I am fascinated by Alyssa (not her real name). She has been coming to CA for a year now, but she has yet to make a decision to follow Jesus. She comes form a Buddhist background, but her family would be better described as non-religious.
Alyssa started coming to CA because her roommate invited her to come. There is no doubt she was a bit confused by her first exposure to Christianity. She was sure she did not believe what we believed (she told us that), but she kept coming anyway. It wasn't long into the school year that we discovered that Alyssa would come to the weekly meeting even when her roommate did not.
There is a reason for that. Alyssa was accepted for who she was without judgment. She came into the meeting each week and found a group of people that just plain liked her for who she was. There has never been a demand for her to be a Christian in order to belong.
Amazingly, Alyssa came to Infusion, CA's spiritually intensive retreat at the end of the school year. What has become seared into my memory is a picture of a smiling Alyssa carrying her Bible and notebook as she headed off to a scheduled alone time with God. I have been wondering what her conversations with God were like during Infusion.
I have not been privy to them for good reason. But I do know this. If Alyssa seeks God, she will find Him.
And she will find a community this coming Fall that will love her no matter what.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5.1-2 ESV
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