Closing Commitments

I've never seen such sober, powerful commitments from students.

What a summer we had!  Students became friends with ex-gang members.  They became family with undocumented immigrants.  They fell in love with inner city children.  And they are leaving wanting more of this joy in their lives.  Last Saturday, we wrapped up six weeks of shaping students with God's love for the poor, and they left as different people.  They spent two days reflecting on the lessons of the summer and the commitments they wanted to make to live differently.

Worshiping on our last night in front of the commitment cross

We ended our time by having students tear up the previously used posters that captured the web of brokenness in the city, and on those very posters, they wrote out the three to five commitments they were making to live differently before God.  As students wrote them out, we had them come to the front of the room and staple them to two beams of wood lying on the floor.  Once they finished, we lifted the beams up and set them into place...as a cross.

Jesus has risen.  Jesus has defeated the powers of sin and death and brokenness in our world.  But that resurrection power is offered to his people not just to save us from death, but so that we can live differently:  to be the presence of Jesus in our world.  As we worshiped God in front of this unique cross, the feeling wasn't one of emotionalism, but a sober sense of invitation from God that he would be with us if we would live as his people.

I wanted to make sure you could see a few of the hundreds of commitments that students made.  Ranging from sacrificial giving, to abstaining from consumerism, to intentionally relocating to the inner city for a period of time, the themes of LAUP are in the midst of
becoming lifestyle reality as I write.  Please make a point to keep praying for students as they now face the challenge of returning to their "normal" lives, but seeking to live differently.


Thank you for being a part of the LAUP family:  through reading this blog, through your giving, through volunteering, and through praying for us.  I feel honored to be a part of God moving in students so deeply, and look forward to seeing the fruit that comes from our investment this summer.