Redefine Reality

Hello! How are you doing? I hope you're doing well. I wanted to share with you readers what I learned this year at Chapter Focus Week. If you're wondering "What the heck is that?" it's an Intervarsity conference held in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where you bond with your IV chapter, other chapters, dwell in God's presence, and forget about the world for the rest of the week! =) Here's my chapter! If you are wondering what Intervarsity is don't worry, that will be another post soon! God really broke my heart this week! Since this was my 4th time going, I honestly was just expecting my high point of the week to be chillaxing in God's beautiful nature up in the U.P. However God was like "or nah" (if He was ratchet). Not only did God reveal himself to me, but he also transformed 3 of my friend's  lives by leading them back to Him! Amazing right?! But this post is mainly going to be about what I learned in my track which was Redefine Reality. So me along with this amazing group of people (below) took this track. Probably none of us were in store for what God was going to do that week, I know I wasn't. The very first thing we did was talk about our heritage. I was like "ok" *rolls eyes* Notice I'm the only speck of chocolate in the photo. (below) I wondered if us having to share our heritage would have anything to do with that fact. I didn't want to have to say, "Well half of my heritage I don't even know due to my father never being there" which is the typical black kid's story unfortunately, but I did. Then we went outside (it's forever cold in the U.P.) and did this "Privilege Race." We had to step forward or backwards based off our race, gender, and socioeconomic status. We all started off in the same spot, but we ended up in different places, me being dead last. Some examples of  scenarios were: "If you had a savings account as a kid, had a car in high school, or had 2 parents in the household take a step forward". "If you are Asian take a step back, black, 3 steps black, didn't have enough money to make ends meet, take a step back". Guess who ended up dead last? Me, and all the other "minorities". In first place were 3 white students. It made me very sad because at the end of that race, we had the opportunity to race for chocolate but we had to do it from where we were standing from. I didn't even have a chance, so I turned around and walked back inside. I was like wow, this is real life. We each have different privilege, but we don't look back to help those behind us; their struggle, their problem. This was one of the most impacting moments for our track, because it paved the way for what was to come.

 Throughout the week, we looked at many passages from the gospels like that of John where Jesus was with the woman at the well. He was legit and talked to a woman that was considered trash among the Jews and her own people because she "got around" She had 5 husbands and had a man now who wasn't her husband. We also looked at the good ol' beginning, Genesis where we looked at how beautiful God intended for our world to be. Shalom (peace) was a big word for the week. During this week, we also learned about how we contribute to the world's problems such as the sex industry, by buying items from sex charged advertising companies or watching pornography. We also got to feel a small taste of how it feels to have something you created with a purpose destroyed =(. We had something we created for someone else, and we left the room for 10 minutes and it was destroyed! We were all confused, upset, and hurt. But hey, guess what? We do it to God everyday. Every time we choose to sin, and ignore other people and the injustices of the world. Imagine how God feels when every second someone whom He created to live in Shalom messes up what he created.

There were many other valuable things we talked about in this track, such as how to deal with tough issues on our campus involving students that are outcasts such as minorities and people of the LGBTQ community, and also the importance of sharing the  Good News with those on campus BEFORE you graduate! But I don't want to give it all away! In the end however, we ended as we began; with the privilege race. I told our track leader that I wasn't going to like this game. I thought maybe the questions would be different this time, so that we could all step up together, but NOOOO! They were the exact same! We weren't though. Carrie, a very wonderful lady in the track held my hand, and I when she stepped up, I did, and when I stepped back she did. Then something crazy happened. Almost all of us held hands and stepped forward together, and back together. We shared struggles and privileges. We acknowledged those who had to deal with things in life that we did not, and embraced those who had certain privileges. We made up our own rules, and by the end of the game, no one stepped forward unless EVERYONE could. They gave up their privilege, so that we could stay together. In the end, we held hands and all ran together for the chocolate. That time, they gave me chocolate. I had never been so touched before. We redefined reality, and you can too!

Love always,
Natasha