What I learned in College

Freshman Year: Click Here
Sophomore Year: Click Here
Junior Year: Click Here

Senior Year
Ah, senior year. When I was a freshman, seniors were so cool. They seemed like they ran the world. They were just so old and awesome. Yet, now that I’m in my 4th year of college life, I don’t really feel that cool… at all.  Regardless, I’ll try and write a cool blog post. Unfortunately, it’s hard to write a blog post about what you learned in a year when you blogged as you learned throughout the whole year, so bear with me if have the lessons below are just links to other blog posts. Nevertheless, here is my paltry attempt to capture what I learned in my final year of college.

Involvement not included
Something peculiar happens when you get to your junior or senior year. Suddenly, it seems as if the friends you met in the first two years of college have disappeared. People get busy. People get burned out. People get clique-y. Unfortunately, as you get to the later stages in your college life, hanging out with friends becomes a challenge. Classes get harder, people get busier, and being “involved” loses its glamour. This isn’t so much a lesson learned as much as it is a peculiar trend. That said, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The college cornucopia of friendships doesn’t last forever, and in your senior year, it begins to disseminate. Never fear though, for with new seasons come new opportunities. I’ve found that God always puts me around the people I need to be around, even if I don’t know it. We do well not to despair when we get farther away from some and closer to others. Such is life. While some relationships are worth the intentional interaction necessary to keep the relationship alive, others are allowed to be laid to rest in a bed of great memories and jolly feelings.

Yet, there is something to be said about perseverance. If we stop serving because it loses its excitement, we will be doomed to let emotions drive our life. The Christian life is about perseverance and character. While the average human lets their desires drive their actions, the Christian acts despite their desires by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy is found in service, not status. Let’s make sure we fully commit ourselves to serve our community and not ourselves.

We criticize what we don’t understand
We, as humans, have a nasty habit of disliking what we don’t understand coupled with a tendency to always assume that we DO understand. The combination of these two tendencies leads to a world of discrimination, division, and disgust. Need a good case study? Just watch your favorite social media feed. People are found spouting off opinions and convictions on a colorful multitude of topics ranging from politics to sports to celebrity relations to non-existent girlfriends. Unfortunately, we all judge people and situations with a heavy bias of our own interpretational fortitude. How do we deal with this? Simple: humility. The older I get, the more I realize that there is so much I just don’t understand. The deeper I get in wisdom, the deeper I realize have yet to go. We are too afraid to say the words “I don’t know”. Just as you can only fill a cup when it’s empty, you can only acquire knowledge when you admit you aren’t full. So be quick to listen and slow to speak. They say light travels faster than sound, that’s why someone looks bright until they open their mouth… I’m sorry, but I have no shame.

God is giddy with love for you
God’s love is truly amazing. I’ll let one of my favorite blog posts explain: Click Here

Thankfulness, Humility, and Joy are best friends
When you are thankful, you are joyful because you are focusing on what you have and humble because you are realizing that it wasn’t earned, but given. When you are humble, you are thankful that you are not gallivanting about your own rights and you are joyful because no insult or trial can steal your contentment. When you are joyful, you are humble because you know your joy is from God and you are thankful, well, because you are just plain joyful! All three are intertwined. The rest of this lesson is found in just being thankful: Click Here

We are obsessed with how we are perceived
Beauty makes a beast: Click Here

Our struggle stems from Pride and Insecurity: Click Here


God reveals Himself through relationships
The summer of my senior year, I proposed to Rachel. It was awesome. I’m still not quite sure if my feet have touched the ground. I’ll keep you updated. While I was swimming in deep cool blue pool of joy, I saw a new glimpse of God. This led to my most popular blog post ever (probably just because people were looking for the story of my proposal): Click Here

But the greater lesson is this: God is in Himself a relationship. He is three in one. He is three personalities continually yielding to one another in love. It’s like each one says to the other “After you!” Moreover, because God is and always has been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Love and community have always existed. You were made in God’s image, so when you are not continually loving and serving and yielding to those around you, you are not being who you were created to be.

God shows Himself in romantic relationships. I’ve learned oodles of lessons about who God is by simply honoring, serving, loving, and interacting with Rachel. What’s more, once Rachel and I get married, we will become even more like our God because we will, like God, be two personalities in one joined being. In essence, we will be a couple imitating the trinity. Quite frankly, it’s going to be awesome.

Not only does God show Himself through friends and girlfriends, but also through parents and family. The best way God has described the relationship between two of His personalities is as Father and Son. I have no doubt that when (God-willing) I’m a father, I will see and understand God in a whole new perspective. Until then, I am continually learning how to be His child. I write more on fatherhood here: Click Here

Ultimately, the greatest way to experience God is by loving others. What is the greatest commandment? To love God with all that you are and love others as yourself. Everything in this world hinges on us doing just that.

Life is meant to be lived with the Spirit
From the world’s point of view, being a Christian is not an easy thing to do. C. S. Lewis said “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” God demands sacrifice. However, now with the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is the only way I want to live. In fact, being a Christian is the easiest way to live, because this entire world was originally designed for us to live as children of God. When we live as we were created by the power of the Holy Spirit and in constant communion with Christ, life becomes purposeful, joyful, and powerful.

I spent my senior year seeking the Spirit to hear God’s voice. Every morning, I asked Jesus to walk with me that day. I yearned to be in constant conversation with the King. As a result, my life and purpose changed from living for God to living with God. I stopped trying to serve God and I started seeking Him. I’ve learned that we too often listen to the lies of the enemy: God doesn’t want to use you today. You’re not religious enough. People won’t listen to you. Your effort is worthless. God only moves through perfect people. God won’t use you because of what you did. But those are all lies! God uses ordinary people to do His extraordinary will. Every day, we must ask Jesus to remind us of our identity in Him and walk with Him in boldness and grace. We need to live lives where if Jesus doesn’t show up, we look like idiots. And we need to be okay with looking like idiots if God doesn’t work how we want Him to.

Prayer is power
My senior year, I took Jesus seriously when He said “If you ask, you will receive.” Every day, I asked Jesus who to pray for. Sometimes a name would pop in my head. Sometimes I would just scroll through my contacts on my phone with my eyes closed and pick someone, trusting God to guide my finger. Sometimes God even gave me directions. Whenever I sat down to pray for someone, I just asked God “Okay, what do you want me to pray for? What do you want them to hear?” Every time I did, I felt straight up crazy. I felt like every prayer was a long shot. But prayer after prayer, people affirmed that they heard exactly what they needed to hear. It was humbling because I knew it was all God and none of me. It was joy-inducing because I got to feel the love God had for others. It’s like He shows me how He feels about others, and every time I can’t help but smile and laugh while praying.

We have this idea that prayer merely equips us to do a greater work, when really, prayer is the greater work. Prayer isn’t our last resort; prayer is our every breath. We cannot move without it. Continued here: Click Here

Don’t worry about money
Worrying about money is stupid. God has reminded me over and over again to never worry about it. Ever. Whereas our society tells us earn more to get more, Jesus says give more and you will get more. Isn’t it true though? I’ve had buyer’s remorse so many times in my life, but not once have I ever had giver’s remorse. God blesses us to bless others. Christians are meant to be rivers of blessing to this world, not ponds. If you let God’s blessings flow through you into other’s lives, God will continually pour out His blessing into your life. Yet, if you keep all your blessing in a pond, not only will God withhold, but your pond will dry up. The only way to get more is to give more. So don’t worry about money. Just follow Him and it will always be added to you.

Welp. That’s it for this blog series. If you read all four, then you’re probably the only one. Good for you! If you’re in college, I just pray that God would use you to do even greater things. If you’re older than me, I’d like to learn from you. Thanks for reading!