I’m sure you all know what being sunburnt is like but I’ll
go ahead and define it anyway. Sunburn as defined by Dictionary.com is inflammation of the skin caused by
overexposure to the sun.
We are going to focus on this idea of overexposure. During Cru’s winter
conference, Radiate 2013 (that’s product placement right there, for ya) the
hilarious and very intelligent Matt Mikalatos talked on this idea of being
“sunburnt.” To be exact, he said “There
are people in this world without the Light and I’m sunburnt.”
This idea has stuck with me, even 8 months later, I constantly think about
it. The fact that there are people all over the world who have not heard the
Gospel and yet I take it for granted EVERYDAY. I grew up in a Christian
household, attended youth group, went to all the VBS’s, and even went to a
private Christian school. So many of these things are not common and sometimes
even impossible to do in various countries around the world.
During the summer, I attend something called the J1 café that is for
international students that are college aged to come to America and work for
the summer. Virginia Beach Community Chapel has been opening its doors for
years now on Tuesday nights to invite these students in for dinner, a quick
Message (including a Gospel-related video and discussion questions), and plenty
of time for them to practice their English. Through this ministry, I have come
to really understand what it means to be sunburnt
by the Gospel- my complete overexposure to it leading to my seeing it as an
everyday commodity and rarely finding the true joy and excitement that the
Gospel brings to my life.
I challenge you to recognize this in your life and furthermore, to DO SOMETHING about it. J1 Café is just
something simple that I have absotively
enjoyed spending my summer doing and really growing in relationship with these
students. Our conversations range from talking about the differences in college
tuition in Europe and America, to their favorite American TV shows, to the
source of Good and Bad in the world.
{ What do you do about your sunburn? }
{What do you do to shine light in the
world’s darkest places? }
Here’s a picture of some Summer Cru students with two J1 students!
