R&R... kinda

Mid-semester break. Who knew I'd need it so badly? And who knew we'd have such a busy semester that we felt we needed our mid-semester break to be after week 6??

The point is, though, that I am thoroughly enjoying the few days off between last Friday's Shepherd Team meeting and tomorrow night's Cru weekly meeting. I've been trying to catch up on sleep, and have some good times of relaxation, and both of those are happening, but definitely not as much as I was expecting. More than anything, mid-semester break has turned into a nice time of being able to catch up on a lot of admin work I have to do, in a relaxed setting. So yeah, it's been awesome- just not what I was expecting.

See, we did 1200 spiritual interest surveys at the beginning of the semester, and have spent the first five weeks following up with the contacts we've received. It's been great! Lots of great spiritual conversations, as well as getting students involved with Cru. But it's been exhausting, especially since that's been on top of the normal Spring semester work I've had- discipleship (with Jared, Teddy, Trevor, Andrew, Nick, and newbie Brad- Eric is studying abroad), sophomore guys' Bible study, coaching GreekLife, staff training, and doing my best to keep up with this blog and newsletter updates. So when we got back from our (AWESOME) Spring Retreat last week, it was hard trucking through the next three days before getting this break. Thank You, Lord, for rest. It's no wonder why You created a Sabbath :)

So, yes, this break is much needed because of the semester we've had thus far. But we're also taking full advantage of this break because of what's coming up: Nick and I have less than three weeks until we take our team to the Dominican Republic for a Spring Break Mission Trip (LOTS of logistical prep for that), a week and a half after that trip, I'm flying out to Houston to be in a friend's wedding, two days later I am going on a week-long vision trip to do ministry with the team at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, then the next day I speak one last time at our weekly meeting, a week and a half later, we go on the Regional Staff Conference, and a week later we have our Fall Planning weekend. All while doing "normal" work. AND this week we are starting our 6 or 7 week-long process of creating next year's student leadership team. A lot goes into this process and we especially want to put a lot of attention into this because there will be so much turnover on the staff team next year that we want a SOLID student leadership base to help the new staff transition in.

So there's a LOT to be trusting God with right now. A lot of uncertainty in my life, a lot of uncertainty with USC Cru, and just a lot of stuff to do. But in all of it, I'm learning that I need to keep giving it all to God. It's easy to start getting into auto-pilot and just power through stuff like it's a checklist. But then you burn out. I want everything I do, and everything we do as a staff team, to be an overflow of our hearts as the Holy Spirit transforms us. It's an exciting Spring Semester- and we want it to be completely Spirit-led. Please do keep us in your prayers :)

I'm reading through Matthew and this morning got to 11:28-30... how very appropriate:
"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
So here's to true rest! Not necessarily rest as in a total absence of activity- I'm not a fan of being idle and I don't think God is either. But a rest for our souls- a refreshing calm and security as we fervently and passionately live out the life He has called us to- in HIS power, in HIS strength, in HIS intimate presence.