“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
-Galatians 1:10
24 days, 5 hours, and 48 minutes until I can call myself a college graduate.
35 days, 23 hours, and 46 minutes until I’m off to Atlanta, Georgia for ten days of training camp.
72 days, 15 hours, and 45 minutes until I leave for India and the beginning of this World Race journey.
If there is one thing I’ve learned in college it’s that time is a funny thing. These last four years have been the fastest yet slowest, most exciting yet most miserable, and extremely fulfilling yet completely exhausting years of my life. I have kept my yearning to be a kid at heart longing after a life full of adventure but grown into a young woman who is confident in who she is and sure of what she wants. There were many triumphs, joys, mistakes, and low points along the way, but I wouldn’t trade a single one of these experiences for anything because they’ve shaped me into who I am today.
With only 24 days left at Kutztown it’s almost expected of me to go out every chance I get. Some people have even questioned my more conservative decisions or why I’ve been distancing myself from things that I embraced only a few short years ago. But just when I begin to consider how much easier it would be to act as a “lukewarm” Christian, I reflect on what Francis Chan wrote in his book Crazy Love-
“Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.”
These sentences perfectly depict my first three years of college, but that’s not where I am anymore. One of my greatest fears in life has become being a “lukewarm” Christian. I don’t want people to have to question whether or not I love Jesus; I want it to be so obvious that that is where my heart lies that others can’t even begin to doubt it.
When discussing our post-grad plans in my senior seminar earlier this week, one guy told me that my plans were crazy. And I guess from an outside perspective I can see how they may be percieved as such. But the thing is, I want crazy. I don’t ever want to create a life that is what outsiders see as normal because that isn’t how my God has called his people to live. Being conventional isn’t a part of my plan anymore. Instead my hope is to live and love they way that Jesus did.
I’m reading a book right now called The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono and I want to leave you with a quote from the introduction of this novel as it serves as a source of inspiration to me-
“To see a human being reveal really exceptional qualities one must be able to observe his activities over many years. If these activities are completely unselfish; if the idea motivating them is unique in its magnanimity; if it is quite certain they have never looked for any reward; and if in addition they have left visible traces on the world- then one may say, without fear of error, that one is in the presence of an unforgettable character.”
