July - ramping up for August

Hello everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying the sun this time of the year. I am trying to get back into running, but I absolutely will not do it when the sun is out. This month I have found myself running at 5AM but also 10PM. Both help me feel productive, but I also want to go to sleep immediately after. But in two weeks, we really will start hitting it hard to be as ready as possible for the students arriving. It is super exciting to see our student leader team start coming together as students make the commitment to lead a small group for the next year. We also are putting the finishing touches on our ‘Weeks of Welcome’ events on campus in August. We will be hosting field game nights outside the Dorms, pass out coffee every afternoon in the Student Union, and each night for two weeks host some type of unique welcome event like Line Dancing, Zombie Tag, and painting (Bob Ross style lol). 

Sweet group of friends from the 4th of July. They love Jesus so well and spur me on towards being more like Him! This coed group has been meeting throughout the summer, and has been so focused on inviting new people to join us. 

One fun night from this past month was when I planned with some students to go to a drive in movie down in Ennis, TX.  I got to go with two of my close friends from this year, Carson and Gavin! We wanted to go see the new Jurassic World movie, but did not anticipate a massive thunderstorm rolling in during the showing. Honestly though, the movie was super mid in my opinion (the plot was exactly the same as any other Jurassic movie), but watching it in your car with thunder and lightening streaking across the sky definitely added to the experience.

We are also starting to wrap up a lot of our summer specific meetings. One of them being our class on Ephesians. We have been taking it through one of the free courses that The Bible Project offers. One thing that stuck out to me when going through Ephesians 2 is the historical significance of verse 14 where Jesus “has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (or enmity in other translations)”. This chapter drives home the point that through the Messiah, Jews and Gentiles are untied in one household. The Hebrew Scriptures anticipate this new temple (like in Joel 3), and through reading the New Testament, we realize that this temple comes to life through Jesus’ followers (1 Corinthians 3). But back to Ephesians 2, this dividing wall actually existed in real life within the ancient temple. There were outer courts of the temple, where Jews and Gentiles could hang out together. If Jewish people wanted to enter the temple to worship, they would pass by about a thigh-high fence into the inner courts. I will try and find photos and place them below to visually explain. This physical barrier represents in part the social complexities of the ancient temple. And anyone reading Paul’s letter would make this connection. Now, is this Paul’s main point? Maybe or maybe not. Because it is possible that many of the Jewish readers in Asia Minor have not been to the temple in Jerusalem. However, we know Paul to be such a creative writer and can write many layers deep. A maybe more common, and equally applicable thought, is that this dividing wall that was destroyed through Jesus was also metaphorically the rules of the Torah that at once separated people from being included in Abraham’s family, but is now no longer the defining criteria. 

This is the best photo that I could find of what they think the division of the temple court in Jerusalem. The writing on the right is a complete inscription found in Jerusalem that is now on display in Istanbul that reads “Foreigners must not enter inside the balustrade or into the forecourt around the sanctuary.  Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

I hope this paragraph above made sense. This class has been very dense, covering a wide range of topics in a short time. This train of thought continues in the class to talk more about this new community of believers and how we must live outside of ourselves and around people unlike us to experience God's love among one another. But that would take another long paragraph to try and capture. 

This past week, I just got back from a beautiful road trip from guys in my small. I have been able to study the Bible one on one with Jackson Montee, someone I met almost a year ago as a freshman and who has been a great friend this past year. Back in February, he built this whole trip of camping in Grand Teton National Park, and it actually made it out of the planning phase! Getting to go with guys from my ministry this year was super sweet, and I got to have a lot of great conversations with them outside of our normal time together. We camped for six days and ate peanut butter sandwiches with granola bars. One morning, we woke up at 4:00AM to watch the sunrise on the mountains. We also finished a 22 mile hike through the canyon between the mountains where we literally came face to face with a bear. I will try to attach a video below. On the way back, we got to stay in a beautiful town home that Josh's family owns in Frisco, CO. The first real shower that weekend was so nice compared to freezing cold lakes.

 God is so creative. Camping in His creation left me in awe and so thankful for the continued reminder of how He provides for us like Matthew 6 says. He made all of creation, as beautiful as it is, and called it good. Then he made us, in His own image, and called us very good. Loved. Chosen. Man, it's beautiful.

From left to right, you have Brendan, Josh, me, Jackson, and Joe.

Literally walking towards us on the trail...

Finally, we are wrapping up our Thursday Night Fellowship meetings next week on August 1st. This last one is a super special one, because it is when us as pastors make commitments in front of the whole community, including our other campuses like UNT, SMU, TCU, and UTA, to serve and love them. I will be making a three year commitment along with many other people on staff. If you would like to be there with me, shoot me a text and I would love to send you the details! We have been meeting at a church in Richardson, TX near UT Dallas. I will also attach a Twitch link here if you would like to watch virtually. It starts August 1st at 7:30PM.

I am so excited for this next year. August is essentially already here. Please be praying for our student leaders as they make the commitment to serve our ministry for the next year. Pray for a rich harvest on our campuses and that Jesus is glorified through anything that we do. A verse that has been on my heart this past month has been Mark 10:45, an important reminder that "even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many". Let that be our prayer. That we are not here to be served, but to live a life of service to others.

To end with some super exciting news, my older brother is now engaged too! On the right is my younger brother and his fiancée, and in the middle is Joe and his new fiancée, Kerry! 

With love,

Paul