The first few weeks of fall quarter have been really awesome. We continue to have more new students coming to Cardinal Life, cross training, and small groups, and we also have quite a few students who are seeking right now and want to know what Christianity is about, who Jesus is, and how to start a relationship with God. Emilee and I have a group of about 7 girls who are in that stage and it is such a joy to come alongside them in that time. We love sharing our faith, discussing tough questions, and just loving on them and inviting them to "come and see" what it is all about in the context of the rich student community that the Lord has provided in Cardinal Life.

At the first Cross Training of the year, we emphasized how we wanted the environment and culture of this community to be one of authenticity, love, accepting people where they are at, and being the body where everyone brings their gifts and love to the table to give and not just take. We also want to be sharpening and challenging one another in wisdom and love so that we are not getting complacent or off track in what following Jesus means for all of us in the context of our culture. We want to be an interdependent community because we are broken people and we need one another. We believe that this type of community made up of broken, authentic, loving, merciful, meek, joyful people who are living differently and filled with the light of Jesus attracts other people as moths to a lightbulb. I wrote the following poem (of sorts) for the first cross training to read to the students called I hope. It started as a list of things that I hope for this community, but they were all so convicting to me that I changed the "we" to "I" because I hope that I can be a person like this! I hope this convicts and inspires you too:)

I hope that I truly listen to others and in this way, “consider others as better than myself.” (Philippians 2:3)

I hope that I truly view myself and others as a small but important and absolutely indispensable part of the body. I hope that I don’t expect others or myself to be all things to all people, or that I don’t get frustrated by differences bc this would be like being frustrated that my whole body isn’t an eye.

I hope I am as committed or more committed to helping others become who they were made to be as I am to reaching my full potential in life. I hope that I can truly say that I desire for others to outshine and be more used of God than myself.

I hope that I really want to know the truth about God, myself, and this world rather than things that I just like to believe or that make me feel good.

I hope that I don’t just honor God with my lips while my heart is far from Him or do my acts of righteousness before men just to be seen. I hope that my heart really changes because my eternal treasures and rewards are going to be based on the things done from a pure heart of love for God and love for others.

I hope that I can be broken, honest, and authentic with others; that I can feel free to ask tough questions, and really wrestle with things while asking God to search my heart so I can be honest about what I am really living for and what I really believe.

I hope that I prioritize thinking and living differently when I read the Word, rather than just seeking to know the right answers or have more knowledge.

I hope that I love and serve people into the awesome Kingdom of God and show them what the Kingdom of God is like by my life and community, otherwise my words will be empty.

I hope that I never love anything more than my King, especially things that are awesome and good, like a movement of God, or the gifts of the Spirit, or the blessings of God, or being used by God, or making an impact on others etc.

I hope that I can give up my rights and remember that I am not my own because I was bought at a costly price.

I hope I can forgive much and have a lot of mercy with others because I was forgiven much and shown more mercy than I ever deserved.

I hope that I can love my enemies and bless those who curse me, because that is what my Savior exemplified for me when he was being crucified.

I hope that I will pray more passionately in private than I do in front of others.

I hope that I can be poor in spirit because I remember that I am the worst of all sinners, that I nailed Jesus to the cross, and that I have no power or worth apart from Christ. My “righteousness” is like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah), and yet, HE changes those filthy rags that are like scarlet to white as snow (Isaiah 1;18).

I hope that I am faithful with the small things and when no one is looking. Mother Theresa said, “we can do no big things, only small things with great love.” I hope that I have great love and a great life, and not just great words.

And finally, I hope that I really do hope all these things☺

I rejoice that my hope is Jesus and my Hope will not disappoint me.

For Cross Training right now, we are going through some of the Sermon on the Mount and other key passages in Scripture that capture the kingdom values and the kingdom heart that Jesus calls his children to live out. His Kingdom is based on different principles and values than the world. We started this series by talking about the first beautitude in Matthew 5, which is: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We felt that this was the most important place to start this series because in talking about the kingdom heart and how Jesus calls us to live, it is crucial to realize that we cannot, even in the least bit, meet these standards on our own. We are all poor in spirit, whether we realize it or not, because we are morally and spiritually bankrupt on our own. So we can try as hard as we can to love our enemies or bear with others who frustrate us (and it is important that we do in fact put our will and body into this obedience because the Holy Spirit works in accordance with our sumbission to Him), but only God can change our hearts.

I feel like I could write so much more because so much awesome stuff is happening, but I will pace it. We will continue to update consistently, and we hope you are all doing great and falling deeper in love with the greatest treasure of all!