I only knew David Gilbert about six months, but during that time, I came to know a young man with a passion for Christ and people... and basketball. Despite going into remission with lymphoma, he had an incredible courage and faith in God's perfect plan. He often said that if God was going to take him home, it would the way God would be most glorified in his life. On my birthday a year ago, and a month from his, June 16, 2005, David went home to be with the Lord. A year later, his testimony and legacy has influenced and impacted more people than any of us could have possibly imagined...
And that brings me to the dream. This week I have had the unbelieveable privilege of watching God come through in a way I never dreamed possible. Somehow last November, God began to lay on my heart the idea of establishing a freshmen leadership conference, named after and inspired by David and his faithful legacy of leadership and service. It's amazing now to realize but God had been preparing the way for this conference even before David died by placing me on Exec Council, where I had the opportunity to begin lay out the vision and goals for this conference and gain approval from the leadership at Texas A&M to move ahead.
Don't misunderstand- there has been nothing easy about this process. There have been countless times when I went into meetings expecting one thing and walked out shaken and wondering if I had heard right. There have been so many times when every idea and dream for this were shattered. And every time God has picked me up and gently told me to try again.
In the spring, Jay Tom Ratliff came alongside of me to help get this off the ground. His encouragment and wisdom helped move the Gilbert Leadership Conference past the vision and into reality. And despite some rather huge obstacles and redirection of the conference, by the end of March, we had choosen my two directors for the committee, Carly Kouba and Joe Licata. By the end of April, we had a team of twelve people who were talented and dedicated beyond anything I could have ever asked or hoped for. When we finally had that first meeting with the entire team, we stopped to pray and to ask God's blessing on the conference. I remember walking out of the meeting with Jay Tom and feeling so overwhelmed at the way God had brought the team together and for all the obstacles He had overcome so far.
Even with a team and a plan, we still didn't have a conference. To take thirty-five freshmen to Houston for three days of leadership training through the conference would cost roughly $7000-$9000 a year and we didn't have a cent. We knew that if we didn't have the money by the end of July or very latest mid-August, the conference was off, and we had no idea where the money was going to come from.
This summer has been a constant attempt to raise the money for the conference to no avail. Just last Friday, Chris and I were at our lowest point and at a complete loss as to what to do. Two days later, David's very birthday, we found out that we were being given an endowment of $135,000 over the next three years to fund the conference for perpetuity. $135,000! We were just hoping to maybe have $5000. I don't think I have ever been quite so overwhelmed at the hand of God, even in the way the donation came about. When Chris told me, we were both literally at a loss for words for hours. Sometimes, our tongues can never put into words what the depths of our souls feel.
Later that evening, I was just rejoicing with God and I felt him reminding me of that verse- he who is faithful in little will be given much. I began to realize that sometimes we are called to be faithful to a dream, a dream that He gives and that only He can fulfill. One of my prayers over the past year, particularly last summer, was for God to make His dreams mine. and he has so faithful to do so, even just in the miracle of this conference.
I wish I could convey the heights and depths of the journey God has led me on over the past months with this. I remember writing in my journal in March that there were no guarantees on this conference, but committing to move where I believed he was leading me and asking for the courage to keep walking even though the path was unclear. In response he gave the promise, I will go before you and will level the mountains... It's a rare thing to see a dream come true. It's rarer still to see one given and fulfilled so clearly by the Creator of the Universe, and yet I am certain it's something faith-filled Christians should be experiencing much more often. May we believe our God for the dreams He gives.
