So I left my Christian school, family, and friends when I went off to Hope College in the fall of 2006. I went into freshman year without much of a plan. I liked computers a little so I thought maybe I'd try majoring in computer science. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that the rest of my life, but I considered any direction to be better than no direction. During orientation weekend, I was walking down my hallway and found a couple guys playing Super Smash Bros. for the Gamecube. Needless to say, we hit it off, and I spent the next few years with them playing nearly every game that came out for any system. I gained some skill with a controller and greatly increased my typing speed, but it wasn't really worth all the time it cost. I realized what it was like to live for nothing more than the present. Living for the present is a common theme among college students. If only we realized how much more there is in life...After a year and a half, I started to recognize that coding was not something I was graced to do. It did not come easily, and was not enjoyable for me. A change was in order. I turned to my academic advisor who recommended one of those occupation tests. Perhaps I misunderstood the theory behind these tests because I assumed that it would ask me some questions about myself and spit out the major for me. The truth about these tests, for those of you who don't know, is that they are more like a huge list of every single occupation known to man. They simply instruct you to choose the ones you think you're the most interested in.
Long story short, I ended up trying out radiography (a fancy name for x-ray technician). Well Hope College doesn't have a radiography degree, so I decided to go to the place that does - Kellogg Community College. I moved back to my parents house and commuted daily to Battle Creek. What I liked about KCC was the ease of all the classes. Most of Hope's classes challenged me quite a bit. I even found out what it was like to be mentally lost in class. Kellogg was a breeze, but I didn't learn too much. I did what little work I had to do during the week and drove up to Hope most weekends to play with my friends. Kellogg was probably more a waste of time than Hope because I soon switched majors. Again.
This time I didn't really need to switch schools. I could take pre-pharmacy classes anywhere I wanted, but if I switched schools to Kalamazoo Valley Community College then I wouldn't need to drive so far. Plus, I had heard that KVCC was a little harder, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. The new plan was to finish up pharmacy prerequisites at Valley, then transfer to Ferris State University to get the Pharm. D. degree. It was daunting to get on a track that wouldn't allow me to graduate till I was 25, but I was committed not to switch again. I got extremely tired of answering everyone's questions about how school was going.
There was something unexpected that happened during the spring semester of 2010. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was walking from the kitchen to my bedroom when I realized how meaningless my life was. I suddenly remembered the graphic scenes from The Passion of the Christ. I then saw how unfair it was that Jesus had done so much for me and I treated Him as though He doesn't even exist. He took my sin. He took my shame. He took my sicknesses. He took it all upon His back, along with unbearable pain and unmentionable torture. He was so mutilated as to be unrecognizable. Isaiah 52:14 says "But many were amazed when they saw Him. His face was so disfigured He seemed hardly human, and from His appearance, one would scarcely know He was a man." This is what He did for me because of his love for me (Romans 5:8). I received revelation of His love for each of us. It is actually impossible for us to fully comprehend how much He loves us. How could His love for us be so independent of the things we have done to Him? How many times a day since we were born have we messed up and done things that God hates? Yet He is so more than willing to look past them all, wipe our slates clean, and look upon us as sons, if we would only turn our lives to Him. How I wish that were common knowledge...Since that day in the hallway, I have committed my life to Jesus Christ. Every day I move closer to Him. Every day I receive more revelation of who He is. He is my King, my Lord, my Comforter, my Supplier, my Peace, my Rock, my Shield, my Strong Tower, my everlasting Joy, my Righteousness, my Father, my Healer, my source of strength, my faithful Guide, and my loving Companion. I am nothing without Him and have no other purpose in life than to honor and glorify Him in everything that I do.
