Snow Day

I predicted it.

I was going to have a snow day on my first day of student teaching.

I woke up this morning at 4:30am, pulling the blinds back to my apartment parking lot dressed in inches of white. "Snow day!" I cheered to myself as I jumped back in bed. I later woke around 6:15am to confirm my suspicion, and was enthusiastically congratulated when "Reading School District" flashed across the screen.

No one is ever too old to have a snow day.

Rather than spending my Wednesday observing a 5th grade class at my first placement; Northwest Elementary School, I finished an internship application for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship; a possible job opportunity for next year. I was thankful to have the time to thoroughly complete the application, along with some time to enjoy shopping with my roommate Sarah and scrapbooking while watching a movie with my roommate Nadine.

After completing the application, I turned to Nadine to share an answer with her, remarking that "sometimes we have no idea just how impactful we are as part of God's plans until we answer a question about it."

"We don't give ourselves enough credit," I told her.

Not that witnessing or discipling or journeying alongside someone as they come to know Jesus is about "giving ourselves credit," it's just that sometimes, we don't think that we "really make a difference" when in fact, we do.

Take a look at the response I shared with Nadine:

Name one person, not a follower of Jesus at the time, with whom you’ve talked during this school year about following Jesus. In what ways did you speak and model the Gospel to this person? What happened?

This past semester, my best friend and I decided to co-lead a small group for some upper-classmen women. One of these ladies in particular has been a close friend of mine since freshmen year. In the past, knowing she wasn’t a follower of Jesus, but seemed interested in why I was, I’ve comforted or encouraged her with scripture, discussed with her some major apocalyptic questions, and even bought her a Bible for herself. I invited her to large group Albright Christian Fellowship meetings, which she attended a few times throughout freshmen year before stopping, and to our first camping retreat that same year. I’ve taken her to Hope’s Hangout, an after-school program which serves inner-city youth. Whenever hanging out, whether at dinner, at a game night, or at a party, I’ve always been conscious to model other aspects of the Gospel to her (and others) through demonstrating a loving, caring, and respectful attitude towards myself and others.

This year, she immediately accepted the small group invitation, exclaiming that she and another friend were “just talking about wanting to do something like this.” Since the small group has begun she has hardly missed a meeting. Within small group time, we catch up on “life details,” discuss scripture, pray, and watch Grey’s Anatomy together. (I’ve learned to tolerate the show; the things I do for Jesus!) Prompting the group with questions and discussion, my friend has eagerly asked questions of her own; bringing up points of confusion and discussing significant pieces to the passages in response to the prompts. She loved learning that Jesus’ first miracle involved turning water into wine: Jesus wants us to have fun, and learning that Jesus is not a boring, soft-spoken, pacifist as conveyed in a Vintage-21 You Tube video, but an intelligent, risk-taking, and creative person! She even takes notes during discussion!

My friend and I spend time outside of small group together, too. We’ll sometimes eat dinner together, attend a party together, or head to the bar with some friends on the weekend. During these times, we’ll not always have direct conversation about Jesus or faith, but she’ll tell me stories about how her and her friend decided to give up gossiping or how my relationship with her boyfriend has served as a positive model for her relationship with her boyfriend. She’s expressed interest in continuing a small group this semester, and has admitted during some reflection time in small group that “it’s easy for her to read the gospel and be amazed at Jesus, but it’s hard for her to think about changing a lot of her lifestyle choices if she ‘follows Jesus.’” I’m excited to continue to walk alongside my friend as she adventures through this next part of her journey. I know that she’ll forever be a great friend of mine, and her journey with Jesus has been both inspirational and encouraging.

I never realized the impact that my friendship with my friend could have with her relationship with Jesus. All this time, I felt guilty because I had "not done enough" to share the gospel with her, yet what I didn't realize was that God's been working in my friend's heart for four years-regardless of my awareness.

Wanting our friends to love and know Jesus as we do, too many times we "beat ourselves up" because we "don't do enough." It's important to remember that before Jesus began quoting any scripture, he formed relationships with the people around him. He dined with them (Mark 2), sincerely listened to them (John 4), and empathized with others over the death of a friend (John 11).

People were fascinated by what he had to say because he was relational with them first.

As I continue to enjoy reflecting on the relationships which God has blessed me with, I pray that I can follow Jesus not only in attitude and love, but in his model for ministry.