God would ignite compassion and eagerness into each and every one of you to go and be an image of God’s love to someone this week. And in the words of Church of the Crossing:

Go. Love.

CJ Lukas

Vision Revision Coordinator 2013-2015

Eyes on Jesus

Meet Samantha Pence! She graduated from AU in 2015 and is currently living in Long Beach, California, just few blocks from the beach. She is a social worker for homeless veterans and families. While serving as a social worker, she is attending graduate school to get her MSW at USC. While at AU, she served as a Morrison RA and was on ULC for two years. She wants us to know, "All of this goodness is because of our good and sweet Father. He deserves all the glory. He turned my wailing into dancing, and He's given me this overwhelming joy. I will spend my life praising Him."

If you want to hear more about Samantha's story or find a connection in California, feel free to contact Samantha at spence@voala.org.

Commentary: On

I have a crazy idea, but we have to define two terms really quickly. Ready?

            The first part of this is a phenomenon called “semantic saturation.” That’s what it’s called when you say a word over and over and over again until it starts to sound weird. You might think you’re saying it wrong, or maybe it just begins to sound meaningless. I remember the first time I experienced this, it was with the word “soldier.” Soldier. Soldier. Soldier. Weird word. That “j” sound doesn’t seem like it belongs.

            The second cog in our wheel here is the idea of “muscle confusion.” Since I work at AU, I still get to take advantage of the campus facilities, and I took that opportunity last year to start learning what to do in a gym. I am not an athlete. At all. But I wanted to be well! So I watched someone do a workout on whatever muscle group and copied what they were doing, and then I would repeat this every visit. It wasn’t until I went with a friend that I encountered this aforementioned muscle confusion. We did a bicep lift like usual, but he showed me a different method. I didn’t lift any higher weights, but I found myself so much sorer than usual! Just a little adjustment hit tissue I’d been missing before and “confused” my muscle to develop differently, helping me get stronger.

            Okay, so there are two concepts here on the table, a sweet little blend of linguistics and exercise science. What do they have to do with each other? Not much actually; but both ideas have helped refresh my spiritual framework this year.

            Most of us in the AU community have been Christians for a long time. There are super deep roots in the CHOG tradition. We all know the story of Christ. We all know the story of church. Heck, we all know the story of Anderson University from Dr. Strege’s LART textbook. Our experience with this faith system is so engrained in our lives, at times, it begins to become semantically saturated. Christ. Christ. Christ. Am I saying that right? I’ve literally been on stage before singing, playing, and leading a congregation in worship and simultaneously been actively thinking about Chipotle. We do this stuff so much and so frequently, sometimes it ceases to mean anything at all to us.

            If this resonates with you, here’s my humble advice: confuse your spiritual muscles. Forget about getting whipped up into a hand-raising spirit fervor when the bridge of “With Everything” drops just because that’s the emotional cue. Stop using a rote prayer before lunch. When you reach out to engage the Spirit, think about what you’re doing. Even in the banal parts of your day. Question why exactly you’re making that move anyway. Is it because that’s how you were raised? Cut it out. Your relationship with God is between you two. If we can squelch these automatic tendencies, we can actually find communion with Jesus in slightly new, ever-so-subtly different ways and hit tissue we never even knew existed before. It just takes a little introspective effort.

            One last thought: Star Wars is awesome. I’ve seen those movies more than any other single franchise. I knew that story backwards and forwards. Have you ever watched a movie you love with the director commentary on though? It’s a wildly different experience. I already knew the narrative arc of the Skywalker family, but suddenly, I was learning why it was the way it was. It gave a whole new dimension to my understanding of the story, of the characters, of the thought processes that brought everything into motion. I was hearing from the story’s creator why he wrote the story that way.

            Consider approaching your spiritual life with the director commentary on, even if only for a little while. Let the author tell you about why he wrote the story the way he did. Don’t allow your spirituality to feel weird in your mouth. Confuse it. It’s the kind of confusion that actually helps things make sense.

Joshua Powell

Dunn Hall RA, 2010-2012

Dativus President, 2012-2013

10:07 Coordinator

God's Will

Meet Sarah Hatfield! She graduated from AU in 2014 and now lives in New Hampshire. She currently is working as a nurse at Concord Hospital and is enjoying learning and growing in her job. While at AU, Sarah served as a peer mentor and as the New Student Coordinator on the Student Leadership Team. She is the proud owner of a blind cat named Fahy, two Siamese cats named Cleopatra and Cairo, a dog (and her hiking partner) named Ike, and a loud chicken named Roxanne. Sarah has learned more about Christ and herself in the past two years than in her lifetime and expects that the learning has just begun.