Something Bigger- Whispers in the Stairwell

Smiling, I said goodbye to the girls I’d gone to Jewel with. The door to the West hall clicked closed and Houghton 2 fell silent- almost. A girl sat at the piano on the opposite side of the room, next to the door to the stairs. As I walked closer I saw what she was playing- “God of This City” by Chris Tomlin. When she heard my footsteps, she turned her head and I smiled at her before slipping into the North staircase. Laden with a grocery bag full of ingredients for pumpkin muffins, I walked slowly up to the third floor where I live. But something made me pause as I reached the landing.

In that tiled, echoing staircase, piano and voice were rising from Houghton 2. “Greater things are yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city…” And suddenly there rose in my mind a single thought, almost as clear as if someone had whispered it to me: Something bigger than myself. I am part of something bigger than myself.

I turned, looking back at the stairs I had just climbed. A streetlight shone through the frosted window.

Something bigger than myself.

That moment, the world seemed to stop as I was overwhelmed by God’s presence.

Be still, He said. Be still and know Who I am. I am God, and I will be exalted in all the earth, and you’re going to help me.

That’s what I was going to blog about tonight. How the last half of that verse is usually left out. The part that says, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth.” The part that gives the rest meaning. But I guess I didn’t know enough about that verse yet. God showed me a new side this time. This time “be still” meant “Megan, stop getting so wrapped up in your own life, just stop for a second and see My reality. I AM GOD. You are part of My body. I have put you in this place. Just stop and think about that.”

Outside, the band warming up for Thursday Night Praise drowned out the piano from downstairs. The sound swelled, an accompaniment for what was happening in my soul.

Something bigger than myself.

In the last post I talked about preparing diligently for my future ministry, about having focus and direction. Well, it’s time to think about today. There are greater things yet to be done in Chicago. God has put me here. This is my mission field.

Something bigger.

As the music outside faded and the piano again became audible, I dropped my bag and sank to the floor in prayer- the most real prayer I’ve experienced in a long time. And it wasn’t about me. Not at all.

Bigger than myself.

It was only a minute before the spell was broken by someone rushing down the staircase to get somewhere. But that minute shifted the way I think in a way I don’t think I fully see yet, and encouraged me in a way I cannot put into words.

Don’t ever think that God doesn’t speak to people anymore. He whispers to college students in stairwells on Thursday evenings. And when He whispers, you pay attention.

Beyond Complacency

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Sir Francis Drake, 1557, before departing from Portsmouth, England, to circumnavigate the globe.

This poem made me think. About a lot of things. But mostly about being here at Moody.

Moody is what I’ve been working towards for the past two years. For much longer, really, when you consider that in public school they start pushing college-readiness when you’re quite young. I carefully chose classes and activities, pushed myself to get the GPA and the SAT scores, took Advanced Placement tests, joined National Honor Society, kept track of service projects, and read classic literature.

And now, here I am. I am in college, the college of my choice. What now? Do I just breathe a sigh of relief and become complacent, my goals achieved and nothing more to work for?

I need a new goal, a new thirst, a new drive. It doesn’t have to be something related to my own success. In fact, it probably shouldn’t be. Instead, while I’m here at Moody I need to remember that my future ministry (whatever it will be) is as worth preparing for while I’m here as university was while I was in high school.

I think I’ll print out this poem, and hang it somewhere I’ll see it often.