Still Workin' On It...

I promise I'll do lots more to this soon, but I just haven't taken the time to do it. There will be more people to check out once I get all of my links in order. In the meantime, I've been thinking about some stuff. Now a lot of this could be considered harsh and I don't mean it to be, but some things in life just stick out to me and there's no way to shake how I think about it.

When I transferred to Greenville, I really didn't look at the comparison my new college to SIUE. I knew they were different, but was obvious to anyone. The real shock has come to me now that I've transferred to EIU. It really took that year at Greenville for me to realize what I had at my Christian college. This is something new I've learned, something that I've really noticed about a different effect that I'd never really focused on that God has on people's lives. At Greenville there was so much depth...the people were awesome. There was always this underlying thought that every Christian should have in the background about a different driving force in their lives. When you can see this light that radiates from these people, the one that guides them in their decision making, and then you see the people that don't have that, it's just jarring and terribly sad at the same time. Here's the harsh part. So many times at Greenville the depth of the people there, as far at spirituality and motivation, made me feel like I was plunged in water, thrashing to find the surface. There was so much to learn at Greenville and God was really directing the path of most of the students. But now at EIU, I feel like I'm kicking through puddles. I know that's some extreme imagery, but that's how it comes across. I honestly feel this void now, there's the classic situation of taking something for granted. But sometimes we take things for granted just because we've never taken the time to realize what's around us. So count your blessings.

But to push this even further, on a larger scale, we should see this in the world all the time. After realizing this, I looked at all of the unbelievers in the world. I can't imagine not having the goal in my head that I'm working toward my prize in Christ. If I didn't have that, I would truly be a lost sheep. I need that in my life. I need to be surrounded by people with that common goal and without that light...how depressing would things be? I realize that when bad things happen, there is a lesson to be learned and character to be built. But what about those people that do not trust in the Lord? What do they think? The goals in this country have become so egocentric, which is obvious. But that's the rub. I have hope in a God for whom I do my work. He's made promises and I trust what He's said. But for those who don't, what do they describe as their purpose in life? Without reason and meaning...to me that's the very definition of being lost. So the lost are truly wandering in spirit, in truth, and in purpose. To me, this seems like a bleak existence. So Christians have something to truly be happy about. If we let our lights of guidance shine, maybe there won't be so many lost sheep. God has a direction for all of us.