they're half my age

I am on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at South Dakota State University. I'm in my ninth year. I was 27 when I first hit campus and even then students seemed kind of young to me. So I gravitated toward working primarily with upperclassmen and student leaders (who tended to be upperclassmen). There has always been someone else who was a little younger, a little rowdier, a little more likely to be a pal to a freshman. Next month I turn 36 and will be twice as old as your average freshman. When I was a freshman they were babies (and when I tell them that I always get harassed severely).

This week in the freshmen groups I lead (called "Life on the Road") I took students to a playground to study Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 13. The passages teach us that we must at once come to God like children and grow up, putting away childish things. To help the lesson come to life I had my 5 year old and 3 year old playing on the playground. It's funny that as I made an effort to remind my freshmen to be like children, a lesson I see played out before me day after day as a father of 3, I realized I can look at freshmen the same way.

Freshmen are people filled with hope. Some hopes are noble, like pursuing a medical degree to do AIDs mission work in Africa. Other hopes are selfish, like I'm going to get my engineering degree so I can make some good money. Other hopes are misguided, like when I get a girlfriend (or boyfriend, or good job, or new car, or nice house, or ...) then things will be good. But freshmen also still believe that God can change the world. And, that he'll use them to do it. Sometimes I am the old man who knows too well from years of experience that sure, God could do (fill in the blank), but this is more likely. And I make plans that depend on me and my performance. What's that verse? Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD almighty. (Zec. 4:6)

Well working with freshmen is certainly a situation in which I need God's Spirit. I'm not cool enough, I'm not used to video game controls that have more than a direction pad and 2 buttons, and I can't afford to buy lunch everyday. But I'm praying that freshmen will listen to the bits of wisdom I've managed to gain, walk into Scripture with me with a heart willing to listen and obey, and gain a desire to be influential for Jesus at SDSU. Come Spirit, come.

Life lesson: I should take my kids to playgrounds more often, they really like them.