College Road Trip

I’m not exactly sure where the idea came from but I recently decided to visit as many of First Trinity’s college freshmen as possible.  I’ve met up with a few of the students studying in the Buffalo area, but what about the ones that went away to school?  So, two weeks ago, I fueled up my Suzuki SX4 and hit the road. Here are some stats/thoughts from the trip:

• 3 amazing young women (all freshmen in college)
• 13 hours total; 6.5 talking, eating, and worshiping with them; 6.5 driving through the beautiful WNY countryside talking/jammin’ out to music with Jesus… a fine balance if you ask me
• Attended Chapel and went to lunch with Kelsey at Robert’s Wesleyan in Rochester
• Got coffee with Hope in Alfred (She attends Alfred State)
• Went to Intervarsity (A Christian Group on Campus) and dinner with Anna at SUNY Fredonia
• The whole trip was 333.4 miles and well worth every bit of it!

Seriously, this was one of my favorite days in ministry so far!  I pray that they students felt connected to First Trinity through my being there and encouraged in their faith and just life in general while away from home.  It was great to be able to just have time set aside to focus on one person at a time and due to the distance I had to travel to get there, it was somewhat of a sacrifice and therefore, I didn’t take a single moment of my time with them for granted. My mission was to interact with these three women, and nothing else.  I pray that the time was as blessed for them as it was for me.

I could write forever, but my 5-minutes is up. (See this post for the “5-minute” explanation.)  If you want to know more about my visits, I’d love to share!

One last thing to think about …  for people at First Trinity… and anywhere… college students will be making their ways back home soon for the holidays.  If you see them in church or around town, stop them, ask them how it’s going.  Ask them what’s gone well and what they wish were different.  Ask them what is different this semester than they expected.  Ask them how you can be praying for them!  Did you have some connection to them while they were in middle or high school? … a small group leader? … a mission trip prayer partner?  I hear stories from you all of the time about people still having their prayer partners’ pictures on their fridge.  That excites me, but it’s even more important to let THEM know! Whatever you do, find some way to connect with these college students!  It is more important than you could ever imagine!