OCBP Support Letter

Hello Family, Friends, and Loved Ones!

Well, I have almost made it through my third year in college. After a semester abroad in the Middle East, I slowly reacclimated back to the daily norms of college life, keeping my head in the books and making sure the freshmen girls on my hall behaved themselves. During this “retransition”, I have also spent much time reflecting on myself, my personality, my likes and dislikes, and my passions, and my potential career after college. Choosing a career as an International Studies major means that I can pretty much enter any career field with a particular focus on bettering the world around me.   As I work full time as a student and a Resident Assistant, seeking my goal to better this world, I am also  heavily involved in Arcadia Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational gathering students seeking to learn about Christ and grow in their faith. I co-lead a small group and help lead worship.

The fellowship is served by a partnership of InterVarsity and Coalition for Christian Outreach staff workers. The CCO staff worker, Greg Sovereign, recommended to me a summer ministry opportunity called Ocean City Beach Project. OCBP is an eight-week ministry in which 30-40 Christian college students live, learn, play, and worship in community. The Project provides the opportunity for me to grow personally in my faith and develop my leadership skills. At OCBP, I will work on the Ocean City boardwalk during the daytime and be challenged to become a kingdom leader through speakers in the evenings. 

So now that you’ve read a short synopsis about what I’m excited about doing this summer,  what can you do?  Well, first and foremost, you can help me get suited up to go by much prayer.  I know that many of you were praying for me when I went to Jordan and I truly appreciated your intercession. John 14:14 says, “Yes, ask anything in my name and I will do it!” So I am living proof to say that what you asked for, Jesus did! On top of prayer, I will also need to raise $2,000 to cover all my housing and food costs for the summer. I hope to frequently post on my blog  http://stardustontheroad.blogspot.com/throughout the summer so you can stay updated with what I’m learning and how I’m growing.

If you’d like to financially support me, here’s how to do so. You can mail a check payable to CCO (write “Brittany Witcher: OCBP in the memo line) and send it to CCO, 5912 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206. You can also send a gift online at ccojubilee.org/donate. (Just click on the title above and you'll get straight to the page.  Click on "Give Online Today from there") When you get to the credit card screen, write my name in the “Comments” section so they know where to allot the support.

            I want to thank you all for all of your continued love and support.  I really can’t wait to see what God has in store for me down the road.  I do have to say, though, that much of what has happened thus far could not have happened without your support.  I am appreciative beyond words! Can’t wait to hear back from you! Feel free to call or email me with any questions.

Ever so sincerely,

Brittany

484-707-4284

bwithcher@arcadia.edu

Something Really Cool

So I learned something really cool today.  Call it an epiphany or a revelation or what I call a "Moabite Moment" (long story for a later time).  K.  So, I had to write an UBER LONG PAPER (or maybe not so long, but very time consuming) paper for my New Testament class at school.  I decided to study the topic of the Kingdom of Heaven and what it originally meant.  To sum it up real quick, I learned that the Jews and the disciples knew what Jesus meant when he said "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven/God is here!" He was saying that God, King of all creation, has finally come to live among men and rule and reign and take back the deed to the earth the Devil had stolen from humanity.  He was also saying that the Hope of Israel was fulfilled, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4).  I learned that the Kingdom of Heaven was not a place that you go to, but instead is a reference to the reign of God among men and a "renewed" earth for all of eternity.  That's right, a "renewed" earth.  The Bible doesn't really say anything about angels carrying us up to heaven to sit on clouds with Him all day to get harp lessons, wear white dresses, and wear shiny metal frisbees on our heads (or maybe my childhood perception of heaven was all wrong). No, the disciples saw eternity as something way different and way more exciting.  Eternity with God in this "Kingdom" where the Messiah and God are one and his people will reign along with Him as kings and priests of the Most High God (Yup!  We'll be little Melchizedeks!).  Jesus, the Jews (or Pharisees really), and the disciples talked of a place where we no longer have to be victims of our world, but instead we will be victors over our world.  Peter in 2 Peter 3:3-14 talks of the world having been destroyed by fire.  But, when a person digs deep and reads the original Greek, he'll find that the world isn't really destroyed. It's just purified.  Like it was refined.

So the Kingdom of Heaven is a place that's here, now, in the present and very real.  I really wanted to get deep on my paper and say that to the early Christians, making the Kingdom of Heaven possible meant war with the devil.  Ironically, to the true believers, comfort with the world systems and all was not satisfying to them.  To the contrary, the pain and suffering they endured filled them with joy, because they fully believed that God would "renew" (ie:resurrect) their sinful bodies into really awesome non-breakable/indestructible bodies that would kick the devils butt in the very near future.  After they kick the devil's butt off the face of this earth, they fully believed that they would be the ones to advance the Kingdom full force and finish the work that was begun 2,000 years ago in a small area of the world called Judea.

This sudden bravery and courage was obviously something that the Christians couldn't have come up with on their own.  If they did, the effect would only last for a hot second and then (since we're all human) it would have died out.  The difference is that the early Christians had something no other person in the history of mankind had before.  That is: the Holy Spirit.  Remember the very message of the Kingdom of Heaven?  God's spirit dwelling among men!   The Everlasting Spirit filled up the souls of a small body of believers and spread through the entire world like wildfire!  This same Spirit which filled up these people can never die.  The early Christians knew that their own spirits were dead.  They were dead ever since they've been born (born into slavery to sin and the devil).  So to be filled with a Spirit that is alive and can never be killed for all eternity is REALLY AWESOME!!! Knowing that they were filled with something immortal and knowing that they would one day rise to be immortal with the Lord meant some really awesome stuff to the Christians.  Stuff that they would be willing to die for.  That's why history talks of early Christians who whistled a happy tune as they marched to their martyrdom.  They had somehow found a point where they had aligned their spirit, mind, and bodies up with God's Spirit, and then completely allowed Him to work radical things in them so that they could fulfill God's ultimate goal: make the world at one with Him again.

K.  So I said all that to say this:  WHEN YOU HAVE THIS UNDERSTANDING, THE LORD'S PRAYER TAKES ON A WHOLE DIFFERENT MEANING.  You know the Lord's prayer:

Our Father,

Which art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation

And deliver us from the evil one

For thine is the Kingdom 

And the Power,

And the glory,

Forever. 

Amen.

K. So read that once.  Read it twice.  Read it three times over.  See anything cryptic going on?  Or at least some type of pattern here?  Jesus' mission was what?  To preach the Kingdom of Heaven to all the world (Luke 4:43), right?  Ok.  So if Jesus was thinking really only about his mission here on the earth, for like, Lord knows, maybe all day long, don't you think he'd pray about it?  Read the first half of the prayer up to "heaven".  Isn't this Jesus' mission on the earth?  "Bring what we've got in heaven here on this earth/make us one with You".  (Same centuries old prayer of the Jews, here!) Second part! (And most exciting part!) Instructions for...God?  "Give us food everyday (ie: provide for all our needs). Help me get my vertical relationships right (ie: God and Jesus), so I can get my horizontal relationships (ie: all the people in my life) right.  And lastly, give us discernment and set us free from the devil. When all that's in order," Jesus seems to say, "then Your Kingdom, O Lord, has taken over my life.  And now I am a full citizen of Your Kingdom...completely submitted to Your power and glory. And we'll be one.  Forever. Amen."

Doesn't that add, like, a completely new twist to things??? Like seriously!  Prayer is no longer about my selfish desires any more!  Yes, God will provide everything, but can't you see that once we take on a mentality that God's got it all under control and that He's willing to get everything in order for us, we really don't have to pray long and hard about it?  We can see that in the second half, Jesus highlights every important aspect of our lives: our personal life, our social, and our spiritual life.  God's the Boss.  We just gotta let Him be Boss. By sharing this master prayer, we can see that it's totally about redeeming the world on which my two feet stand upon for God so we can all be bffls (best friends for life, for those who didn't know what that meant) again with Him!  That's all God's wanted from the beginning of time, and now He's showed me that He's here on earth, walking and living among thousands upon thousands of people, and HE'S REVERSING THE CURSE! Like really reversing the curse!  His question to all humanity is, "Do you wanna join me?  Do you wanna kick some Devil-butt? Do you wanna become bffls and know that though your body may take a bullet, Ezekiel 37 (the dry-bones prophesy) applies to ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE??? If you do, then believe the prayer and submit (fancy word for shut up, listen, learn and apply it to your life) to my master plan.  When you do, the Kingdom of Heaven will spread even further around the earth, and we'll all be one step closer to being together forever here on earth."

So that was my cool "Moabite Moment" of the day.  DO YOU SEE HOW WONDERFULLY AWESOME THIS REVELATION IS???  I hope you do. This stuff that God's sharing with me is like, I don't know, atomic stuff.  You know? If you get too close, you might catch God-radiation, which'll stay with you for the rest of your life.  Just sayin'.

Mile Marker 1

So I'm here in life.  I am at a place of contentment, confusion, a lot of contemplation, long-suffering impatience and the like.  This entire semester has really been one heck of a roller coaster for me.  Honestly...how much can a girl take???  While I'm still reeling from an entire semester abroad in the Middle East and amazed that I came back home safely before that dear place blew up like an unexpected time bomb , I was sent for a psychological semester of refinding myself in this nation, this school, and this body of mine. Who am I?  Who am I now? Who will I be?  Those three questions sent me tossing and turning all Spring semester.  It's true.  I came back from Jordan in "moratorium".  I had fulfilled my dream: all I wanted was to see the place with my own eyes and one day write about it.  But I didn't even know if I wanted to write about it.  I didn't know what I wanted to do... Without a dream, I'm like a car driving without a destination.  I was lost and suddenly felt very small, alone, and very apathetic in a very big world.  My being an International Studies major, a musician, a writer, and many other things on top of these really did not help my situation either.  I was stuck and I felt like nothing could be worse.

Unfortunately, the fact was it could get worse.  And it did.  My body, literally, stopped functioning well.  My brain lost all track of time.  I was forgetting everything: eating, sleeping, due dates, meetings, etc.  And the worst part of it was that I didn't really care.  I was hitting depression and finding myself frustrated about everything in my life.  I'm currently a Resident Assistant.  My job was on the line because even though I was a good RA, I wasn't being a good "me".  I finally reached my breaking point after I had visited the counselor about my problems.  I was sitting on my chair in my room and listened quietly to worship music.  I was taken at how accurate Pandora is for every situation I am going through.  I eventually stared at the ceiling as I always do and said out loud, "God, what's wrong with me?  Why can't I seem to get this right?"  I rested my head back and closed my eyes.  As I listened to the softly playing worship music, my heart began to hear the familiar voice of my dearest Friend from my youth.  "You know what your problem is?"
"What's my problem, God?"  I love to hear His voice.  He often sounds so playful and nonchalant when He talks to me.
"Your problem is your thoughts!  That's your problem!  I mean, really?  Do you ever hear Me complaining about 'Oh...I'm going through this...' and  'Oh...I'm going through that...' and 'Oh...its just so hard to be happy today! If only I had this...'?"
I smiled and could guess what He was leading on to. "Um, no, God.  I don't really ever hear You complaining at all."
"Hmm.  Interesting.  Do you know why?"
"No.  Why?"
"Cuz I'm too busy thinking about you and how to make you happy, silly!"

I paused when He said that.  What?  He doesn't complain because He's too busy thinking about me?  "I mean," He continued, "If I thought only about Myself and My problems (oh and I could go on and on about all of MY PROBLEMS), and you only thought about yourself and all of your problems...don't you think this relationship would be kind of lonely?" I never really thought of it that way, but He did have a point.

"I mean, really, Brittany.  Let's think about it.  Did you ever wonder why I made marriage the way I made it?  Like with the whole controversial submit and love each other commandments and all?  I did that so that people wouldn't be lonely anymore!  Like really!  In a truly wonderful relationship, the husband's body is not his own and the wife's body is not her own.  They belong to each other.  So the wife belongs to the husband and the husband belongs to the wife, and the two will become ONE!  That's all I want with you.  So I'm doing my part and giving you all of Myself.  My only concern is your well-being.  You keep complaining that you're not happy.  That's because you don't really know what'll make you happy.  I know what will make you happy, and I want to do everything in my power to make you happy...but YOU'VE GOTTA TRUST ME!!!" I let His words wash over me like the waves of the sea.  They were so tender and loving.  So warm, so pure.  And yet so sandy.  I could feel Him working on my heart, making it smoother and softer, and more receptive to what He was saying.

"The only thing is," His voice went quiet, "I'm kind of lonely too.  Very lonely actually.  This relationship would run a lot smoother if you thought about Me more often.  You know?  Like, I know it's a little difficult for you to just stop your business, drop everything and think only of Me for the rest of time, but just a little time is all I'm asking.  And who knows?  Down the road, you'll get so good at thinking about Me that it will all be effortless.  You'll be thinking about Me all day long and you didn't know it.  I love you so much, Brittany.  No, actually I'm in love with you. I'm so in love with you, it's impossible for Me to fall out of love with you.  I've got only your best interests at heart, but in order to make all your dreams come true, I'm gonna need you to work with Me.  I need you to make Me your dream and follow me wherever I lead you.  We two are a dance team.  I'm the leader, and you're my partner.  I'll guide you and you'll swing with the commands I make with my hands.  Together we'll wow to the world. But what I need you to do is submit.  Trust me..."

The voice on the other end of the line got quiet, and I just sat there...speechless.  From that point on, God has seriously been moving and working in my life.  He has been revealing to me little snippets of what will make me happy and what won't.  He's shown me and is still showing me how to fall in love with myself again and to follow my passions once more. Because of this whole situation, I have had to make some very big decisions, like resigning from my job as an RA and allowing more time for myself.  I've been taking more time to think about Him too, and I feel 10 times happier because of it.

I'm now somewhat excited for my future.  I'm preparing for an intense summer with God.  I've accepted the offer from CCO to join them and our school's staff worker, Greg Sovereign, in a huge project called Ocean City Beach Project.  Here I'll be immersed in the Word, while working among full-time in a worldly atmosphere.  I'll learn essential leadership skills needed for campus ministry when I get back, and most of all, a firmer foundation on the relationship God and I had built years ago.

I'll be posting my thoughts and little pieces of "stardust" throughout the summer here.  So please enjoy. 

I think I've made one small move in the right direction.  I feel like this is a good place to put a marker in my life and cherish it for all time.