Ouachita Stories

Service is a huge part of the Ouachita world. As students, there sometimes feels like hundreds of chances to become involved by serving one another and the community. What an immense blessing this is, and may we capture every opportunity to be the Lord's hands and feet.

However, the Lord has been teaching me a deeper reality of serving. There is a great and essential need to serve through prayer.

In John 17, before Jesus is taken captive by the Roman soldiers to be crucified, he spends a night in earnest prayer. Part of his prayer includes praying for others, specifically praying for those the Lord had given him. "I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours" (17.9). He continues further along, and prays also for those who will eventually come to believe in him. He prays for us. The last words Christ, the almighty and all-knowing Lord, utters to his Father indesperation before his final hours were for the people the Lord had given him. How humbling.

I believe we too have people the Lord has given each of us. This could mean roommates, family, classmates, neighbors, church members, co-workers, and the list goes on. I also believe that we too are called to follow in Christ's path and to pray for those people. Though we are not in authority over them in the way that Christ was, we are indeed in fellowship with them. They are our people, and we are to serve one another wholly.

In Acts, there is a funny story of Peter and his people praying for him. Herod had captured Peter, thrown him into jail, and planned his execution. Immediately, we see the church pray, continually and unrelentingly.The night before his execution, Peter was rescued by an angel and led out of jail, not realizing he wasn't dreaming until he was walking free to his friend's house. When he arrives, he finds many of his friends praying hard together. Praying so hard, in fact, that they didn't even notice he had arrived! What a vivid image of how we are called to serve our community in prayer.

There are many opportunities to pray for one another all throughout the day, one only needs to be intentional to seek them out. It can be as simple as whispering a prayer when a friend comes to mind, or stopping what you are doing and physically praying over one another. The joy we find in prayerfully serving one another is indescribable. This is where true community lies. This is where we become unified as the church body Christ prayed for long ago.

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By Treslyn Shipley, junior Studio Art major