Feb 25, 2015
by William Villalpando
I have told this story so many times — but it means so much to me, get ready to hear it again ;). There are going to be times in our lives when God issues us a challenge: a challenge to take a leap of faith and full-heartedly trust him.
It should be said that the idea of SCSC was a big jump for me. Before my first summer of SCSC I had never ridden on a plane, I had never been out of California (except for a three day trip to Phoenix, Arizona), and I had never been away from my family for more than three days (and even then I had my sister with me). So back when applications were due and Pastor George suggested the idea, I was a little reluctant to apply. Yet after some coaxing, I eventually applied. That being said, I still had not fully committed to the idea of doing SCSC. So it was somewhat of a relief that my school’s final schedule seemed to be conflicting with training. Needless to say, God had another plan. I walked into all of my classes and in each class I received a syllabus. Every one of my professors had decided to either have an in-class final the week before finals week or to have us turn in a final essay the day before SCSC training would start. So at that point in time, the idea that I would actually be doing SCSC became more realistic.
I honestly was scared. I could not even conceive of the idea of being away from my family, friends, and church family for a week, let alone an entire two months. Yet even though I was afraid, I continued to plan and prepare for the trip. At that point I had decided, “Well, there’s no backing out now, and I know this will be good for me…”. Although just because he is awesome, God decided to provide a third sign. The SCSC committee asks all SCSCers and Stained Glass Members to raise a certain amount of money in order to help cover some of the costs. Our goal was to raise 500 dollars each. A week and a day before funds were due I had about 300 dollars. I had decided that I would take 200 dollars from my leftover Financial Aid to cover the rest. The next day, out of the blue, I had about 250 dollars donated to me. Not only had the goal been reached but it was surpassed. God had provided the rest. This third sign confirmed to me that I needed to do this and that I was meant to be there.
After all of this, when I finally got to training and everything got started, the fear began to vanish! I was surrounded by people who loved God and placed all of their trust in him. I realized I must not be doing that if I was so afraid. Psalms 71:1-3 says, “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge…be my rock of refuge…for you are my rock and my fortress.” This verse really expresses what I needed to do. I needed to stop being afraid and worrying about being homesick and rather lean on God and allow him to be my fortress. I’m glad I decided to, because this ended being one of the best and most spiritually fulfilling summers I have experienced.
