"I was wondering what would break first..."

As usual, I'll open up with a movie reference to (yes, again) Batman: Dark Knight Rises. I remember the scene vividly where Bane fights Batman down in Bane's lair. As Batman slowly loses the fight, the despair I felt came to a climax when Bane lifts Batman over his head and says "I was wondering what would break first: your spirit or your body!" as Bane breaks Batman's back on his knee. Though my situation this past week wasn't nearly this dire, I could feel spiritual and physical weariness setting in, slowly eroding both.

This past week was indeed a busy one: we had Nav Launch, Navs on a Boat, and our first Nav Night. Hours of planning were poured into each event with hours more of preparation on top of that. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Navigator lingo, allow me to shed light on these terms.

Nav Launch - the official start of our ministering for the school year. It's where we have all our bible studies meet for the first time to get acquainted and provide a brief overview of what we'll be studying for the semester. We have an introductory video, worship music, testimonies about discipleship, and a message given by our campus director. The logistics of such an event are for more than I anticipated, but by God's grace it was well-attended and went off without a hitch!

Navs on a Boat - an event on a Friday afternoon after classes let out. We rented a large party barge for 4 hours on Lake Travis, cooked hamburgers, swam for hours, and shared a bit about ourselves on the ride back to shore. Again, more of a logistical mountain than I knew we'd be climbing. Overall, we had a lot of people there and a great time was had by all who participated in the event.

Nav Night - our regular weekly large-group worship service. Not as large-scale as Nav Launch, but still no easy task to coordinate. It too has an ice-breaker (an activity that allows people time and reason to talk and get to know one another), music, a message an announcements. It was also more packed than I foresaw, but that just shows the grace of God and not the success of our toils.

It was during the midst of all these different meetings, gatherings, and events that I really saw the Body of Christ in motion: some people are exceptionally gifted at administration (which I am terrible at!), others at musically leading the group (which I am terrible at as well!), and others still at teaching the lesson God has given to them to share (which, as you guessed, I am terrible at!) I said all that to say this: without the body of Christ, both my body and my spirit would have been broken  by now. I can in no way do all the things necessary to help a ministry run smoothly. How humbling it is when you realize you can't do all the things necessary to run a collegiate ministry of about 100 people for a single week. This makes me so thankful that Christ gave us His body (both literally on the cross and metaphorically through fellowship) to save us from a lifetime (and eternity) of fruitless toil and gave us in its stead an existence of eternal significance.

Now, because of Christ, my body will break someday but my spirit is firmly in the grip of the Father (John 10:29). Now, because Christ's body was broken for me and through His power put back together, the grave and all things it once held - despair, hopelessness, doubt, sorrow - are all defeated. Now, because of Christ, I am a new creation - I am no longer broken (II Corinthians 5:17).

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I love by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." - Galatians 2:20