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STORIES OF THE
MISSION OF OUR CHURCH University Lutheran Center at SDSU Pastor Bob Chell Nicole arrived at SDSU from a
small South Dakota community. Oldest of two sisters, her parents divorced
when she was a child. A superb student she shared her intent to graduate in
three and a half years before going on to graduate school in chemistry. As
she was drawn into the life of the university and the programs of the
University Lutheran Center I encouraged her to rethink her plans and to take
advantage of some of the opportunities here at SDSU. She became involved in
our ministry and played flute and viola for worship. She served as one of our
peer ministers and joined spring break trips to Atlanta, Washington DC and El
Paso/Juarez. She spent a semester in Puerto Rico and a summer in Costa Rica.
She never lost her passion for chemistry and spending a summer in Silicon
Valley doing research for IBM with students from Stanford, Harvard and MIT.
When she returned she excitedly told me “I got my first patent.” (I made a
mental note that she had said first
patent). Following graduation Nicole spent two years teaching in an isolated
rural school in Namibia. I wasn’t surprised that she was accepted into each
of the PhD. programs she had applied to. She’s finishing her PhD now, right
on time in my opinion! _________________________________________ Perhaps the thing I love best
about being a pastor is when people trust me enough— or, to be perfectly
honest about it— are desperate enough, to turn to me when life has bottomed
out. •Jill came to college right out
of High School—with her 6 month old daughter. She can’t find child care. •Saturday John was celebrating
the beginning of his sophomore year. Sunday he was in jail for sexual
assault. •Beth couldn’t remember the
names of all those she had shared her body with. She was too drunk to
remember most of them. •Neil is a full time student,
works three jobs, doesn’t sleep and is angry because his body has turned on
him, he is sick all the time.
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•Courtney lost a friend to AIDS,
her blood test will be back in a week. She waits. •Sarah is getting anonymous
notes from someone who finds her attractive and enjoys watching her. It is her first semester at college. She is
scared. •Tom hates it here. Hates it.
Hates it. Hates it. He would rather be dead than here. •Derek’s parent’s live two
thousand miles away. He has never been in the hospital before. •Erin was fine when she called
home last night. There was an accident, now her parents have to decide
whether to unplug life support. •Mark didn’t know that giving
drugs to a friend was “dealing.”
The University Lutheran Center is here as a
place of grace, a place of forgiveness, a place of hope, a place of
direction, a place for people. Some students are here unless their world is
falling apart. Others only come when
it has already fallen apart. Both are welcome here. The University Lutheran Center remains, as
always, a place for people to share their story and to hear the story of a
God who loves, calls, challenges, and forgives. A God who walks with us
rather than stands against us.
His
teacher knew that he was usually very prompt and asked him if anything was
wrong. The
boy replied no, that he was going fishing but his dad told him that he needed
to go to church. The
teacher was very impressed and asked the boy if his dad had explained to him
why it was more important to go to church than to go fishing? The boy replied, "Yes he did. Dad said he didn't have enough bait for both of us." |
