all eyes on God (secret epic post 2)

yesterday, we had our very first OU Epic event, an Epic Christmas Party (pun intended). we threw it together at the last minute, invited a lot of people, and saw surprising results. i want to write and sound like i know what was going on and what was happening, but really, i can't. i want to say we had it planned down to a T since the very beginning and we knew exactly what we were doing, but i'm not sure anyone had the slightest idea.

peter (cofounder) and i stepped into a group of freshmen Asians. we started hanging out a lot, which was, in itself, an answer to one of my prayers - just to feel like i belonged in a group and to have that kind of community. maybe half are Christian and half aren't. but we became friends, and the result was that we could have a party and they would come, because we are all friends.

one of the girls in the group is pretty phenomenal at guitar and singing and seems to have her heart in the right place, so she ended up playing worship for us. and then i was going to speak. it was only supposed to be like a two hour event, at peter's apartment, so we got together and ate and played games for like the first hour. when i showed up, there were more people than i expected. the projection was 10-15 people, but we were actually pushing 20, some people who i didn't know at all. i was admittedly getting nervous, and things seemed a bit unorganized.

but we went and prayed and God seemed to give me words for prayer, and then we played a game and did worship, and i guess i began to feel more confident that it was God and not me. and i felt like i had words. i just told my testimony and why i believed in God and that i didn't want to be cocky or arrogant. i guess my main point was that i believe in God because i'm not good enough, and God knows it, but He doesn't see me that way. He loves me and treats me like i am, but both He and i know that i don't deserve it. i talked with more liberty than i usually do, and i was able to speak that way to a group that i don't think was primarily Christian.

at the end, i guess i felt kind of good. i had some people say that they wanted to grab lunch sometime and others asking if we could keep them posted about Epic events.

regardless if i can feel good about all of it, all eyes still on God. must remain sober...

anyways, that's what's been going on. we've picked up a couple more people and some more interest, and we're wading through the paperwork to be a university-recognized organization. we'll be trying to get people to the central Epic conference in Dallas in February, and starting up maybe another small group next semester, with events every now and then. but yeah, praise God. i cannot wait to see some of you guys in a little more than a month in San Francisco and to see your love and passion again and hear your stories.

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an update about my dad - after project, i wanted to change things with my relationship with my dad. i ended up getting really frustrated and wanting to give up, so college was a nice getaway. a while after i left, my dad seemed to be getting better, going to church every now and then. it was funny to me because it wasn't me, but God working. then things hit some lows. my dad ended up in the hospital for a week, and after a couple of days, in the hospital again for two more weeks. it was mainly because he hadn't been taking his meds and was trying to run away from home, saying that our house wasn't safe. the plan was that he would end up in something like a nursing home, an hour away from home. the second time he was in the hospital, they started giving him new meds. the day he got out, my mom went to go drop him off at the nursing home, but she wouldn't leave him there because of the conditions or something. and then, my dad just started getting better. it wasn't supposed to happen, and i wasn't expecting it to, but God is God.

went home for thanksgiving break and my dad did some things i didn't see coming. he would sit down and have conversation with me, make himself food and eat regular meals, go out with us to lunch, and actually intentionally try to be more social and active in our family. he would go to church and keep taking his meds, and he would go to sleep at like 8 when he usually didn't sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning. he was like a new man.

so, yeah :) that's what's been going on at home.

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thanks for reading. God is good. all eyes on Him.