Oasis of LIGHT in the DARK!

24h velo 2006 078.jpgThat’s what it felt like; that’s what it was described as….once the preliminary daylight fanfare and children’s activities were finished. The river of alcohol ran freely and the single-minded sense of throwing off all inhibitions followed its course.

But to jog your memory a bit, I’m talking about the presence of our Students for Christ group in the annual 24 hour folkloric bike race on the university in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. The opportunity to proclaim a clear message was ours and we seized it. From our transformation of the “Intel Inside” logo to that of “Jesus Inside” plastered on the microchip-like side of our bike to the one-on-one surveys with student passersby, we worked with another local Christian group on campus to be a true oasis of light where much spiritual darkness was rampant during that 24 hour window of time.

A few posts ago, we asked you to pray…

  1. for divine opportunities…check! We had them.
  2. For protection on equipment and personnel…check! No accidents nor stolen or defaced property.
  3. For connection with new students…check! Two new students visited our SFC group after the event, saying they were looking for a Christian gathering on campus.
  4. For unity of believers….check! One of our smoothest running years yet and encouraging relationship building.
  5. For God’s Spirit to speak directly to certain hearts…check! As our students shared, God’s eternal words were be deposited in the human heart…an awesome thing to behold.

Now it’s our turn to say “merci beaucoup” for your help in this evangelism and discipleship effort we call Students for Christ-Belgium.

On a more somber note however, in the morning of the second day when the race was abruptly terminated by the organizers, we learned that in the wee hours of the night, a 20 year old student had plunged to his death from a 6 meter (two stories high) platform in an alcohol-related homicide.

If only we’d had an opportunity to talk with Matthieu, who knows, maybe we could have prevented such an entrance into eternity. We thus, underscore the necessity of being the oasis that can’t be found in a bottle.

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For more pics, click here.