Its been a strange journey, to say the least, and as i start a new journey into college, i can only imagine what challenges come ahead. I do know that i can rely on these past few years as inspiration for the future.
Psalm 119:71 says "My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees."
I have lost contact with people I have worked hard to build bonds with, I have made new friends, new brothers, new network of people to rely on and its been both sad and inspiring with our school christian club. Being one of three people present in the leadership is very discouraging and seeing as how everyone seems to be falling away from religion because of bad impressions or because of misconceptions that we have not bothered to clear up is very painful to see. I am guilty myself of not doing my best to try to help other people understand and it seems to be a push now to be more vocal about my faith.
As for college, I have seen the decision bring many struggles to my life. Visiting a college in LA, i had to rush to make a flight to LA and all i was wearing was my Salvation Army uniform. Upon arriving in LA, I discovered that our luggage had been mishandled and lost somewhere in the not-so-friendly skies. To make a long story short, I had to wear that around town for the evening and it showed me what a dedicated group of christians can do. A group of christians can make an impact in so many people's lives- like the Salvation Army and many many other churches. Everywhere I went, someone recognized the uniform and thanked me of the help they received or a friend or family member received and I felt bad that I hadn't really done much.
This made me think back to my life verse- John 15:13- "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends" I think that by friends, its not just people we go enjoy movies with, its not just the people we go to class with, its everyone around us. The mom on the train, the pedestrian on the street, the person in the elevator. We all need to do what we are called to do and spread the love of Jesus and to not the the struggles in life bring us down because the struggles should bring us closer to God. He is just waiting for us to reach out and he will pull us up.
As I go to college, and as many other people start new phases of their lives, remember these two verses for they are very special and very key to life.
Love You Guys!
