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ivstaff_binghamton
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Name: Carrie
Country: United States
State: New York
Metro: Binghamton
Gender: Female
Interests: Earl Grey, good essays on Christian participation in art and culture, interesting conversation on mundane car rides, volunteering in the campus food co-op, a good soup, InterVarsity's mission and vision, international travel, homemade Indian food
Expertise: Messing with student minds, talking confidently about subjects I don't know much about. I have recently taken up embroidery, but I wouldn't claim 'expertise.' Not yet, that is!
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
11/17/2004
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| NYC Alumni Service Opportunity!Hey there! For those of you in New York City, check out this great opportunity with World Vision and InterVarsity:
InterVarsity Alumni -
New York would like to invite you to our second event this summer - a
service project with the Storehouse of World Vision. The
Storehouse is currently having a Backpack Drive in hopes of
distributing more than 7,500 backpacks and zippered binders filled
with basic school supplies to give to children in need throughout
NYC. You can be a part of that by volunteering a few hours to
help compile some of these backpacks. Here are the details to
the service project:
Date: Saturday, August
4th
Time: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Location:
The Storehouse at Worldvision, 900 East 136th Street, Bronx,
NY
RSVP at:
http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/jennifereyu@gmail.com/ivanserviceproject
Also, check out our website at www.ivcfnyc.org/alumni
to find out about other events for this summer!
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| Basileia 2007  (most of the crazy Binghamton crew)
I had lunch with a student yesterday and we talked a bit
about Basileia, in what was an encouraging conversation for me.
She said that all semester she has been hearing that we want
to be about seeing students and faculty transformed, the campus renewed, and
world changers developed. She said she
became torn – for someone just looking for a safe place, a youth group, that
isn’t a safe direction to head. That
kind of purpose and vision seemed audacious.
 (pam and janahlee)
Through the spring, she realized how much potential exists
within our group, even while being disappointed in how we were squandering
it. She started to think that maybe she
was crazy, but we actually could be a group asking God for big things.
Two important things happened for her at Basileia:
1) She was affirmed – she was told that her discontent
with the status quo and her desire for change wasn’t crazy! She met other people who wanted the same
things for their campuses.
2) She was equipped (her words). We were not only trusting God with a big vision, but we also wanted her to have the tools to pursue it. She felt like she walked away with greater
vision and practical skills.
Basileia means ‘kingdom.”
This students’ experience is just what I hope Basileia is – a week to enlarge the vision of what it
means to be ambassadors of the Kingdom
of God on campus, and to
equip students with the tools they need to cooperate with God to see his
purposes lived out. She was one of 19 Binghamton students at
Basileia this year. I am thankful.
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At the slender open throat of
morning glories
hear the buzz buzz buzz
of drunken bees
wondering at their unpopularity
as, bewildered, they go about
the business of buzzing and being,
bringing forth
fruit from stubborn trees
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| Broken FamiliesTonight I spoke at InterVarsity. I agreed to it in January, and then it promptly flew out of my head, as things are apt to do.
The topic was an important question: Where is God when my family is broken?
I had scheduled a retreat day yesterday and couldn't really work on the talk much, and I feared I had mistreated this important topic, so I had no choice but to release it and its outcome to God during my prayer day. You would all hope I would have released it before the crisis point, but no, apparently I thrive on miserable drama.
SoI went into tonight nervous, knowing it would not be the best talk I've ever given, but also thinking that God would use it in some way. Someone told me that I kept turning red while speaking (thank you Scottish heritage), which I think happens when my emotions are close to the surface.
Many of us have brokenness in our families, and some have a LOT. I think at the least, God used tonight as a catalyst for people to start talking to and praying for each other. I hope he continues to work in deeper and significant ways. I got to pray with a woman with a difficult family situation, and I thought about how Jesus must care so much.
I used the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as our model for a messed up family (gosh they were dysfunctional) but also one through whom God gave blessing and provision. I have hope for us.
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| Virginia Tech
As I listen and
read breaking news and commentary, finding the same stories, I wonder how Binghamton students are
feeling in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.
At a daily prayer
meeting on campus I half-expected to see more, but it was just the usual
Tuesday crowd. Are we praying? I have been surprised by my own reaction – in
the face of national or world tragedy I am often sad or prayerful, but it doesn’t
enter my day in a palpable way. I have
an ability to focus on what is in front of me in the moment, but yesterday I
found myself preoccupied and a little bit anxious.
Perhaps it’s
because this happened on a college campus.
Knowing there is an InterVarsity chapter there, I think of them as my students. Maybe it’s because the shooter was Asian
American – I fear that my students will feel deeper sorrow and shame in that
common identity. I fear the media
enforcing frustrating or hurtful Asian stereotypes in their coverage.
I have found wisdom
in the words of some of my colleagues.
One has issued a call to lament. I am too quick to fix and too slow to cry out
to God, not with answers but with anguish and grief, trusting his grief to run
deeper.
One reminded us
that many campuses around the world experience violence against students a
common experience (even at the hands of their own governments), and encouraged
us to pray in solidarity with them.
Who can make
sense? Grace and peace be us all today.
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