Amber & Mike Part II
My sophomore year came to a close and so did my contact with Amber. We had maintained an acquaintance within Crusade but were not really close friends. She went home for the summer and I stayed in Gainesville for school.
I was fairly busy with classes, but found time to continue working with Crusade in a much smaller group. We all became pretty close during those few months and, of course, did our normal collection of outreaches and weekly meetings. One of the girls in the group was a girl named Kristen who happened to be a friend of Amber. Kristen was a classic Crusade sorority girl. She was incredibly "peppy", almost annoyingly so in some ways. But she was an attractive girl and had one of those personalities that made you feel that you were one of the most important people in her life. I developed a little crush on Kristen that summer, but as was my usual course of action, I pretty much kept it to myself.
Fall landed with a bang as I began my first year of engineering school. I recall that Fall being the single busiest semester of my college career. I was taking 15 hours, juggling studying and Crusade activities, and of course, Gator football. My pursuit of Kristen continued, but I was running into familiar walls. She was busier than myself, so any opportunities to see her were few and far between. Also, it was obvious that there was the usual disconnect in our conversations that I had experienced with other girls. But yet I continued looking to be around her almost in spite of what I knew to be a hopeless case. Towards the end of the semester I was exhausted – tired of school, tired of Crusade activities, and tired of girls.
Most of Crusade at the time was attending a local Evangelical Free church on Sundays. It’s hysterical how low and reductionistic my view of church was at the time. This was a nice church in my view, but their worship team lacked considerably. My brother, who is three years my senior, and a few of his friends started to go to this little church called the Vineyard which met in a dollar theater. They had worship we were more accustomed to, good preaching, and were more Charismatic-leaning which had been our family church background. Our church shopping was over! Blech! Anyway, pretty soon about ten of us “rebels” from the Crusade status quo were going to the Vineyard on Sundays - worshipping with our hands up, tuning into prophetic words, and learning how to pray for the sick. Radical stuff!
Kristen and Amber were part of this group. The timeline at this point is a bit fuzzy, but somewhere around Thanksgiving, I was reaching the end of my patience with the Kristen ordeal. I resolved to confront her and come to some decision about the next step. One evening, I called her and asked if I could come over to her apartment. She lived on the east side of campus with a few other girls, and Amber lived about 10 doors down from her with roommates of her own. That night, I asked Kristen if she had any interest in taking our friendship further to which she said, in a sorority girl kind of way, forget about it. I was sad and relieved all at the same time. Afterwards, I walked by Amber’s apartment and knocked to see who was home. Amber answered the door and we talked for a while. I don’t remember much about the content of our conversation, but I do remember feeling comforted when I drove home. More than anything else, I appreciated her availability and understanding. She was able to see through the facade I had built up around Kristen and solidly confirm that we were not compatible people.
Over the next few weeks, Amber and I became friends. I was drawn to that no-nonsense attitude about things and people, particularly as Crusade had developed its fair share of cliques. In early December, I invited her out to dinner as a way of saying thanks for helping me sort through the stuff with Kristen and as an excuse to hang out. We went to the Olive Garden, everyone’s favorite Italian restaurant if you’re low on cash. We sat down and chit-chatted for a while...then I asked her about her summer missions trip.
Amber had taken a trip to the Czech Republic with Operation Mobilization. It had obviously been a life-changing event, but no one in Crusade knew much of the details. OM, like many missionary groups that organize short term projects, is a melting pot for young, zealous Christians. During their orientation in Germany, Amber was thrown in with people from all over Europe representing every ecclesiological stripe. She had grown up in a very conservative evangelical church and was fresh off a year with an equally conservative campus ministry. When her team members began talking about speaking in tongues, casting out demons, being baptized in the Holy Spirit and the like, Amber almost blew a gasket. Fairly soon, she had about 50 European neo-charismatics praying for her to be introduced to the power of the Spirit. Very shortly, some “things” began to happen. These were unmentionable things in the world of Campus Crusade, so we spoke in hushed tones over salad and breadsticks. Stories of angels, demonic activity, prophetic words and prayer, etc. etc. I was spellbound. After her story, I remarked that there was much I could relate to from my past and much I was yearning to return. She was visibly relieved that I was not going to tell her that she was crazy and end up reporting her to Crusade staff. We were both enjoying what we were learning in the Vineyard and agreed to continue that pursuit.
But something greater happened at that table that night. There was a spark that was lit in me towards Amber that I remember to this day. She trusted me with something very dear and intimate and I was grateful for that window into her heart. I liked what I saw there. Through exams, our conversations increased and we spent many nights talking on the phone. Our friendship grew, but Christmas break was about to send us apart. So I did something daring (and totally unlike myself). I asked her if she wanted to ride home with me so her parents would not have to drive all the way to Gainesville to pick her up. That trip eventually didn’t work out, but the ubiquitous Crusade Atlanta Christmas Conference was rapidly approaching.
Amber would be there. I would be there.
Stay tuned.
I was fairly busy with classes, but found time to continue working with Crusade in a much smaller group. We all became pretty close during those few months and, of course, did our normal collection of outreaches and weekly meetings. One of the girls in the group was a girl named Kristen who happened to be a friend of Amber. Kristen was a classic Crusade sorority girl. She was incredibly "peppy", almost annoyingly so in some ways. But she was an attractive girl and had one of those personalities that made you feel that you were one of the most important people in her life. I developed a little crush on Kristen that summer, but as was my usual course of action, I pretty much kept it to myself.
Fall landed with a bang as I began my first year of engineering school. I recall that Fall being the single busiest semester of my college career. I was taking 15 hours, juggling studying and Crusade activities, and of course, Gator football. My pursuit of Kristen continued, but I was running into familiar walls. She was busier than myself, so any opportunities to see her were few and far between. Also, it was obvious that there was the usual disconnect in our conversations that I had experienced with other girls. But yet I continued looking to be around her almost in spite of what I knew to be a hopeless case. Towards the end of the semester I was exhausted – tired of school, tired of Crusade activities, and tired of girls.
Most of Crusade at the time was attending a local Evangelical Free church on Sundays. It’s hysterical how low and reductionistic my view of church was at the time. This was a nice church in my view, but their worship team lacked considerably. My brother, who is three years my senior, and a few of his friends started to go to this little church called the Vineyard which met in a dollar theater. They had worship we were more accustomed to, good preaching, and were more Charismatic-leaning which had been our family church background. Our church shopping was over! Blech! Anyway, pretty soon about ten of us “rebels” from the Crusade status quo were going to the Vineyard on Sundays - worshipping with our hands up, tuning into prophetic words, and learning how to pray for the sick. Radical stuff!
Kristen and Amber were part of this group. The timeline at this point is a bit fuzzy, but somewhere around Thanksgiving, I was reaching the end of my patience with the Kristen ordeal. I resolved to confront her and come to some decision about the next step. One evening, I called her and asked if I could come over to her apartment. She lived on the east side of campus with a few other girls, and Amber lived about 10 doors down from her with roommates of her own. That night, I asked Kristen if she had any interest in taking our friendship further to which she said, in a sorority girl kind of way, forget about it. I was sad and relieved all at the same time. Afterwards, I walked by Amber’s apartment and knocked to see who was home. Amber answered the door and we talked for a while. I don’t remember much about the content of our conversation, but I do remember feeling comforted when I drove home. More than anything else, I appreciated her availability and understanding. She was able to see through the facade I had built up around Kristen and solidly confirm that we were not compatible people.
Over the next few weeks, Amber and I became friends. I was drawn to that no-nonsense attitude about things and people, particularly as Crusade had developed its fair share of cliques. In early December, I invited her out to dinner as a way of saying thanks for helping me sort through the stuff with Kristen and as an excuse to hang out. We went to the Olive Garden, everyone’s favorite Italian restaurant if you’re low on cash. We sat down and chit-chatted for a while...then I asked her about her summer missions trip.
Amber had taken a trip to the Czech Republic with Operation Mobilization. It had obviously been a life-changing event, but no one in Crusade knew much of the details. OM, like many missionary groups that organize short term projects, is a melting pot for young, zealous Christians. During their orientation in Germany, Amber was thrown in with people from all over Europe representing every ecclesiological stripe. She had grown up in a very conservative evangelical church and was fresh off a year with an equally conservative campus ministry. When her team members began talking about speaking in tongues, casting out demons, being baptized in the Holy Spirit and the like, Amber almost blew a gasket. Fairly soon, she had about 50 European neo-charismatics praying for her to be introduced to the power of the Spirit. Very shortly, some “things” began to happen. These were unmentionable things in the world of Campus Crusade, so we spoke in hushed tones over salad and breadsticks. Stories of angels, demonic activity, prophetic words and prayer, etc. etc. I was spellbound. After her story, I remarked that there was much I could relate to from my past and much I was yearning to return. She was visibly relieved that I was not going to tell her that she was crazy and end up reporting her to Crusade staff. We were both enjoying what we were learning in the Vineyard and agreed to continue that pursuit.
But something greater happened at that table that night. There was a spark that was lit in me towards Amber that I remember to this day. She trusted me with something very dear and intimate and I was grateful for that window into her heart. I liked what I saw there. Through exams, our conversations increased and we spent many nights talking on the phone. Our friendship grew, but Christmas break was about to send us apart. So I did something daring (and totally unlike myself). I asked her if she wanted to ride home with me so her parents would not have to drive all the way to Gainesville to pick her up. That trip eventually didn’t work out, but the ubiquitous Crusade Atlanta Christmas Conference was rapidly approaching.
Amber would be there. I would be there.
Stay tuned.
posted by Mike Bishop at 9:07 PM
5 Comments:
oh yeah, CCC Christmas Conference, othrwise known as the CCC hook-up conference, or was that summer project. I can't really remember. What I do remember is being ticked off that you came to hang out with me after having the door shut in your face by Kristen, who at the time happened to be one of my closest friends. I was like "Dude, get a life!" But then we started talking about God and the kingdom and all of the stuff that really attracted me to you. I was at a crossroads, my pride wanted to keep shutting you out because of your stupid girl stuff but my heart really liked the real you and the fact that you actually thought about God in a different way then most of the other Crusade guys I knew. Your lucky I even went on a second date after I asked you if you wanted to be a missionary and you said "no". I thought "I'll give you another chance to actually ask God if you where supposed to be a missionary instead of assuming that you should not." Lucky for you, now we have 3 amazing kids! That is all the mission field I'll ever need:-)
But starting a church IS being a missionary. I can't find any difference at all, except for locational criteria, which I think is the worst part of foreign missions.
Embedded Culture is like that lazy river they have at water parks, which you can swim against for a while, but it keeps right on going.
Spending 20 years in a different country just to get to point where you are accepted in context is a daunting thing, starting a church where you live skips all that.
I'm a believer in your chosen mission field.
Thanks Mac. I am daily grateful for the way God has lead Mike and I into our calling here in a place that I "understand" culturally. My statement about kids being a mission field was not intended to belittle what God has called us to do with church but mearly a deeper understanding that being elbow high in dirty diapers, and immersing our children into the way of Christ is about as radical as you can get. I didn't need to go off to Paupa New Guinea to radically follow Jesus and point others into that radical comitment. I just need to be where I am at. We miss you all. How are the new digs?
It is fun to walk with you down memory lane as many of us approach our 10 yr. anniv. It is also fun to hear your side of the story. There were several other crushes that year, one that worked, and one that didn't--thank God for both outcomes. ;)
I can't remember how Amber and I became friends, but I do remember an intense moment of prayer in my hotel room the night you two started talking about a relationship.
I sure am glad I didn't know that I was considered part of the "rebel group" for going to Vineyard. As a freshman I was ignorant of the conservative vs. charismatic issue you mentioned. I thought we were a happy, little interdenominational group.
Thanks for helping me to remember how my marriage began too. :)
Happy 10th to all of us, and Kim and T too!
Hey friends!
I'm using T's login :)
I am enjoying your's and Amber's story. I know I've heard it all before, but it nice to read your side. I love it when I hear T sharing his side of our story. It's great to see this side of you Mike. Happy 10th to us all!! I'm blessed to have you as wonderful, long-time friends and I'm looking forward to the next 10 years!
Love, Kim F
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