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Growing as a Christian in College
By Bivin George - St. Peter’s & St. Paul’s Church, Tappan, NY
Five years ago when I
began my undergraduate career at Rutgers University, I never would have guessed
how much I would learn during my time here. College is a time we all learn more
about ourselves-who we are, and where we want to go in life. We build relationships,
those we hope will last forever, and we realize the true blessings in life. We
face so many distractions and all sorts of problems that allow us to grow-as a
friend, a family, and most importantly as a Christian.
College gives us all so
much opportunity and is full of so much potential. When I say that, I do not
necessarily mean just academic potential, but potential to become who we really
want to be in life. Rutgers is a huge school, a student body consisting of
easily over 30,000 students, more than some towns in America, and so it is very
easy to be lost a midst the crowd. There were countless times when
I felt pressured to fit in, to mold myself to what the other tens of
thousands of kids were doing, and to try to be like them. But I began to
realize,that was not who I am nor was it who I wanted to be. I had a difficult
time trying to please everyone, yes we all want to be well-liked and respected,
but I found myself compromising some of my beliefs in the process. The only
Person to whom I should aim to please is my Heavenly Father and Best Friend.
College is a time of academic potential because we all want to do well in
school and get our dream careers, but I learned most importantly, college holds
potential to me because it helped me to grow as a Christian.
Prayer, fasting and Godly
relationships have been critical in my growth as a Christian. Yes I would
attend Church weekly, but my faith truly grew during my days and nights when I
was praying alone to God and just talking to Him. Fasting during the great fast
was a great time to really realize how human I am and how much I need God.
Sometimes in my pride, I think I can be superman and do everything myself. For
example, I plan this event and that event and think I can balance it with all
my other responsibilities I have my studies or family/friends, but I have to
remind myself as St. James writes in his Epistle, that I "do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is [my] life? It is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away"
(James 4:14). A little dose of humility is something I learned, imperative
for my life as a Christian. Every day is a challenge and a race to
try to live the Christian life in this world and college gave me a chance to
truly realize who I am and who I want to be.
As I finish up with
college and then look for a career, although I am not fully prepared, I will
take with me everything I did learn at Rutgers and remind myself of my first
calling-as a Christian in this life-and achieve the most I can.
Thank you and God bless
Tags:
MGOCSM, MGOCSM Alumni Network, MGOCSM Newsletter
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