SUPER LATE FIRST BLOG OF THE YEAR BLOG

Well, I'm a month into my senior year of college here at PLNU. It's been an incredible month. The best month of school I've ever been a part of. Coming off the greatest summer I've ever had, this year has been far greater than what I expected. I'm a season of joy and excitement right now in my life and I want to live here as long as the Lord will allow.

A lot has happened in a month here but I will try to cover a few major things briefly.

First, NSO. New Student Orientation. Always a good time welcoming in the new class of freshmen and transfers. It is seriously such a joy to get pumped about new people coming to the school and trying to help them be pumped up as well. I met so many of the incoming freshmen and transfers (even if I couldn't remember their names) and it was so much fun. I was so glad I got to be a part of it.

And then school started. And it started off so great. The first day of school I only had 2 classes so that's definitely nice. And then after that I got to hang out with a couple good friends and talk about what God had been doing in our lives and then pray together. That's always a good time.

I got to lead worship at the first Time Out service of the year later that night too and it was so so SO much fun. It was really cool for me because everyone was excited to be back and be together again so energy was high and it seemed like people really enjoyed worshiping together as a Point Loma community again.

The night day though, I had a bit of a senior crisis after sitting in a Social Psychology class. It was SO great. And it made me doubt why I had been a music major this whole time. But after thinking about it and talking about it for a while with some friends, I was able to talk myself down a little bit, realize I couldn't just change my major senior year, and then figured out a different way to resolve my crisis. I knew when I came here that I was supposed to be in the major I'm in, but I had gotten tired of learning the same thing. So having a psych class really opened my eyes to how fun learning can be when you're learning things that are interesting to you. I'm a music major, but I'm not that into classical music, which is a big part of what the music department deals with. I'm a people person, which is a HUGE part of what psychology deals with. So I felt at home because we'd be talking about people. So I ended up moving my schedule around so that I could take an Abnormal Psychology class and have 2 psych classes this semester. That's been going great; I look forward to going to class and it's awesome.

On another note, I'm living in a freshman dorm this year (again) and I love it. These freshmen are so excited about being at Point Loma and their excitement makes me realize how blessed I've been to be here the last few years. It's been such an experience meeting them and living with them. One word of advice I have after seeing the differences between my friends that I have that are seniors and the new friends I've been making that are freshmen is to never lose your excitement. About school, about God, about life. There's always so much enjoyment to be gained from life and especially being at Point Loma.

That leads to my final thing I wanted to write about. There has been so much excitement and stuff all over campus this year. God has been doing a lot of things in students lives (as He always does) and so many people are seeing how He's working and growing so much in their faiths and in their relationships with each other. I wish I could share all the stories I've been hearing about and seeing, but there's far too many and I know I haven't even begun to hear them all.

So to summarize, I'm so excited to be here at Point Loma for year 4. I don't ever want to leave.

That is all.

RE: Focus Chapel

Real quick post because it was on my mind.


Today, I got to lead worship at one of our class chapels called the RE: Focus chapel. That chapel is where the students divide into their different academic classes and have chapels specifically for them. I.e. I am a junior and went to the junior chapel. We had ours in the Greek amphitheater today (see picture below). It was SUPER foggy. Anyway, the topic was trust and faith issues and right before we started to sing, I shared these thoughts that God brought me yesterday that I want to share with you all as an encouragement because they are also an encouragement to me:

• No matter our circumstances, God is still good. We can face anything in this life and still trust Him because He has promised that He holds us in His hands and won't let go. So we know we can trust Him even if our situations might be trying to tell us otherwise.
• No matter what season of life we are in, we know that God remains unchanging. God is always God.
• Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don't have to fear any evil because God is with us.

God is always good, always faithful, and always present. Even when it's hard to trust that He has everything in control, He does, and He is trustworthy.

Be blessed, friends.

That is all.

The Greek Amphitheater at Point Loma

Faith to be Made Well

A little post to say that I'm not dead. I was reading Acts this morning and was inspired to write a little and thought I'd share it here just in case someone checks this blog over summer :)

“And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well…” (Acts 14:9)

This stuck out to me this morning. As I’m reading this chapter, I’m amazed by how God worked through Paul and the disciples in the early church. Paul saw something in this man that had been crippled from birth because the Holy Spirit gave him the ability to notice what was happening in the invisible, spiritual realm. Paul saw faith.

Faith, being sure of what one hopes for and certain of what one does not see, Paul saw this as he gazed into this man’s eyes. He was able to merely look at someone and realize that this man who was a cripple had faith in the impossible and believed that he could walk for the first time. But the thing is, Paul didn’t just glance at the cripple as he walked on by, he looked intently at him.

That speaks volumes to me. I know I often ask the Lord to give me His eyes for people and His heart for the needs around me, but as I read this I have to ask myself, how often do I really look intently at people? Do I actually stop and take the time to observe what someone may be going through or do I think that just smiling at someone is enough?

This phrase of “looking intently” appears some other places in the Bible and the context usually when it appears elsewhere is when a crowd is truly focused, looking intently, having their eyes fixed on something, and not being distracted by what’s going on around them or looking away. This is how Paul looked at this man who hadn’t ever walked. Paul stopped what he was doing and observed the man’s faith and in the the next verse (Acts 4:10), Paul told this man to walk. This process is reminiscent of Jesus’ ministry when He walked the earth because in Scripture there are many accounts where Jesus would look at people with compassion, heal them, and tell them, “Your faith has made you well.”

So friends, I encourage you, look at people. In the same way that Paul did here, and in the same way that Jesus looks intently at you and heals you, give people more than just a glance, a nod, and a smile. Give them your time. Look at them. Maybe you’ll see something in them and be able to call out the potential that they have. Maybe a miracle can happen.

And in the same way that you look at people intently, look intently at Jesus even more. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…” Fix your eyes on Him because He is the one writing your story and He is the One perfecting it. Don’t lose sight of the One who gave it all for you.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

That is all .