God the Rock

Okay, this is a post of encouragement and teaching to primarily college students (which most of my friends fall in that category) but I think all of us need this.

I used to say, and still believe, that every semester of college is completely different than the last. There may be some similarities, but for the most part it is a completely new life. This is one of the facets of college life. Every semester you have new classes, new schedules, new friends. You don't eat with the same people at the same time at the same place because it just doesn't work like it did the semester before. And that's fine.

My only problem with this advice fell upon graduation. Okay, it's great to know that each semester will be different, but I am entering the real world where each year is the same with minor changes. Quite the opposite of college, so why is this a good thing to learn in college??? Because the biggest change is when you leave college.

here comes my rant:

While you are in college, whether you are graduating in May or just started last fall, you must strive to make God the core. God must be the Rock in your life. All that you are must be built on the Rock that is God. In fact, I will give it as a command: Build your foundation, your core, on God. This isn't an investment option.This is a necessity. Because when you get out of college everything, EVERYTHING changes. Nothing stays the same. People change, places change, schedules change, everything changes. But God.

God never changes. He is, and was, and will be forever. He is constant in an ever changing life. He is a strong rock.

And if you build your foundation on Him, when everything around changes, your core wont. It cant. If all of your life is grounded in God, and God doesn't change, your life doesn't get turned over. Things will still change, and it will still be difficult, but you will still be strong in God.

If you don't build yourself on God, your life will fall apart. It has to. All that you ever knew changes, and nothing is stable if  don't build on God.

So for everyone in college, please spend whatever time you have remaining building on the Rock. Setting solid paths and groundwork for your life in the only unchanging person. Learn to cling to God with everything and never let go. That is what it is all about.

The First Day of the Rest of my Life

I know that technically everyday is the first day or the rest of my life, but this Monday was more literally so. I began work on Monday, it started my career, which is the rest of my life. So Monday was the first day of the rest of my life.

It is so weird. I have had internships before, so the environment is not particularly new to me. But the mindset is different. At all my internships, I could say that I was leaving. If something was not great, I could say with confidence that it would soon be over. I never really had to settle in, because I would soon leave. The notion that is was temporary was always in the back (or front) of my mind.

Now, it is not temporary.

This is my job. The start of my career. The goal is to not make it short-term. Cause if it ends, that makes me jobless. There is no school to look to in a few months. There is a full-time job. And that's scary.

Also, it is hard to wrap my mind around how good God is. I don't think I ever will, but I can't even understand how good the stuff he does are. I mean, this job is a blessing in and of itself. Everyone I talk to at the company tell me that it is surprising that I got a job. How the company is just starting to hire people and that is a great time to be hired. I didn't even do anything to get the job. I can't claim it. God did it, that is for sure.

Yet, I fear. I fear that it is wrong. That the company didn't mean to hire me. That this isn't the job God wants me to have. That it is temporary. That is will not last. I fear that if I get comfortable, I will fail. And that is not true.

I need to keep reminding myself that this job is here to stay. That I am called to the workforce and God wants to use me there. That I didn't do anything to get this job, and if God wants to take it away, there is nothing that I can do to change it.

I want to share this time with you. Let you in. Allow you to join me as I figure out what it truly means to glorify God in all I do. To work heartily for the Lord, not for men. And maybe we can learn a few things out along the way.