...and UniCulture was birthed

This afternoon I was playing with Joel in his room and he turned around and asked me to leave. “Go out of my room Mum, I want to play by myself.” I laughed as I left the room but it got me thinking. That could be taken as highly offensive in most other places and with most other people but this was Joel. And this was Joel’s room. You see, Joel likes to spend a bit of time playing alone. He likes playing with others as well, but sometimes he just wants to have full access to his toys, to move them into the right places and to enjoy them on his own.

A few months ago I was asked to leave Deakin University by someone in authority there. Her issue wasn’t with what I was doing but with who I was. I wear a lot of different hats - I’m a Mum, a wife, a friend, a mentor and a pastor. She didn’t like that last one. I haven’t yet tracked down the rule book she is following but I decided not to contest the issue and have been keeping my distance since then. Why are these two stories related? Well, when Joel asked me to leave the room, it actually made me look at this situation through new eyes. It made me think of all the other things God has been doing on campus the past few months that haven’t involved me. I was keen to be there, just like with Joel today, but Joel had other plans and God has had other plans too.

To be honest, it hit me hard to not be on campus for these months. The old saying “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” rings true. I constantly find myself thinking about different students I’ve made friends with and wondering how they’re doing, praying for them, facebooking them and thinking of practical ways to support them. The rest of our team have felt the same, and we ended up creating a facebook group to keep this sense of community alive. UniCulture was birthed out of this time. Our catch phrase is Connecting Cultures, Creating Community. Since then, a club on campus called Deakin Cultural Diversity Club has asked us to help them run events. When I’ve finished writing this newsletter I shall go back into Joel’s room and see if he wants to play again. Tomorrow, I shall walk back onto campus and see if the time is right there as well…

Passing on the passion

What's more exciting than being involved with impacting the lives of students? Seeing others catch a passion to do the same! In true Aussie-tall-poppy-syndrome style, I have been slammed for going onto campus and 'encouraged' not to go on there again...but I have seen students catch a glimpse of how they can impact their own campus. Job done.

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.

Things too profound for me

Lord, my heart is not haughty,

Nor my eyes lofty.

Neither do I concern myself with great matters,

Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,

Like a weaned child with his mother;

Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord

From this time forth and forever. Psalm 131 NKJV

This psalm nearly knocked me off my chair when I discovered it this morning. I am in a place at the moment where I'm being encouraged to take a break from all different sources. The problem with this has been that my heaviest burdens are in my mind - how do you take a break from yourself? For me this week began by letting go of my deep sense of spiritual responsibility for every person I have ever met. The end of the week has seen me letting go of my deep sense of responsibility for completely changing society. Big dreams? Yes. I've decided I will let God take responsibility for great matters and things too profound for me, and I will calm and quiet my soul.

What this means for campus ministry I'm unsure of but I know that if God wants to move on campus He is the one to do it. Stay tuned for what God will do when there's less of us and more of Him!

Restoration

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

"The Lord has done great things for them."

The Lord has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, Lord,

like streams in the Negev.

Those who sow with tears

will reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping,

carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with them. Psalm 126 NIV

After a week of what has seemed like an endless attack of negative thoughts and emotions running wild, I was encouraged by a friend to push through in worship. My God is a great God and He does Great things! I was thinking tonight about the creative power that my King embodies and it lifted my spirit just thinking about what He could create through me. There are no limitations really! "Keep on dreaming", I felt Him say to me. So I have created another page - a page that will contain songs that flow from my devotional times.