Finals

Saturday marked the beginning of finals here at the University of Maryland. Students are pushing down the home stretch of the semester, and it is a rather quiet time for Logan and me. Students are often too stressed and busy studying to meet with us.

There are a few of these bronze Testudo statues around campus, and it is a tradition here at UMD to treat them as a sort of shrine. Their noses are rubbed shiny from students who rub them for luck on tests and during finals week offerings are even left for help on finals. As you can see this year Testudo even received a deep frier! While done in fun, I think these traditions also reveal something about the religious climate of the University. It is one thing to leave trash as an offering, it is another to see full bottoms of Vodka and other alcohol offered. On a campus like this, that is quite a sacrifice that makes you wonder if students really believe offerings do something do them!

As amazed as I am that students would give up this much alcohol to a statue, I'm more amazed that there is enough reverence for other students not to take it!

Please take a moment to pray for our students during this time.

• Pray for our campus that is so very secular and has so many desperate and wandering students. 
• Pray that our students would finish the semester strong, study well, and not neglect sleep and meals.
• Pray that they would know the merit of Christ. 
• The immeasurable worth they have as image bearers of God - something that cannot be taken away by test scores. 
• How much their are valued and loved by the Father - so much so that He would send His only Son to live and die in their place so that they would not have to try and measure up themselves. 

In finals time especially, the message of the Gospel proclaims good news to the weary!
Grace & Peace,

Progressive Dinner

This week is the final week for classes here at UMD, so this past weekend RUF hosted its annual Progressive Dinner! It is a fun time of traveling house to house for each course of dinner, and then we ended out the night with dessert and a dance party at Wallace Pres Church.

Here is some of the fun:

These are some of the appetizers I made for the first house. We then did soup and salad at an upperclassmen's house, and the main course at our Campus Minister's house.

 The students dress up in prom or evening wear that they don't get very many chances to use. Don't they look great?

Logan & I dressed up as well!

Let the dancing begin!

 

Logan did a great job as our DJ for the night!

We had a great time with our students and survived organizing all the rides, making the food, putting together the music, and all the fun that came in between. Here we are at the end of the night:

Chris & his interns!

Grace & Peace,