Devotion - Tuesday, April 5

There are a few choice verses which guide my ministry.  The verses are appropriate for everyone in ministry, but they speak even more powerfully to me because of the particular context of the ministry God has called me to offer.

John 14:18 is one of those verses, "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you."  

I like to quote sections of a book titled "College of the Overwhelmed."  Written by the director of Mental Health Services at Harvard, the book speaks of all the ways in which this generation of college students are "overwhelmed."

The college years are all about separating ourselves from our family of origin and finding our identity as an adult.  These are exciting years, they are also frightening years.  So many of the supports which carried us through the first 18 years of life are fading.  It is a time in our lives when it is too easy to feel abandoned and alone.

But Jesus promises, "I will not leave you desolate."  Jesus promises to "come to you."  

My role, in your lives and in your world, is be a reminder of Jesus' promise to come to you.  My role, is to make real the assurance that no one must face the troubling times in their life all alone.