After a grueling 12 year slugfest (primarily with math based sciences), I have finally come out on top. School has been a roller-coaster for me, and I am pretty indifferent on being finished. After getting handed my diploma, I did not feel some great catharsis of emotions, I was just happy that my twitter got mentioned twice in the ceremony. The thing is, that by the end of the year, my diploma was not my driving factor anymore. Graduation just seemed more like a stepping stone on my path to serving the Lord for nine months. While the rest of my class cried during the ceremony, I was more worried about funding a trip. Even though I was basically there because I had to be, I could not stop myself from thinking about some things I learned throughout school:
- First and foremost, do not develop insomnia. It’s a 0/10 time
- Wear shoes to school, even if it is, so called, “barefoot Friday”
- Physics and chemistry are terrible if you do not study
- Do not run out into lightning storms for a dollar
- Jesus is pretty rad if you get to know Him
- Rooftops are pretty cool places
- Coffee is really good (after you drink it for long enough, that is)
- Deodorant and Gold Bond are man’s real best friend
- Do not write a 7 page Bible final, when only one is needed
- For real, do not develop insomnia
The list could go on and on, but these where just the things that made me laugh at the moment. I have to admit, thinking of some of these things made me laugh longer than I should have, primarily due to how I used to act. For example, I thought that jeans were the worst thing to ever be invented for the first year and half of high school. Now, I practically wear them everyday.
On a more serious note, I really can not imagine what my life would look like if I had not pursued the Lord in these past four years. To get a even better look, just the way that I’ve followed Him in the past year has been groundbreaking! Almost everyday, something new about the Lord astonishes me! Even in these past couple of weeks alone, the very way that I look at the Church has been changed. As I have been digging into the book of Acts, I am completely enthralled in the way that the original church operated. Besides being inspired by the falling of the Holy Spirit, simple little things have rocked my world! For example, the latter half of chapter 1 (which I now feel is not given the credit it deserves) is amazing. With verses like, “They all joined together constantly in prayer” (Verse 14), and the whole selection of Matthias is wonderful, honestly!
Seeing how the original church handled prayer and leadership has been such an amazing journey for me! It is also in this time that I have found a new favorite word in scripture: oath. The very definition of the word offers something holy in nature; it is essentially a holy promise. I do not know about you, but the word, oath, really gets me fired up! I could, probably, go and launch a huge rant about this one simple word, but I will spare you for now. Honestly, there are so many concepts that I’ve fallen in love with the past couple of years. I could, probably, type a couple thousand words. Yet one slogan, from a youth shirt, practically sums it all up: Love is the Movement. These four words have essentially defined my entire walk with the Lord, and I really would not have it any other way.
To sum it up: the Lord has been really good to me throughout school, and I know that He will be good to me over the next 14 months as I prepare to serve Him. I know I will be challenged, and I am looking forward to all that He has in store for me. So, I would like to ask that you all would continue to support me in the coming months, whether that is financially or in prayer! I’ll leave you with a quote from Max Lucado that I have fallen in love with, “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.”
