That's a good book...

This was a crazy, wonderful week. Getting both bible studies started, spending time with my team on-campus and off, and staying at Newman after Thursday's Mass & Meal for pizza, Icee's, and NFL football. Needless to say, come Friday morning I was pretty tired and 8am Holy Hour was more of a fight to stay alert and awake than it should be. So, when 9am came and it was time for discipleship with Shannon the suggestion for where to go was pretty simple: Caribou Coffee. 

After getting our coffee, finding a table in the crowded Canal Park Caribou, and chatting about life, we spent some time in prayer. This year, we are striving to include prayer with Scripture in every discipleship. More on that a little later.

We finish the meditation on Jesus' agony in the garden before His Passion, and I set my Bible on the table as we discuss how this story applies to our lives as young women striving to love Jesus and share Him with those around us. As we're talking, I notice an older woman nearby waiting for her coffee (my own has made me more alert by this point) and clearly listening to our conversation. A few minutes later she stops at our table, points at my Bible and simply says "That's a good book." I agree and she walks away, coffee in hand.

This is why I love having discipleship at public locations; you just never know the witness you get to be. I remember back at NDSU, my friend Brittany and I once had our discipleship on-campus interrupted by a man who wanted to talk about faith and God. It's moments like these that I am reminded that FOCUS is such a good thing.

Back to Scripture, prayer, and discipleship. A couple years ago at NDSU, we began to include Lectio Divina (prayer with Scripture) as a part of discipleship. The idea was that if our goal is to help college students have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then what better way than praying with them and helping them learn how to pray? This idea has spread throughout FOCUS nationwide and was emphasized at our summer training in June.

Here at UMD, our team director Andy and the rest of our team completely agree. Last night at our gathering with the student missionaries (students currently in discipleship and leading bible studies), Andy explained this vision. Prayer is the best thing we can teach others to do, because it is the way we come to know Jesus and to love Him. As mine and Shannon's Caribou friend said, it really is a "good book".

So, as I finish up this blog and move on to my Saturday to do list, I leave us all with a challenge. When was the last time you picked up the "good book" and spent some time learning more about who Jesus is and the love He has for each one of us? Is reading and praying with Scripture a part of your life? Even if you've read every page, I encourage you to go back and read the story of God's love again. I promise, it never gets old.