Dream or Do?: He must increase, I must decrease

Another semester is in the books. When reflecting back, I can confidently say these past five months have been some of the best of my life. And a big reason why is because of this Bible verse. John 3:30 states,

“He must increase, I must decrease.” (ESV)

I first saw this verse when my friend asked me to store his guitar in my dorm room during a cold winter evening. Written in silver sharpie on the top of the guitar case were the words “He must increase, I must decrease.” This verse struck home. Earlier in the week, I had been wrestling with some tough decisions. I was feeling that I needed to quit something because my life was too hectic. I was bouncing around from Dance Marathon, to my Fraternity, to Cru (a Christian organization), etc. I once heard the phrase that if you're patient, sometimes God pours his answers to your prayers on you all at once. After pondering for many days whether I should quit anything, God poured his love on me during the weekend of January 30-31^st, 2015.

In late January, I was contemplating on whether to go to a Greek Cru retreat in Indianapolis for participating Greek Cru movements located in the Great Lakes Region. As mentioned above, I am a brother of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at Indiana University. This year, I have been able to combine two of my passions, Greek life and Christianity, into one with a campus ministry called Greek Cru. I like to refer to it as a social Bible study for Greeks on IU’s campus. With some encouragement, I decided to go to the retreat. Interestingly, it was initially not going to take place. However, the amazing student leaders of IU Greek Cru didn’t let that happen. They organized and put on the whole conference by themselves, and I am very grateful for their initiative.

One of the key speakers at the retreat was a man named Roger Hershey. He gave a talk Saturday morning, January 31^st that really inspired me. First, he gave an analogy about salt in reference to the Bible passage from Matthew 5:13. Basically, he described how salt was very valued back in the day. It preserved many foods; it was flavorful; and it healed wounds. He went on to explain that some people, for example our friends, preserve us in life. They keep our spirits fresh and support us when times are tough. I loved this analogy and realized that my good friend Tommy Thompson had influenced me in this way. Tommy and I were camp counselors together at Camp Tecumseh the summer before sophomore year. He was a big reason why I joined the fraternity in the fall. Through his steadfast faith, he also invited me to start attending Greek Cru. I got a little teary eyed as “Hersh” continued speaking about the salt analogy.

Then, Hersh began talking about his son’s life. He unfortunately lost his son, Brett, in 2005 while Brett was stationed in Afghanistan. He described how Brett had an immense passion for both the Greek system at IU and his faith. Brett would be the life of Sigma Chi parties, however he didn’t drink. He would also pray for all the Greek houses regularly and would even share his faith with his fellow students. After hearing that, I felt a calling like I haven’t in a long time. I walked out of the church and into the lobby where I broke down crying. I realized at that moment that God wanted me to quit Dance Marathon and instead, focus on sharing my faith on my IU campus just like Brett had a decade earlier.

[This was the sign I saw while I was crying in the lobby]

This was a very sad but joyous realization for me. Dance marathon had meant a lot to me because it was the first community of friends I found at IU as a lonely freshman. I was all set to be a leader on our very successful committee as well. However, the joy of knowing what God wanted me to do brought me immense relief. God wanted me to build a deep loving relationship with Jesus, so that I could share my love for him with my fellow students. This is all in the hope that one day Jesus, my fellow students, and I will be united in Heaven. I recognized it would be a very hard task to convince people to live life with an eternal perspective instead of a pleasure-filled earthly one. However, I was up for the challenge.

[Having to quit IUDM and this committee was very hard]

For the rest of the spring semester, God blessed me in incredible ways. I started sharing my faith on my dorm’s floor, which coincidentally led me to recruit a guy to join my fraternity. His name is Zach and he lived a door over. He eventually became my little.


[Zach is my big little in the fraternity]

[Zach and I at our Spring Fling "pie in the face" fundraiser]

I also committed to being discipled by a Greek Cru staff member named Brandon. Together we build each other up in Christ and also go knocking on fraternities’ doors to share our faith.

[Brandon and I captured a moment after church before I headed home for the summer]

The highlight of my semester though was spring break. After contemplating where to go, Brandon invited me to go to Panama City Beach (PCB) with Cru. I eventually registered and it was a great decision. It helped that Tommy went too. During the week at PCB, we listened to speakers in both the mornings and evenings. After lunch, we would share our faith with people on the beach for most of the afternoon. Then for dinner, each room of guys and girls would swap days cooking for one another. It was a lot of fun. As a group, we spent most nights going to get ice cream, playing games, and just hanging out. That week, I made many friends in our IU Cru group. That trip and the community we created at PCB continues to fuel our faith-sharing passions at IU to this day.

[Spring Break at PCB 2015; One of the best weeks with one of the best groups of people I know]

After spring break, I continued to enjoy participating in Cru and Greek Cru. The countless Thursday night bonding events as well as learning how to swing dance are still fond memories. Later, I was also blessed to be accepted as a Greek Cru leader for next year. God is good.

[Most of the Greek Cru leaders]

At this point in the post, you might be wondering if I took any classes this semester at college. Yes I did, and I enjoyed learning about the central dogma and how to give speeches. However, I was not too fond of organic chemistry. For that reason, I felt a nudge later in the semester to switch my biology major from BS to BA. Although this hurt my pride, it was for the better.

If those experiences weren't enough, the end to my semester definitely concluded in style. I enjoyed going to my fraternity’s formal dance, admiring IU’s beautiful campus as it bloomed, and watching the Little 500 race. I also loved spending my fraternity’s Mom’s weekend with my mom. We had a blast going to dinner, Oliver winery, and a baseball game. We even crashed the Cru spring retreat talent show to dance to the song "Wagon Wheel." I attempted to sing along, however I forgot all the words. It was still a fun time and one I will never forget. My roommate Jacob and I enjoyed spending our last few weeks together as well. We fittingly made our end of the year Taco Bell run on Cinco de Mayo. Eventually finals week came and it went well. The beautiful weather teased me all week as it could not have felt more like summer.

[Beautiful red tulips by the Rose Well House]

God certainly blessed me this year, and I am eager to see what he has planned for me next year. For starters, I’m really looking forward to my brother Keegan joining me as a fellow Hoosier. I hope IU exceeds his expectations and that he has an incredible, joyous freshman year. I can’t wait to return in the fall and be reunited with my Cru and Alpha Sig communities. It’s hard to believe that a semester full of amazing memories was sparked by a faithful friend and a simple verse: “He must increase, I must decrease.” As I head home for the summer, I challenge you to evaluate your life and truly think about how satisfied you are. I discovered my satisfaction once I chose to increase my value in Jesus and decrease my selfish wants. But for now, school’s out for the summer. So let’s celebrate!