Heard in Chapel

Spring 2021

Jan. 21

“All of us at some point in this last year have been overwhelmed, but those times when I pour out things to God, and I say, ‘God, I don’t get it,’ and then I focus on what I have or what I don’t have, I found that he does give me a peace. … God has some peace for you. [I hope] that you can begin to experience that, so lay your anxieties on him. He understands you’re human, but he wants to give you peace.”

Todd Gentry (’85), College Church of Christ college and community outreach minister

Jan. 22

“Today, amid our anxieties, our concerns, our downcast moods, our uneasy spirits and even in the presence of our greatest successes and joys, we believe that Jesus is enough and that he is our satisfaction. He is enough for us, and we are enough for him.”

Daylan Moore (’19), clinical mental health counseling graduate student

Feb. 2

“The one to whom I pray is with me always, is with you always, is with us all always. When I pray, I am calling upon that and reminding myself of the communion I share with God.”

Steven Hovater (’00), preaching and outreach minister at the Church of Christ at Cedar Lane, Tullahoma, Tennessee

Feb. 24

“When we come before God in the name of Christ, we not only come with Christ, we come as Christ. I have to admit I shudder to even say that because I know I am not Christlike, and my guess is you do, too. It is only by the grace of God’s spirit who puts Christ in me and puts me in Christ that I can say this: I come to God as Christ because I am hidden in Christ, I am clothed in Christ, I have been buried with Christ and raised.”

Mac Sandlin (’03), assistant professor of Bible and religion

April 2

“There are times in life that we go through that we can’t make sense of. There are times in life for everybody where God feels impossible or a million miles away, but here’s what Good Friday means: don’t let your pride fool you. We are not the masters of the universe that we think we are, and in those moments where we think he’s a million miles away, God might be closer to you than your own breath, and God might be trying to reach through your life to do something about evil. Evil is still a four letter word, but so, thank God, is love.”

Jonathan Storment (’03), preaching minister at Pleasant Valley Church of Christ, Little Rock, Arkansas

April 6

“We leave the people we care about briefly and come back from solitude a more stable, confident, compassionate friend. … We need to be with people, but we also simply must create time and space to listen. … Solitude is about waiting patiently and quietly to hear from God.”

Michael Claxton , professor of English