Today is a big day for students at Stanford, especially for our new freshmen. As I write this, today (Monday) is the first day of the fall quarter. I think about these students stepping into a classroom for the first time, a launch of a four-year journey that started years prior for most of them as they strove hard to enter their top choice schools. As we have prayed and prepared to meet these new students, I also think of the spiritual opportunities ahead of them. For some, unfortunately, their faith will be shaken and they will exit Stanford not walking with Jesus and out of fellowship with His Church. But for some (and we pray for many!) this will be the season they will look back on the rest of their lives and say, “This is where God met me.”
I would ask you to join me in praying for both of these groups of freshmen, those who will struggle and abandon faith, and those whose faith and passion for God will be ignited. This fall all of the students connected with Christian Union will be studying the rich and wonderful New Testament letter to the Hebrews. In the sixth chapter, the author offers this encouragement:
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 6:17-20, ESV)
Join our team in prayer that our students would find this sure and steadfast anchor, that their identity, their security, and their hope would be found in Jesus. Pray for a great harvest of new students drawn to the Lord through the work of Christian Union and the other gospel-centered ministries on campus. And pray for our current students stepping into more leadership and responsibility this year as they continue to navigate their own challenging schedules.
May God meet you daily this fall as well. Thank you for your partnership with us.
Garrett Brown
Ministry Director
Christian Union Caritas
560 College Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
