When Christ Your Life Appears: Alayna Hunt
Brothers and sisters:
If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;
but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11)
The words, “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory,” stuck out to me. It is simple, yet heavy. Short and sweet, yet so true and impactful. You cannot feel true love, happiness or joy until you’ve accepted Jesus into your life. You cannot truly feel alive without the love and warmth of Jesus, only surviving in a cold and lonely world, drowning in your misery and angst, or at least in my experience.
From the moment I walked into the ACF, I felt God’s presence. I cried in front of a bunch of strangers, I prayed with people who had never met me before. That’s not something I had ever done before. I have never felt compelled to just be present and vulnerable like that. Yet, I felt as though I was home, that I was with my people, the people who chose to seek me out and love me before they even truly knew me.
Which brings me to the next part of this passage that stuck out to me, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free; but Christ is all and in all.” We are all uniquely handcrafted by God Himself, Our Heavenly Father who sacrificed it all for us, yet expects nothing in return. This community chose to love me unconditionally and expected absolutely nothing in return. I see this love given and shared with anyone and everyone that steps foot in this building. I truly admire that, and that’s how I knew I wanted to be baptized in this very chapel. During my baptism, even though I was surrounded by people I barely knew, I felt seen, loved and cherished, and for that I will be forever grateful. That’s the beauty of God’s Kingdom- we are family. We're Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and nothing could ever take that away from us.
Amen.
Alayna (Lani) Hunt is senior at Louisiana Tech majoring in Medical Laboratory Science. She enjoys listening to music, goofing off with friends, exploring Ruston, and gardening. Kind, insightful, and generous, Lani has been an enormous blessing to our ministry. We are so grateful that she came through our doors and that we had the opportunity to participate in her baptism!