End of an Era

About 20 minutes ago, I said goodbye to one of my best friends in the world. Not goodbye in the forever sense, but goodbye in the sense that I most likely will never live in the same area code as him ever again. And that's just now hitting me.

Myself, Ben, Seth and Josh (May 2013)

I first met Schwenker when I started going to the Rock during the 2nd semester of our sophomore year. A year later, he invited me to go with him and some friends on a Spring Break trip to Virginia/Washington D.C. I lived with him last year at the Cotton House. I've played on a intramural basketball team with him. I've really enjoyed getting to know him over the past 3 years, and like I said earlier, he's truly become one of my best friends.

Ben first told me about the job he's starting today about 2 weeks ago. Over those two weeks, I don't think I've let myself really believe that he'd be leaving. Ben is one of the last of the friends from my year to leave Columbia, so it really is the end of an era in a sense. I know it's a normal thing for college friends to move away eventually, but it's still not something I'm used to, and I don't think I ever will be.

But I guess that's something I will have to get used to as I pursue college ministry as a full-time vocation. Mizzou isn't meant to be home for everyone forever. People leave Columbia every year when they graduate. It's a temporary dwelling place, a place where kids come to learn and grow and discover who they are.

And while that is going to be extremely tough to deal with every year, I also think that's one thing that makes college ministry so great. It's an almost perfect metaphor for the world in general. The world isn't our home. This is a temporary dwelling place where we learn and grow and discover our identity in Christ, one way or another. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get home.

I don't really have anything more eloquent than that to say about the subject. Right now I'm really just letting myself mourn for a while, but also trying to put a positive spin on it all. I'm gonna miss Ben a ton. But I thank the Lord that I don't ever have to say goodbye to him in the forever sense.

Love you dude.

How a Book About Uganda Made Me Even More Stoked About Being At Mizzou: The "Joe Finally Finished Reading a Book" Story

So for the past few weeks, I've been reading a book called Kisses From Katie. I was so intensely moved by this story that I figured the only logical thing to do was to write a blog-post that no one will read about how awesome this book is.

Let me start off by saying that this is a huge departure from my normal reading fare. Mainly because it's not about a galaxy far, far away or about a fantasy land where elves and dwarves battle dragons and orcs. If you don't get those references, it means that all I normally read are Star Wars or Lord of the Rings books. Also, if you don't get those references, how are we even friends in the first place?

But back to the matter at hand. I absolutely loved this book. It is by Katie Davis, who is living and doing work in Uganda, and has been for the past few years. If my math is correct, she is now about 25 years old, and when the book came out 3 years ago, she had already adopted 14 little Ugandan girls. Since I only finished the book about 10 minutes ago, I haven't really researched her life to see if she's adopted any more since then, but it honestly would not surprise me one bit.

Katie describes in detail the hardships that she endures daily in Uganda. Her life is a constant struggle of trusting God to provide for the basic needs of those around her. Basically, it is made clear that Uganda is pretty much the exact opposite of the United States, where basic human needs are a given, even for the poorest of poor among us. I knew this to be the case, which is why I was actually skeptical of reading this book in the first place. I had absolutely ZERO desire to ever go overseas to do missionary work, and I figured this book would try to convince me that I was stupid for feeling that way. But I could not have been more wrong.

This book, while it is solely about the importance of overseas, third-world missionary work, only strengthened my own resolve and desire to do college ministry here at Mizzou. The feelings Katie describes of God pushing her to stay in Uganda are the very same feelings that I've had about staying at Mizzou. Now I'm not saying that me staying in my hometown to do ministry is anywhere near the same thing as Katie going to Uganda, but I've realized while reading this book that it doesn't matter. I can only be obedient to what God has called me to. And in this season in my life, being obedient to God means doing college ministry with the Rock Campus Church and Great Commission Ministries. Which I could not be more excited about.

Now that does not mean that this book didn't open my eyes to more avenues of ministry. I have to say that foreign missions is now a much more viable option in my mind. For example, I absolutely cannot wait to go on a trip to Honduras with the Rock and that is not something I really cared about doing even two months ago.

So in summary, in case you only read the first and last paragraphs of things: go out and buy Kisses from Katie, cause it'll rock your world.