By Nicole Lewis
About a month ago I was sitting at home trying to find some nuggets from the late Professor Howard Hendricks’ book Teaching to Change Lives. I never had the “Prof” as a seminary professor, but I did take a one week class from him years ago, and it made me really think about my life in student ministry. The thing that I remember the most is how much he talked about spending time with students and how he lived that out in his own life.
Here is the quote I found that I have been turning over in my mind this past month:
“You can impress people at a distance. But you can impact them only up close. And the closer you are to them, the greater and more permanent the impact.”
Pretty powerful don’t you think?
Man, this has been challenging me so much as I think about the implications of it and of the students I have sat down with over the past months and those I will meet in the coming months. What it reminds me of is that there is something incredibly powerful, vulnerable and transformative that happens when we choose to be up close and personal with others. It is a great risk perhaps too get that close, because that kind of life on life may open us up to deep joys but also deep pains.
I don’t want my life to just be something that impresses others, by God’s grace I want it to have an impact in other’s lives and I want other’s to impact mine too.
Nicole Lewis has served with Cru in Seattle, Wash. and Florence, Italy.
Now Nicole works with the Global Missions team, traveling to encourage Cru missionaries to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, to enjoy the places God has called them to, and to live their lives as an outflow of the love they have received in Christ and to share that good news with others.