[i'm desperate for You]

Before going on project this summer, I remember wondering what it'd be like to share with people about how to have a relationship with Christ... at UC Berkeley of all places. I always heard that it was a place filled with activists and liberals that were always passionately vocal about saving whales or going green or just plain peace. I could already imagine the entire student body turning a cold shoulder to the gospel because of wanting to focus on "more important" or pressing world issues; I was expecting to encounter utter disinterest.

I was mistaken. Maybe it's because Berkeley just has an environment where people are expected to be passionate and vocal about something, but I found students to be pretty open to hearing about what I'm passionate about and why-- even though my 'who' and 'why' is Jesus.

But also, a 2 hour conversation--on a sunny day at a wooden table by one of the Engineering Lecture Halls with a 3rd-year student named *Descartes who initially shoo-ed us away before immediately beckoning us back-- reminded me that, at the heart level, every single person-- whether a Berkeley student, a soccer mom, an angsty teen, or what have you-- is extremely interested in the gospel.

(Now, that's absolutely not true, Jeanine. I can name 9 people I know right now off the top of my head who want nothing to do with Jesus or religion or...) It's true. On the surface level, I think there are good number of people who just plain 'don't wanna hear it.' But what I heard in *Descartes' voice, what I saw in his posture, and what I read in between the lines all indicated to me that this was a young man so desperately wanting to hear and grasp the gospel of Christ-- to be known and understood, to be loved and wanted, and to have a reason why, a purpose for being on this earth. And when it comes down to it, that's what the gospel is isn't it?

1. Being known: God knit us together from the very beginning. He sees all of each of us, the good and the bad; He knows all the dark and dusty corners of our souls, the seemingly unforgivable pages in the chapters of our lives.
2. Being loved: And yet He loved us enough to send His son to pay the penalty for our sins that separate us from a life with Him. (What wondrous love is this?)
   
3. Having purpose: He wants us to live life to the full, knowing Him and making Him known.

What's awesome is that *Descartes was more than eager to allow us (me and my sharing-partner, Kevin) to present the gospel to him and that he even went on to ask us what our own stories were! And although *Descartes didn't make a decision that day to surrender his life to Christ, I know that we planted a seed. *Descartes got the chance to hear the gospel, which I pray he'll grasp for himself someday soon. Kevin and I got to share our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, a practice I'm confident he'll bring home with him to Texas. And I was reminded that in truth, everyone really is desperately interested in the gospel and that this is why I'm meant to do what I do.

"How, then, can they call on the one
they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one
of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear
without someone preaching to them?"
-Romans 10:14