My adventure officially started yesterday. I pulled into the Student Life offices at 1:30pm in Birmingham, AL, with my stomach in knots and took a moment to get myself together.
The moment I'd been waiting for since March was finally here and I was so nervous my hands were shaking. What am I doing here? I'm too old for this. I can't do this. What if they don't like me? What if I'm not cool enough to hang with the younger crowd?
I felt like the awkward sixth-grade version of myself - jorts, a bad haricut, and walking into a new school.
But then I remembered that God is in control, and I'd been called to obey.
Obey - it's a loaded word. People don't like to obey, because it means giving up control to another. Luckily for me, the Sunday I left Kentucky the sermon at church that morning was all about Obedience. A little "Good Luck this summer, and remember this..." from God, directly to me.
We looked at the example of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. A son which Abraham had longed for his entire life and finally got when he was a scrappy 100 years-old. In a true example of faith and obedience, Abraham takes his beloved son to a mountain top, binds him to a rock, and grabs the knife - without question. That's the key. I'm sure Abraham was dreading what he'd be asked to do, but he did it anyway, because he had faith that God would make everything right. Somehow, God will make everything right. Which he did. Right before the moment of truth, with knife raised and intent to kill set in his heart, Abraham was stopped by an angel of the Lord. He said that God knew what was in Abraham's heart, and then provided a ram for the sacrifice. And everyone, except the ram, lived.
From here we look at a few key factors of obedience.
The timing - immediately.
- God said go sacrifice your son, Abraham went, no questions asked.
The attitude - optimistic.
- Abraham is about to kill his beloved son, and still has faith God will make everything okay.
The heart - wholeheartedly.
- In Romans 12, we are called to make ourselves a living sacrifice - proving our obedience to God in the details of our life. Actions speak louder than words, ya know?
As I was sitting in my car, wiping my sweaty hands off on my jeans, I took a moment to pray and ask for strength and guidance - cause at this point my inner sixth-grade self needed it desperately. After that I took a breath, and got out of the car.
I got out of the car. It's not as dramatic and killing a first-born beloved child, but I got out of the car. I could've pulled out of my parking spot, and took off to wherever, and let my doubts convince me I wasn't cut out for this. But instead, I had faith that God was in control and everything was going to be okay. I obeyed, and got out of the car.
Upon entering the conference room, I was greeted with welcoming smiles and such acceptance that I was a little overwhelmed. But everything was okay. I wasn't the oldest person there, people got my many pop-culture references, and at least three people wished me a happy Star Wars day - May the Fourth be with you. (Get it? See what it did there? Nerd life, is the best life.)
I made it to my host home safely, which I'm sharing with two other girls - who are absolutely amazing - and already we are bonding and learning about each other.
I cannot tell you how excited I am for this summer. It's going to be an amazing journey, and I'll be sharing pieces of it here, with you. It will be hard and frustrating at times, but I'm making a commitment to let God be in control.
Updates to come, we've got a big week planned!
Until next time - look at your life, think about your choices. Maybe you need to get out of the car, too.
God bless!
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