Friends,
family, visitors! Hello and welcome to the end of summer. I hope that your
summer has been absolutely incredible and relaxing. Mine has been absolutely
crazy and the next week will not slow down as I will drive to Tampa only to
pick up and move to Knoxville, Tennessee. This life is such an adventure but sometimes I just
want to take a nap!
Any who, for all of you who read my last post, I was in the
middle of telling you why I joined FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University
Students) and I explained that the
message and model of Jesus Christ is the only way that we can successfully
change hearts, lives and eventually….. THE WORRLLDDDD!!!!!!!! And so here is the second part of that
post… let’s focus on FOCUS.
Truth time: I have written two complete posts about FOCUS
and have deleted them both. I have this tremendous desire to spark in you the
same pride in this organization that I feel through my eloquent words but it is
just not going to happen that way. So here is the Mallory version of FOCUS.
As my mom and I drove to New Orleans I thought to myself , “
Man I would love to have some oysters from Drago’s today but we aren’t
downtown.” Not mentioning this desire to my mom, we shopped for a bit before
eating salads at La Madeline French Bistro in Metarie. This was all fine and
dandy until we walked out of the restaurant. Imagine the horror when my eyes
fell upon the Drago’s Seafood sign literally less than 500 yards to my right. I
ate a standard salad when I could have had some DELICIOUS charbroiled oysters…
my heart’s true desire. I settled…I knew it … and it was painful.
I tell you this story because the more I get to know Jesus
and the more I understand my faith (which isn’t much) the more I am convinced
that we as a culture are settling over and over again in our personal lives and
in our faith lives.
In our personal lives we settle for image when we could have
true self worth. We settle for sex when we could have romance. We settle for
romance when we could have love. We settle money when we could have meaning. We
settle for niceties when we could have truth (I hear that it sets you free).
In our faith life we settle for behavior modification
(rules) instead of really knowing Jesus Christ (relationship). We settle for
Sunday obligation when we could participate with the angels and the saints
praising the God of the universe as one with all of our being. We settle for
giving God our wave of the hand when we could give him our whole heart. We
settle of common sayings when we could have true knowledge of the word of God,
which is eerily relevant believe it or not.
We are settling for shadows and we are disappointed when
they don’t fulfill. And by God (literally) I want to do something about it.
FOCUS is doing a lot about it and I am so proud to have joined the movement.
FOCUS is a national outreach organization that works with
the individuals on the college campus “inviting them into a growing relationship
with Jesus Christ and His Church inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of
Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship, and friendship in which they lead
others to do the same.”
See, the reality is that right now 9 out of 10 college
students are walking away from their faith in college. This would be fine if
suicide wasn’t the 2nd leading cause of death in college students (1st
is alcoholism), depression wasn’t so prevalent on our campuses, the divorce
rate wasn’t so high, the over all respect for human life and dignity wasn’t so
low. But it is, and Jesus said that He came so we could have a life that is
truly life… so is it possible that the further we move away from Him the less
that the lives we lead will actually have LIFE?
The upside of this is that the people of FOCUS see this as
an opportunity. I just spent five weeks with 300 the most amazing men and women
who have chosen to go onto the college campus full time in order to change our
culture. By building genuine friendships with students, small group bible
studies and large group outreach FOCUS has changed thousands of lives. Of the
150 new missionaries who are in my class I would guess that 95% of them became
a missionary because God used another missionary to change their life.
Samantha Kelley FOCUS missionary at UT Austin tells her story
Think about it, when students realize that Jesus Christ
offers them a life that is so much more joyful, so much deeper and so much more
fulfilling than what they are settling for, they stop settling. Instead of
settling for salaries void of happiness, romance void of love, and life void of
LIFE. They will desire for LIFE to fill their very being no matter their circumstances,
they will demand Jesus instead of mere church. They will be better spouses,
better parents, better employers and employees and our future is now filled
with joyful promises instead of illusions that leave us wanting. This is how we
change the culture; this is the message and model of Jesus Christ at work.
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| Who loves a good head shot |
I believe that we will only change our world and revive our
fellow Catholics by spreading true Christianity and I believe that one of the
most efficient and effective ways to do this is by changing the college campus.
As such, next year I will be working full time at the University of Tennessee
with my teammate Andrea Francois to reach students where they are (no crazy
signs or condemning messages).
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| Here we are again! TEAM WORK in the boat races |
If you agree, let me know because I genuinely want you in on
this mission. I want to call you and find out how God is working in your life
and I want to send you updates about what God is doing at the University of
Tennessee. If you would like to be on my financial support team through monthly
tax deductible donations or special donations (also tax deductible) please take a look at my donations
page. www.focus.org/goto/mbueche.
As a FOCUS missionary, I am funded 100% by people who believe in this cause so
get your butts on board and let FOCUS’s mission and my mission become OUR
mission to spread the gospel!! (like that line??? Are you convinced yet?). See
if I don’t get funded then I don’t go on campus and the students that God has
for me to reach will not be reached. See how instrumental I just made you? Get
in on this goodness!!!
Ok, there will be more about FOCUS and what we are doing in
the future but now that you know about it, I can blog about other fun things.
John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I
have come that they may have life,(A)
and have it to the full.”
