I spent all day packing (ok maybe 3 hours), and it feels a lot like leaving for college. Right now there is a pile of things in my room. I imagine it seems a lot like leaving for school for my mom and little brother too, just even farther away. For me, school is comfortable. I know and love my friends from school. I am used to the school grind, and even getting up early in the morning for clinicals in the hospital. I am used to living in the dorms, I am used to Ann Arbor, I am safe there.
But in my comfort, I could find myself bordering on complacency in my faith. I am a big fan of Christian Hip Hop, one of my favorite artists being Andy Mineo. He has a song called "Uncomfortable" in which he raps "God prepare me for the war, comfort be the thing that will make a king fall. Eyes on the Lord, better grip that blade of the sword, tell me how you plan on getting swole if you don't ever get sore?" In complacency, we can easily get soft, not keeping formed by the pressures around us. I don't think I have become complacent at Michigan, but it would be hard to do so at home. Summer is something we are warned about at school, that it is hard to keep growing in your faith by yourself over the summer. That is the main reason I will be in Chicago tomorrow at noon, and for the rest of the month, and for the rest of the summer.
Thinking that it is going to be an easy summer, however, is wishful thinking. Well, not my wish. God repeatedly shows in the Bible that he grows people the most in the hard times. In the winter semester this past year I had the privilege of discipling a freshman in Cru, and we read through the book of Job together as the semester came to a close. God used that incredibly difficult time in Job's life to teach him about God's sovereignty, basically meaning God is God, which means he can do whatever he wants. Who are we to question his decisions and practices? He created us, and promises that he is perfect, holy, loving, and just. Heck, we wouldn't know true love and justice if God didn't show it to us. And I am entrusting my summer to him, whatever hard times may come. It is in his hands.
Chicago will not be comfortable. I don't know 95% of the students who will be there. I will not have a definite schedule, at least right away. I will have to make my own food (not impressive, I know, but hey, I have spend my two college years in dorms). I won't know the city. This will be a totally different experience. But thinking about it makes me even more excited to get there. This is my great adventure of the summer. I don't know where it will take me, who I will meet on it, and how I will change because of it. But God is in control, and I know that I am in good hands.
I hope you will stay with me on this journey as I seek to grow closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this summer in Chicago, whether you believe what I do or not.
What do I believe? I believe that God is the creator of all things, and created all human beings in his own likeness. I believe that the Bible, the entire Bible, is the ultimate source of truth in this world. And I believe that, as the Bible describes, Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem humanity to God as the ultimate sacrifice, and because of that act of love to us while we didn't deserve it, we can now choose to pursue a personal relationship with the Almighty God. And if we believe in Jesus as what and who he was, and only if we believe that, we can spend eternity with him in heaven.
I will be spending my summer sharing that with other people I meet on the campuses of Chicago. They will likely have questions and doubts, maybe like some of you do. I may or may not have answers, but I trust that the Holy Spirit will give me words to say. It is scary, for sure. But there is also something beautiful about it that I can't quite describe. Maybe I'll try to describe it in a later post. If you have any questions, you can email me at ajhill24@gmail.com or check out this website.
Feel free to drop a letter in the mail if you so desire:
Austin Hill
Apartment 310
642 S. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60605
Until next time!
-Austin
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