Last week was our first real week of meetings for the semester. UBC is a college town church filled with many young people. They have a thriving ministry to the college students of Clemson through a ministry called Cross Impact. I had always heard of this ministry while I was a student at BJ, but this was my first time to experience it. In preparation for our meetings, UBC had reserved a hall for an irish concert on the Clemson campus. The church had been passing out a few thousand free tickets to students on campus, inviting them to our concert. Our team does not have the opportunity often to have this kind of evangelistic experience to college students, so we were pumped to see what God would do. The night of the concert arrived and many college students poured in to the hall. We probably had around 75 students come who had never been a part of the Cross Impact Ministry. That night at least 3 people made professions of faith! Many others heard the gospel and great contact was made for the Cross Impact Ministries. It's exciting to see the gospel of Christ reaching the students of Clemson. May revival spread through the campus and many hearts turn to Him.
On another note, last week I had the opportunity of teaching the Battle 4 Truth kids pre-session. We prepare the kids for battle by teaching them truths from Ephesians 6. They're instructed on how to fight against lies from the devil, their flesh, and the world. As I was explaining how to detect these lies, a girl named Tiffany raised her hand and asked, "Why does God let bad things happen?". This is usually a difficult question to answer that could take some time, but I just responded, "Well a lot of things God does is a mystery we won't know til we get to heaven. I do know in my own life though that if I never had bad things happen to me, I wouldn't need God. Because of the hard things, I've had to cry out to God for dependence and help."
Later, a friend in the church pulled me aside and gave me a little background on Tiffany's family life. I learned that currently her mom was not living with their family. She had left twice before and was now gone again with another man. My heart broke for little Tiffany and the rest of their family. Little did I know the weight of that question when I answered it. Praise God he guided my tongue! My prayer is that God would keep their family from bitterness. May these sweet kids grow up to know God in a special way.
This situation caused me to reflect on two things:
1. The hard things in this world do cause me to long for the holiness of God. Every hard situation has caused me to run to Christ. Just like in the life of Joseph, God can bring good out of evil situations.
2. The words that come out of my mouth, must always be Spirit led. Rarely do I know the background of many of the people I meet in churches. God control my tongue. James 3 - the tongue is a world of iniquity, a small fire, a deadly poison - could set on fire the course of life and it is set on fire by hell.
Keep UBC in your prayers! They are currently in the process of finding a new pastor. God is doing great things in His church family.
