Would you like a blow pop?...

"I think it'd be cool if RUF became known as the 'blow pop' ministry." -- Anne Kendrick

That wish might just come true. Two times makes a tradition, and for the second week in a row, my fellow intern Anne Kendrick and I have stood out on UT's busy Pedestrian Walkway passing out free blow pops to passing pedestrians (how's that for alliteration?). Of course, attached to each tasty piece of fruity sugar-coated bubble-gum on a stick is information about RUF and an invitation to large group.

For one thing, this is a fascinating social experiment. All it takes is 2 or 3 people in a row to accept our offer, and before you know it, the whole passing crowd is grabbing a blow pop like we're passing out free iPhones. But on the other hand...should a few people decline, you'd think we were trying to hand out angry crustaceans. My favorites are the ones who don't even make eye contact and act as if they don't see you, but they walk by very very slowly. We take the hint and as they've almost passed by, we ask "would you like a blow pop?" All of sudden, the fog lifts. "what? oh...i didn't even see you there. why yes. Yes i would! Thank you!"

Every once in a while someone will stop and talk with us. Of course, we often get the "RUF? you mean the African rebel army that uses child soldiers?" question, but we also get people who are genuinely interested and want to know more. One such guy who stopped to talk with us yesterday for a few minutes found out we were interns, and he asked, "So...this is your job?"

Yes. Yes, it is. All in a day's work. haha.

I feel like there could be some deeper application to be pulled from the whole blow pop story, but I can't think of anything right now. So I'll settle for leaving it as a halfway-entertaining anecdote.

In other news, we had our first Sunday Night Fellowship on...well...Sunday night. SNF is a Tennessee RUF tradition. RUF has been on Tennessee's campus now for 20 years, and for all 20 years, David and Martha Reynolds have hosted Sunday Night Fellowship at their home here in Sequoyah Hills. Every Sunday night, somewhere between 100 and 120 hungry college students pile into the Reynolds' house, a house that has undergone 2 different renovations in order to better accommodate SNF. Every Sunday night, Martha makes enough casseroles to feed the crowd (this week: sausage, egg, and cheese casserole with fresh homemade biscuits). It blew my mind to see SNF in action, and it gave me such an appreciation for the dedication this family has to both the minstry of RUF and to biblical hospitality. We had 130 students show up for the first SNF this year, and you just can't have that many students in your house each week without some wear and tear! But they joyfullycontinue, week after week, and they love it. This is an inspiration to me. SNF means a lot to the students. After a week of living on an impersonal, functional campus with either cafeteria food or store-bought prepackaged goods, being able to relax and fellowship in a real home with real homecooked food is such a blessing.

Below are pictures from Sunday night. After the meal, there is always some singing and brief devotion. In the top picture, you are only seeing a small portion of the crowd. Behind the camera, the kitchen was also filled with students (a few even sitting up on the kitchen island), to the right there is another parlor area filled with students, and the room off to the left served as overflow as well. The picture below just gives a small taste of the beautiful chaos that SNF can be.

Having another great week of meeting with students and living the intern life. I'm still trying to adjust to this whole responsible-adult thing, but with God's grace, I'm getting there.

Looking forward to the Tennessee-Florida game this weekend! At least I can agree with my orange friends on ONE thing! ;-)

Thank you for your prayers. Keep them coming! Things are going well, but there are still plenty of struggles along the way and insecurities to continue dealing with.

Resting in His promises,

Stephen