Just another day at the office

In my experience, it is easy to exaggerate the "awesomeness" of things; I regularly attach words like "amazing", "incredible", "unbelievable" to things that are only marginally so. This story, however, deserves all those adjectives and more. As you can see, it is quite long, but I wanted to do it justice. I'm confident it will be worth a read.

The story originates from one of our chapters earlier this fall, where our staff leads a vibrant and growing chapter involving dozens of students. One of those students, who we'll call "Amber", had been working to love and minister to a non-Christian international student, we'll call "Li".

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Li and Amber were both set to go to our annual Fall Conference in Kansas City in late September, but in the week before the conference, one of Li's best friends committed suicide. Then, while she was at the conference, she called another of her friends in London, and the police answered, informing her that this friend had just committed suicide as well (making three close friends in a week's time). As you can imagine, Li was dealing with incredible levels of pain, heartache, and sadness, and had little clue how to deal with what was going on around her. She would later tell Amber that she felt like she was having heart attacks all the time because her heart hurt so badly.

Amber sought to minister to Li and be present in her pain, both at the conference, but also after they returned to campus, and it was as this student leader empathized with her friend that God started to intervene in truly miraculous ways.

After returning to campus, Amber started getting emails from herself. Yep, you read that correctly, emails addressed to her, from her, using her own email address. (Weird, I know, but just wait.) The first email was a list of five Bible verses about healing brokenheartedness, and tons of information on how to help friends grieving suicides! She was understandably surprised by it, but decided to pass on the verses and information to Li, who received it thankfully.

Then, Amber got a second email (again from herself?!) that contained transcripts of emails that Li was exchanging with one of her friends about the suicides. In those transcripts, Li talked about how brokenhearted she felt, but also how thankful she had been for the care and friendship of Amber. Again, as you can imagine, Amber was even more curious about this email, as it wasn't just helpful information, but actual transcripted conversations from the very girl she's trying to witness to talking about how thankful she is for Amber's friendship. (Unbelievable, but just wait...)

(On a sidenote, Amber also got another email that was a transcript of a hand-written letter that Li had written to her brother. Amber got the email within one hour of the letter being sent to the post-office! Beyond that, because of their family situation, Li and her brother write in code, such that it would have been incomprehensible to read, but as Amber told me, "but there I had it, typed, and in completely comprehensible English.")

The third email came later that week. This time, the email Amber got was a transcript of an email conversation that Li was having with a friend in which she wrote about these "mystery emails" that Amber was getting. The friend was understandably freaked out, so suggested that they switch to Skype (an online messaging tool). However, Amber also received an email (again from herself!) with the Skype transcript later that day! The Skype transcript revealed some experiences from Li's past that would have been impossible for anyone on campus (including Amber!) to know about.

The next email gets even crazier! This is a quote from Amber:
"So tonight I got another email from 'me' (I've been getting about one a day) that contained an email [that Li got]from a friend who was concerned about the brother of one of the girls who committed suicide. The email was basically begging [Li] to call and talk to him since he was not doing well at all and everyone around him was scared he was going to kill himself. I [=Amber] went down to [Li's] room right after I read it and caught her just as she was leaving to go study, so as we were walking I told her about the email. She stopped and said, 'I need to call him, was it urgent?!' I told her it was, and she handed me all her books and ran to call him. She got a hold of him literally moments before he was about to hang himself and basically talked him out of committing suicide tonight. Afterwards she was pretty shaken and angry, but still glad that he was still alive.... A little while later, [Li] stopped and said, "[Amber], the pain's all gone!" Her chest pain had suddenly disappeared!

As of last report, Li was still teetering on the brink of faith in Jesus, but had actually gone back in her journals with Amber, and together they found a prayer that Li had written two years earlier where she asked God to speak to her in a way that could only be him; it seems like he is answering that prayer!

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Now if that story doesn't drop your jaw, I don't know what will! As I've processed it, here are some of my reflections...

- I find myself so grateful to the LORD for his intervention, not only in the life of Li, but in the lives of her friends. What an incredible picture of the Lord's pursuant love!?
- I love the way that Jesus brings life out of a situation laden with death. He is the master of resurrection..."Death is swallowed up in victory!"
- I'm amazed at the "intricacy" of God's work in Li's life. He could have broken through to her in any number of ways, but his way is beyond comprehension; it is so wise, so beautiful, so intimate.

For all the "work" that we do on campus, this story serves as a reminder as to who it is that does the real work, and who is truly deserving of all glory and praise: Jesus, the one who lives to intercede for us.

To Him be Glory, forever and ever!
Jon

PS...The story goes on with the friend who Li talked out of suicide, but it's more than I can include here. If you'd like to hear the rest of it, drop me an email and I'll fill you in!

On the home front...

Hello again everyone,

Before I get to updating the ministry, I wanted to share a couple things about our family.

First, as for the announcement, as some of you may have guessed (or heard!), Steph and I are indeed expecting our second child! We found out a few weeks back, and she is early in the process (about 10 weeks we think), which would put her due date in May/June. We go to the doctor next week for our first appointment and should be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. She's been feeling more nauseous with this pregnancy than with Elijah, and being pregnant and a mom at the same time is a different ballgame, but all in all, we are thrilled and look forward to meeting our second child in the spring!

Another exciting development is the progress of our house (we are building on the west edge of town, by the soccer complex, for those of you who know Pella). I spent my Saturday trying to put a porch on the front of the house (with moderate success!) and at this point, it looks like we will be moving in sometime in January. I'll try and get some pictures posted after we get the siding on, so you can look forward to that next time!

I'm also glad to report that we officially have a toddler in the house. Elijah has been absolutely adorable lately (as you can see in the pictures!), but is becoming more of a handful as he regularly wanders off to flush our toilet and empty our cereal boxes on the floor (two of his current favorites!) I've embedded one of our favorite videos below; enjoy!

With Expectancy,
Jon