Excited, Exhausted, Empty?

So it’s a new school year and you’re coming off a summer project and time for MPD (even though you know you could’ve done more with that…ouch!  Avoidance, denial…sorry to bring it up!)

August rolls around and I routinely face the mixed emotions that come with the start of a new year: excited to see staff friends and returning students, excited to meet new students, eager to hear how everybody’s summer went—even though I know the most likely answer— “Hard, but good.”; anticipation for what we want to see God do this year…

Then there’s the “tired before I’m tired” element! It’s a fulfilling kind of exhaustion when your head hits the pillow way too late at night, knowing you’ve done eternally significant things to get this tired…like order 300 hotdogs for a freshman cookout or hand out 1000 cups with your meeting time and location on them. Yep, significant (really, it is!).

When we talk about what we want to trust God for this year, we sound so hopeful and full of faith. And I’m thinking most of that really is true.

[Brace yourself: here comes the part where I pull out the truth embedded below the surface like a festering splinter! It’s gonna hurt to dig it out, but will feel so much better when it’s free!]

Here comes the pumping it out part. Or we may call it “fleshing it out.”

We’re so busy ministering for the Lord that we easily forget the Lord we’re ministering for . Go ahead, read that again; it’s a gem I picked up from Vonette about a hundred years ago.

I know the self-talk. “I don’t have time to spend with the Lord. I’m too busy setting up events or leading student leaders or doing surveys or following them up or making calls or plastering the campus with promo or organizing parties or leading a meeting or writing a talk for the weekly meeting or casting vision for why we do what we do.”—oops…

Why do we do what we do?
We talk about serving or ministering out of an overflow of our walk with the Lord. What the heck does that look like at this time of year? We’re excited, exhausted and for so many of us - already  EMPTY .

I’ve been studying about rewards. It’s scary and sobering to realize if we just pump these things out in the flesh, rather than minister in the power of the Spirit, it’s all going to burn. POOF. Gone.  I Cor 3:13,14

So what’s it look like to minister from an overflow? 
To begin with, something’s gotta be full in order to have overflow. What’s it take to be “full” at this time of year? It’s legit that you don’t have hours to sit and soak up the Word. But each of us needs to figure out what it looks like to make sure we’re in tune with the Lord’s leading, and that we’re doing all of this out of the power the Spirit gives us.

Seriously, it’s back to the basics of the Spirit-filled life…why do we complicate it so much?! Here’s another way to think about it: How do you get “full” at this time of year when you’re so busy doing the things you’re supposed to do? I’m thinkin it takes a lot of “meals” throughout the day since one big “meal” seems impossible!

How can you remember the Lord throughout the day?

• Go buy Jesus Calling right now. It’s the best spiritual “snack” I’ve come across in a long time
• Remember that it’s supposed to be Christ’s love that compels us  ( 2 Cor 5:14)
• Ask for what you need for sustenance TODAY ( Mt 6:11)
• Remember where real strength comes from and how ( Is 40:31)
• Pray in the car on the way to and from campus; pray throughout the day on campus; pray while meeting with a student. Get it? PRAY— a lot!