William Barclay once said, “There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” Most of us are pretty competent when it comes to remembering the day we were born. (Though some of us may be trying to forget that recurring reminder of our mortality!) But discovering why is a more difficult task.
In a few days, hundreds of traditional students will be coming to Point University for the Fall 2014 semester. Many are returning from last year; many are first time students here. At the same time, we also have hundreds of non-traditional, adult students attending classes at each of our five locations. What each of these students have in common is the simple fact that unless they discover why they were born, life will continue to be a clutter of confusing opportunities that show little purpose.
That’s a part of the reasoning behind the choice of Adventure: God’s Story Meets Ours as our spiritual formation theme for this semester. We are connecting that theme to the very first words from the Gospel of Mark: “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Good news. It’s good news when you discover that despite what others may have told you, God really does want each of us to come to Him. It’s good news when, as a part of a community of God’s people, we begin to discover purpose – the reason why we were born. It’s good news when transformation begins to happen, and our mission is to be Jesus to the world.
Through a generous gift from Biblica, Point University is providing every student, staff member, coach, faculty member and administrator a copy of the New Testament published especially to create community Bible reading experiences. Its order is a little different (but more reasonable) than our commonly arranged New Testaments, and it is printed without the disruption of chapter and verse divisions – pretty much like it was written!
Beyond that, we have declared every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. during the Fall semester to be an hour for small groups to come together and talk about what we are reading together from Scripture. By reading about 15 minutes a week, each of us will be able to read through the New Testament during the fall semester – and who knows what kind of adventure that can be!
Point students: in the coming weeks a reading plan and copies of Biblica will be available for you to pick up. Please keep an eye on your student email for the official details on when they are available and how you can get your copy. You can also check point.edu/adventure for more information as it becomes available. I encourage you to be a part of this Adventure and to watch what God will do!Imagine what could happen if not only the Point community at our various locations, but Point alumni, Point friends and Point supporters all over the world would create small groups that were reading through the New Testament between mid-August and early-December this year.
I would love to know that you are praying for the Point community during this time as we seek to move from merely knowing “the day we were born” and discover better “the reason why we were born.”
After all, Paul seems to have said something about “faith comes through what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” That sounds like Adventure. It sounds like the place where “God’s story meets ours.” It sounds like discovering why we were born!
Share your adventure story by using the hashtag #PointAdventure on Twitter or Instagram!
Wye Huxford
Vice President for Spiritual Formation and Dean of the Chapel