The End of the (Calendar) Year!
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Our mascot Temoc "Claus"
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The holiday season has arrived and that means we're arriving at the halfway point for the school year. What does this mean for ministry? It means that students are beginning to feel the urgency of their growth, their Bible studies, and their friendships with each other. What a school year gets to do for our students is place a deadline to this season of their life. Next school year they may be graduated, they may be in a different small group, they may not have the same schedule as their friends. So, this season of friendship with these other college students has an expiration date. Now that doesn't mean they're no longer friends with each other or that they will no longer talk to their former small groups, but the touch-points they have this year may no longer be there. This creates a sense of urgency, to appreciate each other now, to make the most of their studies together now, to deepen their friendships while they still get to see each other multiple times a week. We get to take advantage of the finite school year and use it for God's purposes. They still have one more semester, but knowing this semester had an end for them, they're more aware that this next semester will come to a close before they know it as well. The students are going into a well-deserved break after their finals. They're looking forward to their families and Christmastime, but they'll also have the first extended period away from each other and we hope that absence will make the heart grow fonder!
Christmas Party and Service
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The students doing the "Whoosh"
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Before they leave every year, we always do a Christmas party and a Christmas service together. We believe that we celebrate the holidays together with family. If we didn't celebrate together, what does that mean about how we view our relationships with each other? So we love putting on a party where students can come together and enjoy funny games, traditions, and sing fun Christmas songs together. We always end with a "We Whoosh You a Merry Christmas". (Because the symbol for the UTD Comets is the "Whoosh". We also get to do a Christmas service because it's important for us all to remember Jesus during this time as the main focus. We can get wrapped up in the gifts, lights, and celebrations and miss the baby boy who came to save us all.
Thank You!
In some ways, Christmas is a time to be more thankful than even Thanksgiving. This is a time to remember and be thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for us by coming down to Earth. I also always want to remember your sacrifices in enabling me to do ministry with these students, to get to witness what God is doing here, and to continually pour into new leaders year after year. I am so grateful for your faithfulness and belief in me to do God's will here in Dallas. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, that God continually blesses us with his character of love and mercy through his people and his creation. Love you all!
