Back in the Campus Groove

Last week I took my last tablet in the battle against anxiety and depression! Can I feel the difference? Yep! In a good way. This past week I have reconnected with the intense feelings of excitement I remember from over a decade ago when my passion for university ministry was first stirred up. I’m grateful that I had medical help in softening the pain of our recent season of life but it sure is good to really FEEL again! In God’s timing I’ve come off medication and been released into building great relationships with other Christians and ministries. That in itself has been a powerful experience as well as building with non-Christians on their spiritual journey.

Late last year we united a group of young people to actively pray for Deakin and connect with students. They have continued to give up their time and resources to help me out at Deakin (Ken now focuses on Melbourne Uni and I am involved at Deakin Burwood). Earlier in the year when it started getting colder, we were looking for a room to meet in and I began calling all of the chaplains on campus. Since then, the chaplaincy has been an amazing support!

Some highlights for me this year have been playing soccer with the students, providing them with home-cooked meals and freshly brewed coffee, helping with English speaking, praying alongside a hundred others for our universities, cooking for the Melbourne Uni SFC camp, giving out pancakes, making videos, getting to use my Japanese vocabulary, pastoral chats over coffee and taking a day trip along the Mornington Peninsula. Coming up is a trip to Healesville and a “Voice of Deakin” karaoke competition! Can’t wait.

The all-consuming grace

It has been almost 2 years since I last posted on this blog...a lot has happened...but those stories can wait for another day. Today I simply want to declare my thankfulness to God. I was on Deakin today, planning a video script, trying to put into words why my heart beats for the students, why I put time and energy into visiting the university every week with my 2-year-old daughter trotting along behind me...You know, it's actually a difficult question to answer, because it's almost unexplainable. The passion and determination I feel to see the universities radically transformed can only come from something outside of me. Sure, there are rational reasons why I would have chosen this path initially. But I can't explain why I continue to choose this path despite the obstacles and despite the impossibility of the task. Just by the grace of God. The all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-enabling, all-consuming grace of God.