Last Saturday my wife Kris and I had the privilege of watching our daughter Karis graduate from Purdue with a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.\u00a0 Flanked on one hand by Karis’ husband Austin and the other by my mother, our little tribe rejoiced at this tremendous accomplishment.\u00a0 There were hundreds of thoughts swirling through our minds as we watched academic proof unfold that our little girl is “all growed up.”\u00a0 God is good.<\/p>\n
One of the background observations we made was how many international students graduated that day as well.\u00a0 Of course we recite the statistic frequently–that Purdue has the second highest number of international students of any public university in our country.\u00a0 But it becomes especially obvious when you hear the names, see their families, and marvel at how the world comes to West Lafayette, IN year after year to study.<\/p>\n
It is fascinating to see how many times God commands His people in His Word to have a special place in our hearts for those from foreign lands.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 10:19 sums it up succinctly — “So show your love for the stranger.” As a church and community, we have the privilege and the responsibility to show love to those God brings to our town from the nations.<\/strong><\/p>\n When the ceremony was over, the parking garage directed us out along Northwestern Avenue.\u00a0 In the providence of God, we passed Faith West at 1920 Northwestern as the workers were applying the beautiful shades of finish paint to the upper floors of our student ministry project there.\u00a0 It takes your breath away to think about the enhanced opportunities the Lord will give us to reach out to college students in the coming days including young men and women from around the world.\u00a0 A visit to graduation and Faith West on the same day was a wonderful juxtaposition of ideas which resulted in great thanksgiving.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n