Kaili Hutchinson: Summer Devo Series

Kaili Hutchinson: All right, good morning. I'm going to go ahead and get started since we have staff conference here shortly.
If I don't know you, I'm Kylie Hutchinson. I'm the new RD over at Katie Rogers.
I used to be in student life with Josh.
Little disclaimer, one, I guess it's kind of my fault because I didn't volunteer to go earlier.
But apparently the Spirit has put this on a lot of our hearts this morning.
So some of the verses may be a little repetitive, but it was just something that I felt called to talk about.
So I've always struggled with comparison and competitiveness.
And I think that's probably something a lot of us have struggled with.
And unfortunately, when you put those two things together, in some ways, it's really great.
Like academically, athletically, I had that drive to compete and compare and want to do better.
but that can also lead to doubt in a lot of things, especially spiritually.
So Romans 8.38 says,
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So college is a season of growth,
but it's also unpredictable. So as we're thinking about these new students that are going to start
trickling in over the next couple weeks, new classes, unfamiliar faces, personal challenges,
and moments of doubt can make this campus, no matter how hard we're trying, feel overwhelming
or even isolating. But that verse grounds us in the truth that nothing can separate us from God's
love, not our stress, not our questions, not our past or our future. So whether the students we
come in contact with are navigating the anxiety of their major, trying to figure out where they
belong, or just trying to make it through the first week of syllabus, God's presence and love
is unwavering and unchanging. My daughter is four and she loves to read books, usually about
unicorns, Christmas, or Halloween. But if I can get to pick one, I try to pick a book that has
something that can speak a little bit of truth into her. And so we've been reading this book a lot
lately. So bear with me. I'm going to read this book this morning. But I think I'm very simple
minded and this puts Romans 8:38 into a really easy thing to understand. "Can
anything separate me from God's love? Not mountain or valley, not the deepest of
seas, not a rainstorm or hailstorm or a cold winter freeze, not a rumbling
volcano, not an earthquake or flood, not a swirling tornado or a sinkhole of mud.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing so strong. God's love is too high and too deep and too long.
If I hopped on a train and I rode it all night, if I boarded a plane for an overseas flight,
if I soared in a rocket past planets and space, could I ever outdistance God's love and God's grace?
No, there is nothing so powerful, nothing so strong. God's love is too high, too deep, and too long.
If I dove in a submarine under the sea in a clever disguise, would God's love still follow me?
Yes, God's love is everywhere. Desert, moon, beach. There's no place at all that his love cannot reach.
If I did what I shouldn't, like I sometimes do, would it mean that it's over and God's love is through?
No, God's love doesn't change with the words that you say or the things that you do.
It will not go away.
You are loved and forgiven.
What a wonderful thing.
You're adopted as God's own.
You're a child of the King.
See, nothing can separate you from God's love.
Nothing on earth or below or above.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing so strong. God's love is too high and too deep and too long."
So we've been reading that one a lot lately, and she thinks it's cute, and she likes the rhymes and
the pictures. But every Sunday when we're taking communion, I ask her, how much does God love her?
And she says, too much, so much. So these little truths are sticking with her, even at a young age
where she's already asking and saying things, and I'm like, why are you even thinking that way?
But that doubt and fear and comparison is already creeping in, even at age four.
So for our students on a campus full of transitions, new friendships, shifting beliefs, academic pressures,
it's easy to lose sight of who they are, but God sees us fully.
His love is not based on our GPA or our ability to fit in or our spiritual performance.
and so for us as faculty and staff our love for them should not always be based on these things
either in love we want to walk alongside them and with each other through all things because our
love should look like Jesus and that love is indestructible so we'll pray and then it's staff
conference time um God thank you that no matter what we face this year no matter what our students
face this year, that we cannot be separated from your love. Remind us of that truth in the quiet
times and in the times where it feels overwhelming and that our brains are really loud and that we're
not sure what to do. Help us of this constant reminder that you are always with us. Help us to
show that to this group of students daily and be that light for you to them. And it's in your son's
name I pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to LCU's podcast. For more content like this, go to lcu.edu.