CSUCI Campus Ministry

"The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and I will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them"' Numbers 14:7-9 NIV

Jacob son of Nun and Caleb urged the Israelites to fight for the land that God has promised them, but because of their unbelief the Lord condemned them to roam the desert for 40 years. Before our trip to Big Bear, we were like roaming Israelites. God's chosen few without the direction needed to fulfill his purpose in our life. In the heart of Big Bear, we discovered our hearts frozen like the lake near our cabin. Our cabin was nestled between a lake, mountains and giant mythological figures placed between God and us. We then saw God's tears in the form of snow and his tests that we like to call hills. We were surrounded by a sea of trees that blanketed the mountains. These very trees extended out towards God and its roots searched for the life beneath the frozen lake of our heart. We went down Big Bear like Moses when he went down Mount Sinai with a purpose not only for himself but for his ministry. In Big Bear, we had to face our giants to obtain the treasures that God has promised us. For some of us, the giants are fear of ridicule and being accepted by our peers in the classroom. For others, it is the barriers that we put upon ourselves. Perhaps unbelief or maybe it is the fact that we are not in control of our life. The biggest giant of our heart is unbelief. The idea that we are not changing peoples' lives in campus and that we are not capable of preaching the Lord's gospel. In our devotion time, we had to rely on God and each other, and we found the strength to preach the gospel to our family, our friends and teachers. Most importantly, we leaned to have faith and believe that God will work through us if we allow him to. We found out that when we expect God's promises without the commitment to confront our fear, we spiritually wander. Our unbelief causes a separation between God and us, and it also places Jesus back on that cross. We had to realize that though our faith (and through Jesus' sacrifice) the Lord has given us much more than what this world has to offer. "So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:6