June has been full of intern training, a few days at a camp with some hilarious girls, a super fun trip to Augusta, some beach time in Hilton Head, and phone calls galore.
To give a little insight on June training... All 60+ of us interns gathered at the Westin in Atlanta for a week of introduction and direction. Through the 9am-4pm sessions on everything from development to social media to life insurance, dinners out, downtime in the hotel, a late night visit to a senior citizens dance club (that's all I have to say about that), some frisbee time, a cookout in Hammond Park, and so much more, I feel like we all got to know each other pretty well. I left June training wanting it to already be time for July training! It's such an awesome thing to be together with all these people who truly love Jesus and want to bring glory to His name by loving on college students and teaching them the beauty of the Gospel (Isaiah 53:5) that even though we have nothing to offer, Jesus desires us! I can't wait to hang out with all these guys again, but we had to go our separate ways to make this whole intern thing possible... aka raise support.
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| at the cookout |
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| after some ultimate frisbee |
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| the incoming intern class! |
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| Mmmmm, yes please! |
Clearly I knew SO much less than absolutely nothing. It's actually kind of hilarious to think about how clueless and naive I was. With that being said, these last few weeks I've been trying to get into the nitty gritty of the support. There have been highs, lows, doubts, delights, disappointments, satisfactions, and failure. I'm so engrossed in all of this that I'm constantly drawing webs and reconfiguring numbers in my head throughout the day. Most nights I go to bed thinking about it and wake up the next morning thinking about it still. And then, every so often when I take a slight break from self-reliance, trying to prove myself, self-satisfaction, etc (starting to see the pattern?), God reminds me that He's in control and that He is FOR me. My job isn't just to glorify God when I get to campus in the fall, but it's also to glorify God through the support raising process as well... and that means trusting Him. Trusting that He will provide, that He will carry out His plan, that He will calm my mind, emotions, and heart on the daily (Mark 4:39), that He will keep me rooted deeply in Himself, that He will lead me to generous donors, that He will guide my words and conversations, etc. The Lord didn't say, "Ok Al, good luck this summer... I'll catch ya on the flipside at NC State in the fall". He's carrying me through this and is sovereign over it all and man oh man is that comforting. If He has given us Jesus, the greatest gift of all, then it's safe to say that He will not hold back anything else :)
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| some exciting NC State gear from my cousins! |
What's ahead? This week I'm hosting a Dessert Night to give some friends more information about the internship and how they can get involved. Prayers for that night would be awesome! Next week, I'm headed up to Greenville, SC to talk to some more people (if you're up there and want to meet up, HOLLA!). I'll be celebrating the 4th (aka one of my top 3 favorite holidays) by running the Peachtree in Atlanta, so if you don't hear from me after next week, I may or may not have collapsed along the way and never recovered due to my extreme out-of-shape-ness.
Please continue to pray that Jesus is my source of joy through the ups and downs of this process and that I glorify and honor the Lord by trusting Him!
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:15
[photo credits: fellow intern, Rachel Hagan. Thanks homegirl!]
Please continue to pray that Jesus is my source of joy through the ups and downs of this process and that I glorify and honor the Lord by trusting Him!
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:15
[photo credits: fellow intern, Rachel Hagan. Thanks homegirl!]
