In each of your lives there was a witness, a little girl who watched the makeshift family that you built for traveling through those pivotal college years. She was a silent observer who saw youth, beauty, strength and a bond that was forged through laughter and the insecurities of young adulthood. She watched you play together, travel together, pray for hours in a cold car in the garage, laugh at each other and with each other. She also saw you argue, disagree, hurt each other and yet she wanted what each of you had . . . each other, “The Peer Group”. This little girl grew to be a strong woman of God and this past month followed each and every one of you into the great halls of Oral Roberts University. You see you lit a fire in her that she could not shake. A fire and a passion for the love of God and the love and communion of a close knit sister and brotherhood that comes from growing up alongside each other. As she walks through the campus there are pictures of most of you hanging on the walls, flashing on the video screens, on the covers of the marketing material and she is hoping for a love like yours.
I am writing to each of you in order to stir up inside you the fresh feelings of your kinship. The lives that you shared together at ORU forged your spirits together and were divine appointments for each and every one of you. Each of you spent at least one night in my home as a guest and some of you allowed me the privilege to see through windows into your spirit, soul and mind. Still others, permitted me to treat you as one of my own bear cubs and I “mother-beared” you for a few fleeting moments. So now, I feel it is my duty to charge you not to “despise your own youth”.
The makeshift family that you built in the shadow of the teaching of one of the greatest ministers of the gospel, Oral Roberts, was of God. It was not an accident that each and every one of you at one time fellowshipped together. For some, it was the first time you had ever had a brother or a sister. For others, the Peer Group filled a hole that was wide open with the homesickness for your own flesh and blood family. But to each of you, I declare, that your PEER GROUP was a uniquely, divine camaraderie. It will never be replicated and the memories of it, good or bad will never completely fade away.
Each and every one of you has an enormous call on your lives and you have been endued from on high with bountiful giftings and a unique vision. You were a group of mighty men and women. You were the example of David and Jonathan, and David’s mighty men. There were Pricilla, Aquilla, Deborah, Peter, Paul and Mary among you. The strength in the spirit of unity that you experienced for moments and days were real. There were skirmishes and battles for when mighty youths dwell together, iron sharpens iron. You were from different families, churches, schools of thought and yet you all shared in the vision of the teachings of ORU and the dreams of destiny for your life. There is none other like you.
Some of you have met with unparalleled success and some with failure. Some of you are in love and some of you are lonely. There are some that the fire of God within your spirit is exploding all around you and there are some that may feel as if your spirit has just exploded. Are the ties that once bound you all together strong enough to pull you back into genuine love and care for each other once again? Do not burn the bridges of the past to cover the pain. Remember the gift each of you were to the other. None of you were perfect and your holy alliance was a huge threat to the enemy. He began to sow strife, hurt, pain and division because his mission was to destroy this group of mighty men and women. He knows the danger of unconditional love, understanding, kindness, and forbearance with each other’s burdens would eventually lead to his demise in untold numbers of souls.
Once there were five men who stood tall on the campus of a missionary college. All leaders and the friends and women that surrounded them were warmed by their fellowship. These men left their beloved campus on graduation day. They married and moved on, each to their own lives and families. Those early years, they tried to stay in touch. They vacationed one week end a year together. But then the spirit of offense rose up, among the men and among their wives. The visits and calls dwindled to Christmas cards, for no one was brave enough to stand and fight for the friendship of what they thought was just a routine, fleeting moment of youth. Now these men are in their fifties. They have just recently reconnected in a cautious calculated manner. All have suffered tremendous losses in their lives. All have seen the highs of success and the lows of failure. All five men became absolute strangers to each other and the pattern of devaluing a divine friendship has followed these men throughout their lives. They are older, wiser but disconnected still to the deep commitment of a band of brothers. They are a mere shadow of the strength of their former selves.
Do not be condemned. But love one another. Walk a mile in each other’s shoes. Confess your faults one to another. Pray for each other that you may be healed. Soften your hearts. Repent from the judgments and the hurts that you have each endured. Let the cautionary tale that I have told you cause you to run into the arms of the Savior on behalf of each other. Say farewell to the arms that you may have picked up to shoot at your once beloved comrade. Your choices in this matter will dictate and affect every future relationship. Do not be deceived; whatever you sow you will reap, eventually. (I John 3:18) Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongues but with actions and in truth. You were brought together to be sisters and brothers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not let the enemy now rob you of the love and fellowship you will so desperately yearn for as you walk through this life.
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