Anyway, Saturday we (CCF) had a Baptist Ministry reunion for all of the alumni and it turned out to be way cool. We definitely underestimated how many people would show up, so after taking out more chairs, people were just standing in the back. It was fun to pull out year books and see wonderfully embarrassing pictures of my parents--as well as mingle with religious studies faculty and 80 year old people who tell you *the* most interesting stories about their uses of prayer rooms in Allen Hall.
We had a presentation about business-y stuff in the organization and the name change, funding stuff, etc. which I grinned and bared until it got to the fun questions asking alum to share stories. I got to sit with the crew that graduated in the 50's...I was so lucky. My uncle Jim and Aunt Mary (3rd cousins...distant relatives) were two in the group and it was nice to be connected in that way too...the theme of how the organization had changed them and stuck with them after graduation was very sobering to me.
I became a little overwhelmed with what a big deal it was to so many people and that the responsibility of carrying on a ministry that has potential to change my campus was becoming mine soon. . .
I had to speak for a few minutes and after starting off joking about the obvious influence of the Stetson Baptist ministry in my life (my existence) I found it was really easy to speak about all the ways the Lord has used BCM/CCF to bless me and to provide opportunities to be a blessing.
After mingling and hosting and speaking I was exhausted, but there's nothing more reviving that seeing faces I recognized from my previous two years at Stetson. Homecoming meant more t0 me this year, because I actually knew some of the alumni. . .they were the ones who were my small group leaders, and some of my closest friends. They showed me around DeLand, took me to plays in Orlando, and laughed with me at 3AM.
A group of us went to Boston Coffee downtown (a quaint little hole-in-the-wall) and caught up with each other. I didn't expect anything super deep, just to hear the surface-level things that were going on in people's lives. . . but within 3 minutes we were there. I shared first and they didn't let me get off the hook without difficult, real questions about my spiritual life. And the theme continued around the entire table. At one point, I was in tears ( surprising?...I didn't think so)
I am so appreciative to the Lord for these girls and for our lunch together on Saturday. I was encouraged and challenged and reminded of how the Lord has used so many people to show His love for me.
LtoR (me, Ashli, Sabrina, Paula, Amanda, Cate, Karen, Laura)
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