Seananigans

In our last meeting in Journeymen we discussed the importance of prayer. Erin O'Brien said, "if there is anything I wish for us, is that we become a ministry of prayer". He was specifically talking to us as students..

Prayer is powerful. It is how we communicate with God.

I wish I was more proficient in communicating the importance of prayer, but I think it is something we should strive all of the time to be in. Something I am striving for. It is my hope, my strength, my guidance, my connection. If I am not praying I feel dead inside. My thoughts turn to me. If you read the New Testament it is entirely full of admonishens to pray and how-to pray and all of the likes.

This is how we live the Christian life: through prayer. Constant prayer. You can pray anywhere you are, at any time of the day or night. Not just in the morning or night.

Philippians 4:6 - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

2 Thessalonians 1:3 - "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing."

James 5:16 - "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

1 Peter 3:12 - "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Mark 9:29 - He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."

These are some thoughts I wrote down concerning CRU's future, and some ideas about what we need to do.

Vision for Campus Crusade for Christ
(Win, Build, Send) – Planning for our future.

Community
We are an organization, although we do not pay to attend. We have a great and unique community, although we didn’t plan for it to be this way, but God certainly did. We are being asked to take on new responsibilities, as the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ has had to take on more responsibilities. We are asked to lead Bible studies, set-up and lead outreaches, hold socials, pray for, build, encourage, motivate, and admonish each other.

Right now, we are presented a unique opportunity as we are asked to step up and plan for the future of Campus Crusade for Christ here at Texas State University. We have never been asked to do this before. We have never really been in the position to do this before. But here we are—students of many different backgrounds, many different skills, many different strengths and weaknesses, but all united to Christ. We all serve the same person.

Ideas for our community

For things to work right we have to have:

1.) clear vision of what we want (and not be divided on this)  this is SO important. We have to know where we want to go before we can get there. This goes before management and organization because management is only there to organize around our vision for the future… Our vision for what is important. We should develop a Mission Statement stating our purpose that we all work on and agree on.
2.) strong organization and structure – after we figure out what our vision is, we need to plan, set dates, organize and structure around our vision. We can have all the ideas we want, but if we don’t organize and carry through then nothing will be the result of it. We need to make sure our plans don’t overlap, and that we will have sufficient time to set up each thing.
3.) good communication  of extreme importance. We need to talk to each other. Tell each other our concerns, doubts, problems that we see. We need to make sure that everyone is informed of what is going on. We need to encourage each other with our words, and keep each other mindful of what we are doing and to Whom we are doing it for.
4.) lots of prayer and reliance on God  this is what underlies everything. Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” We need to be in continual prayer for each other, for Crusade as a whole, for the Bible studies, for the outreaches and socials, for ourselves, for the people who do not know Christ. We can not do this on our own strength and this is not about us. This isn’t about our plans, we are merely vessels. We have to rely on God and his Word for all of this. We need constant reliance on Him as we step into these new responsibilities and excitement.

Scripture to think and pray about:
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
John 15:5
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Philippians 2:1-3

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Inside my mind would be an interesting site to see >>

Dreaming thoughts of a grand future, thoughts and fears of my cronic insecurities, questions and doubts, confusion followed by great clarity, inner struggle but constant hope, insight followed by disappointment, thankfulness followed by pride, bubbly exterior but bad thoughts underneath, lust and jealousy, peaceful bliss, imagination and impulse, desperation, dancing with delight, tiredness of mind and body, hunger for more... and more I should dare not mention.

An interesting survey, comparing Japanese High School students with American college students, found that the average Japenese highschool student studies for (on average) 3 hours outside of the class everyday, while the average American college student only studies only 30 minutes outside of the class a day.

It's no wonder the Japanese are dominating the market in so many areas. Their work ethic is so much higher than ours. I can attest to this simply by seeing all the Japanese students in the library quietly studying for hours, while I attempt to study, but quickly get side-tracked with Snake II on my cell phone :). But really, think about the implications of this.

Work is vital to success and vital to life. Success doesn't come from being enrolled in a great university with great professors. It comes from the daily work you put into it each and every day. Which is why every man reaps what he sows. In order to get something you must put the work out in order to get it.

"There ain't no free lunch." With all the promises of get rich quick ideas, maybe we have lost touch. What with the casinos, lottery tickets, horse races, poker, and all there is this high appeal to a kind-of get-rich-quick scheme. But you get what you put into it.

Think about it.