“Seek his will in all you do
and he will show you which path to take.”
Proverbs 3:6 NLT
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Most people have heard the Biblical account of Joseph [the one with the technicolor coat]. In a nutshell: A young boy is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and over time, through a massive roller coaster of events, he ends up as second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt, advising them through a seven year famine. One of the cool ways that God guided Joseph from “slave” to “supervisor” is through visions or dreams.

I, unfortunately, seem to learn through much more painful means – hard knocks – rather than visions.

One of the more painful schools of hard knocks I’ve attended in my life was an actual school: college. These years of my life definitely facilitated some of my biggest faith-ownership moments and offered so many incredible, unique opportunities to learn and grow. However, there were also a LOT of opposite opportunities there, too. I quickly realized that, for every bad idea offered there, you could find 2+ people eager to help you justify doing it. In some ways, it reminds me of that island in the movie Pinocchio where everyone turns into a… donkey. So much of what was offered had intentionally tried to remove God from the picture. It was subtle and I didn’t realize it at the time; I simply thought I was getting information that my parents misunderstood or withheld from me. That time was a spiritual famine for me.

Looking back on it now, I have realized that those years can still be capitalized on today in a much larger way than any of my school advisers may have thought. Those years were my Joseph “visions” or “dreams.” God can use the information I gained from that time to help others through their own college experience: their own famine.

This realization was the birthplace of PassageWays, my college ministry. I wanted to be able to equip students for real life passage with real Bible application. I created scripturally-charged care packages (called College Care Kit, or CCK’s) that get sent once a month to college students to keep them from feeling the pains of [what could be their first big] spiritual famine. The CCK’s give support that helps care for not only continued spiritual growth, but also physical, emotional and mental growth! I want to make it impossible to forget that God is with you in college and leverage it as a place to grapple with your own understanding and how it fits into His Will.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” { Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT }

I’m so thankful that God gave the wisdom to understand the experiences I had so that I could realize today how many storehouses of “food” is needed for this journey. I am so excited about a second year of serving a group of people who are critically under-served.

And I am CRAZY MOTIVATED to do this with the body of Christ! If you are reading this and it resounds with you – as a college student, a supporter of college students, or anything in-between – please visit my website: www.passagewaysministry.com. Email me there to let me know how I can serve you or how you’d like to help me serve others!  I believe that God will use us for great things.

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Dear Lord, thank you for giving me a passion to seek your will. Thank you for giving me a desire to serve. Please bless this mission so that it can glorify you and encourage college students as they learn to seek you in our world. Give me the wisdom to understand your plans, the courage to execute them, and the community to serve you with. Amen.