Serving

At Texas A&M, there are many on-campus organizations to get involved in to serve in the community or to serve out of state or out of country. There are also a lot of off-campus organizations that serve the same purpose. I understand that it can get overwhelming when you have all the choices but do not know what direction to go in. First thing I would tell you is that you need to pray about it. This may seem like the "Christian"-thing to do, but really it helps.

When I heard about all these organizations, I was truly overwhelmed and did not know which to join and get involved in. I prayed about it and chose to do YoungLife. I felt led to keep going on that track. I did YoungLife in high school and was a WyldLife leader my senior year of high school. There were other organizations that were specifically catered to going on mission trips to Mexico and other countries in the world. Going on Mission Trips is what I did in high school, but when I got to college, I didn't feel led to do it anymore. There was also a Freshman leadership organization that I thought I felt led to do, but God had other plans for me and I see now that I would not have been able to do the organization, younglife and school.

I guess what I am trying to tell you is that you should not get overwhelmed by all the opportunities to serve, take it as a blessing. Pray about what organization you should join and in which way you should serve. What you think God is leading you to do may not be what He really wants you to do, but in the end, trust that He knows what He is doing and that He has a plan for you and it will all work out.

Here are some websites for mission trips:
http://www.adventures.org/
http://www.globalfrontiermissions.com/shorttermtrips/studentmissions.html
http://www.missionfinder.org/medstudents.htm
~this last one is for pre-med or medical students who are wanting to go on trips themselves when they are older.

The Future

It is thought that when you come to college, you are supposed to have a major picked and know what you want to do with your life when you graduate from college. This is not true, I have many friends who came to college as general studies students.

I came to college as a biology major wanting to go to dental school to become a dentist. I still want to do those things, but as the date to take my entrance exam to dental school, thoughts race through my head. If I do not get into dental school, I do not know what I am going to do, I have wanted to be a dentist since the 7th grade. I can not picture doing anything else than dentistry. Obviously, I am stressing about my future. One of my friends is helping me realize that my future is not in my hands, it is in God's hands and He has a plan for my life. I know deep down that it will all work out, but its the not knowing that is stressing me out.

I know many of you are in the same boat as me and the only adavice I can give you is what my friend has shared with me. Do not stress about grades, classes, and your future, God is all powerful and He has is under control. He knows what you will be doing five years from now. If you believe and pray about it, He will reveal His plan for you. Just take it one day at a time and know that something greater than us is in power over our lives.

Here are some links to verses talking about your future: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=29&verse=10&end_verse=12&version=31&context=context

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=22&chapter=8&verse=6&end_verse=8&version=31&context=context

Drinking

I know I already talked about some of the temptations that you will face when you come to college but I feel like underage drinking and drinking in general is a huge temptation that all college students face on a day-to-day basis.

First off, if you are underage and drinking, it is not only God who you are disappointing but you are also breaking the law and can get arrested. Don't drink if you are underage, it is stupid and irresponsible. Because of one drink, your life can change drastically.

Obviously, when you are in college there is a lot more freedom to make your own decisions and do things that you want to do. Responsibility also comes with that freedom. There are parties every weekend and sometimes during the week, with the parties comes alcohol and a lot of it. There are very few parties that do not have alcohol. I know that it is hard to be the sober one when everyone else at that party is drunk and looks like they are having a good time. You also may be pressured into drinking. Stand up for yourself and stay strong against the peer pressure, you know your beliefs so you should live up to them and not do anything you do not want to do or anything that you think God would not approve of.

If you know that you are easily pressured into doing things that you do not think are good, don't go to parties that you know will have alcohol or use the buddy system and take a friend who doesn't drink either. Having a friend there can also keep you accountable and you can leave when the party gets out of control. You can also have your own party at someone's house with friends and no alcohol. Having other friends that do not drink are important to help you stay up with your morals and they can help you find other ways to have fun without drinking.

One thing I have realized as a Christian is that it does not matter what other people think of you here on earth, the only person whose opinion matters is God's. He ultimately determines our fate in the end. If I am stuck in a sticky situation, I just think about whether or not God would approve of what I am doing or not. I also have awesome Christian friends who do not party, we have parties at each other's house and just visit, play games, and enjoy each other's company. That means more to me than going to some random party and drinking the night away with some people I do not know.

Going to Church While Being Away From Home

If you grew up in a church-going family, or if you were like me and only went to church with one parent, it was part of your routine and you knew that Sunday mornings were spent at church. When you come to college, at first you are still on that routine, but then things start getting in the way and life happens. One thing I struggled with when I came to college was to keep going to church on a regular basis. I didn't have my mom there every Sunday to get me up and take me to church, she kept me accountable and when she wasn't there I got out of my routine.

One excuse I would use was that I didn't have a car, so I couldn't get to church. I still can't believe that I used that excuse, I had many friends with cars that could drive me to church and a shuttle would come and take students to a church. There is no excuse for you to not keep going to church when you come to college. When you get here, find a church home and start going every Sunday. If one of your friends is going to the same church, go together so you can keep each other accountable and on a routine. If you are like me and you get carried away with life, it is very important that you have someone in your life that is at college with you to keep you accountable.

I am lucky to have roommates who are very strong in their relationship with God and who go to church every Sunday. They are the ones who keep me accountable and on my routine. I know that every Sunday morning two of my roommates and I will go to church so when I don't feel like going to church, I start to feel like I need to go and decide to go.

Associating with Nonchristians

There are so many different people in college that you can find someone with the same likes as you. One thing that brings a lot of students together is their religion, this can be a great thing and it can also be somewhat of a bad thing. When you only associate or befriend people that are religious like you, you shut off the rest of the world and become narrow minded. I'm not saying that you should ditch all your Christian friends, I am saying that you should branch out a little and get to know others.

When you think about it, if you go on mission trips, you are befriending nonchristians. One thing that can come out of befriending nonchristians is that you can be a witness to them and help them come to know Christ. Having nonchristian friends in college is kind of like being on a mission trip all the time. By you being their friend, you are showing God's love.

It's important to stay on track with your relationship with God so that you do not fall into temptations that you may face while being friends with others. In order to stay on track, it is vital that you stay connected with your Christian friends so that you do not fall and they can keep you accountable. You can also turn to them about some issues that may come up with your nonchristian friends and get advice about how to bring up the issue and how to deal with it.

I am friends with some nonchristians and it has not had a negative impact on my relationship with my Christian friends or on my relationship with God. If anything it has made it stronger because I want to make sure that I do not fall off track. I also want to be prepared for the time that my friend will want to change their life and have a relationship with God. I want to have the answers to their questions and to be a positive influence on them.

Losing sight of what is important

When I came to college, I was encouraged to get involved in organizations and to keep up with school. As the years go on, I get more involved in organizations and the school work load keeps multiplying and it seems to take up more of my time. Because of this, something had to be put on the back burner, the thing I picked was God. This was a big mistake, I started stressing and not really living my life like a Christian. I stopped going to church because I needed to study and exercise, I stopped going to bible study because there just wasn't enough time in the day, and I stopped being really involved in activities that the Christian organizations were doing. Slowly, God fell off my priority list.

Thankfully, I had a good friend who called me out on what I was doing and I realized that I am able to do most of these things because God allows me to. Before grades were everything to me but now I know that grades are not going to matter when I get into heaven. The organizations I was in aren't going to matter when I get into heaven. My job and the money I earn aren't going to matter when I get into heaven. The only thing that is going to matter when I get to heaven is that I had a good, strong relationship with God.

It is important to not lose sight of God and what He thinks are the important things in life. It is so easy to get caught up in what the world sees as successful that you lose sight of God and what He wants. I have been there, I have lost sight of God and it is not pretty, my world almost came crumbling down on me. I started thinking like the rest of the world and it showed.
Some things that have helped me stay on track are having Christian friends that can keep me accountable, going to church on a regular basis, and being continuously filled with what God sees as important in life.

Quiet Time

One thing that I have struggled with since I became a Christian is having a quiet time every day. Coming to college has made it so much harder because of my busy schedule. It seems like homework never ends and organizations start piling up. If you have gone through this, you know how hard it is to keep up with being diligent about having a quiet time. After sticking to a schedule and having a quiet time most everyday, I have realized how my days seem to be better and I am not stressed all the time.

Last semester, I would get anxiety about my tests and after I took the tests, I would break down and cry from all the stress that I put myself through. Let's just say I was a nervous wreck going into the tests. This semester, I have been more committed to having a quiet time and it has made a huge difference with how I am when it comes to test taking. I am do not have anxiety, I am not nearly as stressed as I was, and I don't cry after a test, I am usually really happy that it is over.

I have realized that having a quiet time keeps you focused and in tune with what God wants you to be, not what the world wants you to be. You also form a stronger relationship with Him because you talk to Him and tell Him all your problems, it's like hanging out with a friend and dishing out all your problems and getting advice from them. You also learn more about God, Jesus and what being a Christian really means.

If you are like me and pretty much have a schedule for everything, set aside a time that you have available everyday and spend it with God. It will be hard at first, but once you get into that routine, it will be like a part of your day and when you do not have a quiet time, it will feel like something is missing from your day. If you are more of a go-with-the-flow person, have your quiet time when you have some time in your day. I think whether or not you need to schedule your quiet time or not, it is good to have it at the same time everyday just so that you are in a routine and you are less likely to forget.

I do my quiet time at night before I go to bed and it makes me sleep a lot better and have a good day the next day. For me, it's like getting wind down for the night.
There are a lot of positive things that come out of having a quiet time with God so, pick a time that works with you and be determined and committed to keeping up with it. Do not worry if you forget once in awhile, everyone does it, just make it part of your routine and your life will be less stressful and more joyful.

If you are having trouble choosing where in the Bible to start reading, here is a web site that has a path for you stay up with: http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/