Freshman Year in Review

It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my room pacing back and forth because of problems that had come up with my financial aid for school. I had spent most of the week packing and this was added stuff on top of everything else. A day later I got the call that everything had worked out. I was so excited to finally get to go to school. In the last few days before I began the trip up to TFC I spent it hanging out with my family and some good friends. Little did I know that the last 9 months of my life would grow me in some pretty amazing ways and fuel my passion for what God has for me.

I have spent some time in recent days reflecting on everything that has happened over these two semesters. It has been quite an adjustment for a guy that was working for a while. I had to relearn how to do school, adjust in an unfamiliar setting, learn all the new things that go on with college. I had to figure out how to cope with being away from home for an extended period of time. The ride up to college, while it was only about an hour and half seemed like years. I got to go up with my best friend and my brother which was awesome but it was still hard for both of us.

So I launched into the Fall semester, managed to have some interesting experiences with the people around me. I learned quickly that I needed to invest in an umbrella and that balancing time was a forgotten art (one im still working on mind you). I saw a campus that was in need of a spiritual revival, filled with people who needed to be set on fire again. My heart longs for this and as the semester went on I began to find things starting to change. I found some guys that I could chill with and even though we don’t hang as much anymore I value those friendships highly.

I think that fall semester I was searching for who I really am. I had thought I knew but after the past few years of doing life a bit more of my own way than God’s way I needed to search a bit more. One of the most helpful things in starting at TFC was that a few weeks prior I spent a week going though Crazy Love… gosh that is a great book. I started to do that practically and it made some things interesting but I wouldn’t change it at all.

Overall fall semester was good, although at the end of the semester I was quite honestly fed up with stuff on campus. I became discouraged and really wanted nothing more than to get as far away from that place as I could. I started looking at colleges but God spent the winter break reminding me of why I was on the TFC campus. He didn’t just make everything come together for me to up and leave. He had me there for a purpose and I just had to be reminded of that.

So I started off Spring semester with a fresh mind. I made some adjustments, had more learning experiences and figured out more of what I was doing. FLOOD has gone great and taught me how to speak a bit better but moreso opened the door to meeting some new friends who are part of my family (my close friends I consider like my siblings). After the first part of the semester struggling with friends who it felt were abandoning me (not on purpose, its just how things happen), I finally found people who I can trust. These people care about me and I care about them very much. We get a chance to do life togeather and they have encouraged me to be myself. It’s funny how little things that happen can change everything in an instant. If it wasn’t for some seemingly insignificant things that happened I would never have built relationships with these people.

It seems that God has had to let me walk though trials to find myself. He has shown me that everything has a purpose, though it may not be clear at the time, and I can’t abandon it for any reason. God has a purpose for being at TFC. This spring has taught me what truly matters is not my theology, my idea of what God is, if I am better at the bible than someone else. Life is about relationships. It is about growing to fall deeper in love with my creator. Life is about sharing life with others and encouraging them. It’s about helping others, life isn’t about us.

So looking back at where I was this time last year I know that God has changed me. He is still shaping me, he is the reason why I live.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life and all of my new and old friends. I love all of you and thank you for being a part of this awesome process. May God bless your life in ways that allow you to grow and bless others.

Kyle