Bonnie Duncan is the pastor for Georgetown Chi Alpha. Proudly raised in Texas, Bonnie graduated from Georgetown University in 2013 and never left. She loves iced tea with a ton of lemons (some would say she has a problem), adventures involving potentially dangerous amounts of cliffs and ice (or both) and is an avid fan of weenie dogs, giraffes and women's gymnastics. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter (@Bonnie_Duncan), and Instagram (bonnie.duncan).
In my high school economics class, my future life was determined by a draw from a hat and a roll of the dice.
I drew a career from a hat: professional surfer (naturally)
Rolled two dice to determine my salary: $70,000 per year (so I was a really great professional surfer).
Rolled one dice for amount of kids: 3 of them—all under 5.
Rolled one for marital status: single mom. Well then.
That would be my life for the semester. I had to learn to balance a checkbook. Plan meals. Scout out daycares I could afford for my imaginary 3 children. All determined by the role of the dice. All seemingly random.
In some ways, it would seem real life isn’t much different. In college, our paths—in some ways—seem random and left to chance. What college will accept me? (was the admissions officer tired when they read my application?) Who will my friends be? Who will my roommate be? What opportunities will I stumble upon?
We can all think back on those important moments in our lives that seemed like a coincidence. For me, I’ll always think back to my first day of college, when I walked by a table of friendly people passing out snow cones in front of my freshman dorm. I picked the cherry flavor, and took the gamble to attend Chi Alpha’s first service of the school year—12 people crammed in an 85 degree basement in a sophomore dorm (still better conditions than the early Church I’d imagine).
7 years later, I’m the pastor for that group. And in a couple of weeks (8 first day of schools later), I’ll pass out some snow cones to wide-eyed freshman wondering what their years at Georgetown will hold.
If I could tell them one thing, I’d tell them nothing is ever random.
I’d tell them they may feel overwhelmed and under-qualified here, they may feel like Georgetown made a mistake in admitting them, but God has a purpose for their lives.
I would tell them their identity is not in things left to the luck of the draw (where they will work, who they will marry, how many kids they have), but rather their lives are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3) and no thing can have access to their identity.
“If I could tell them one thing, I’d tell them nothing is ever random. ”
I would tell them they could choose to live a life that feels random and left to chance or they could have a live orchestrated by the author of life lived in community.
This would all be fairly awkward to tell someone I just met over snow cones. But significantly less awkward to live these things in friendship and community over 4 years and a lifetime after that.
Every snow cone a divine appointment. Because nothing is ever random.
Published on July 24, 2016 • Short Link: http://bit.ly/29Rc8Nd
