Wednesday, February 18, 2009

All I Am Is Yours

At 11 o clock last night in the Hill Hall main lounge, I witnessed something beautiful.  There I was, standing in front of the room with the other band members, and for a few split seconds I was able to look up from my violin and watch the Holy Spirit speaking to a room full of college students stuck in the middle of a long quarter.  Mid-terms began two weeks ago and have somehow found a way of stretching themselves into week seven of the quarter.  Friendships and relationships are struggling.  Spirits are feeling week as the quarter drones on and on.  A cold epidemic has hit 60% of us and we are tired.  We are broken.  We have nowhere to turn, but to Christ.

That is why watching these students worship last night was such a blessing.  I was able to realize that, in the end, we are all in the same place.  Just because some of us were in the band does not mean that we are, by any means, living a perfect life.  We are all hurting so much and it is such a blessing to be able to turn to Christ, to be able to gather together on a college campus and worship together, to bear each other's burdens together.  During one of the last songs, students were singing with so much passion:

"Here I stand, with arms high and heart abandoned in awe of the One who gave it all.  I'll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered, all I am is Yours."

What a beautiful verse to sing.  What more can we do, but surrender all we have to Christ?

In the present times in our own personal lives, our country and the world, we all feel so much despair.  It feels as though the world is coming to an end, but by living in a Christian community, I have realized the hope we have.  This is not the end, and we WILL get through with the help of Christ.  His love and mercy are unfailing:

"But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom."

We mess up so many times, yet He forgives us every time.  A love that is unfailing and a love that lasts, that is the love of Christ.  That is why we should not have feelings of despair, but of hope.  Hope that Christ will bring us through the next difficult chapter of our lives and walk with us into whatever challenge may lie ahead.

"You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless, you're the peace to the restless, You are."