Cultures

During this summer on Conference Services staff, we had a lot of interesting groups come in. One of my favorites was the Indian Brethren Fellowship. For some reason, Indian Brethren made me think Native American (or First People or whatever the politically correct term is nowadays). I was surprised indeed to walk into Baldwin amidst a sea of sarees.

All pre-conceived notions aside though, this was one of my favorite weeks. First of all, we got to use golf carts to shuttle them around. I love driving golf carts (brings back lots of good high school memories on the golf course with my best friends and my father). Secondly, I got to have a lot of interesting conversations with them. They all loved the fact that I was majoring in mathematics and computer software (go figure..... :-)  ).  

I was also witnessed to several times because the people "just wanted to make sure" everyone around them knew about Jesus. At night, they would all sit together and just exchange stories about their lives over the past year and how God had been working. We had to kick them out of the student Center every night.

This aspect of their culture is something I wish ours had. It seems to me that we are way to busy. Sitting is seen as being lazy or boring. We need to be doing something in order to be having a "good" or "successful" day. We forget the importance of the people in our lives and begin to focus on the things. God definitely used this group to challenge how I interacted with those around me and reevaluate where I focus my energy and attention.