College Convictions

For the past couple of years I was in Round Rock High School, my heart was completely set on going to Baylor. The first time that I visited the campus, I fell in love and had a sense of peace surrounding my spirit as I walked around the college area. It has a great foreign language department, which is what I would be entering as a freshman and overall, I felt like the university was the perfect place for me. Then things quickly changed.

One day I was sitting in church with my family while the worship team was up playing. They started playing "God of this City" when all of a sudden I had a huge wave flow over my spirit, the voice of God just saying "Taylor, you need to stay here in Austin", and in that moment I knew that I was called to go to UT. Despite my yearning to attend Baylor University, I know that Yahweh is far bigger than my own personal desires, so I let my own longings go, and the Lord graciously helped change my heart about where I was supposed to go to college. I wanted confirmation that UT was for sure the place where God wanted me to be, (after all, I would have preferred staying around a stricter school campus than a more liberal area where some moral standards might be a little different), I prayed that He would physically show me that this was his will for my life. And surely enough, God was faithful to do just that. With UT being the last university that I applied for, I received an acceptance letter from them within less than two weeks, and it was the first letter to come in! This was absolute confirmation for me, so I will go with an open heart.

Just because I said yes to what God has in plan for me and where I should go does not mean that I am scared, because to be truthfully honest, I am a little nervous. I know the mind set that some have in the downtown area about "religion" and Christianity, and I don't doubt that I will face some rejection. If all that I have to endure to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ is a little bit of alienation and humility, then so be it, because none of it will matter in eternity. As Paul states in Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us". He views from eternity's perspective, which makes sense. I have a greater hope to look forward to. I hope that I can share that hope with the people that God places in my life next year that do not know him. I pray that instead of being resistant to those who are indifferent about the gospel of Jesus Christ, Yahweh would grant me compassion for them instead of intolerance. They are his people who were "fearfully and wonderfully made" to know him, and it's not up to me to determine whether they will say "yes" or "no" to Christ. Only God grows that desire.

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" -Galations 2:20

The great thing about all this is this verse. That when Christ died, I was freed for the rest of my life from the world. When the Bible talks about "the world", the more I read about it the more it fascinates me. When I read "the world", I think of sin and all of my failures, or perhaps everything that I've turned to in life to satisfy myself, but ended up leaving me even emptier than before. I can personally say that some of these things have been acceptance from some of my friends, dating, inappropriate movies and music, and self image…basically anything in my life that I have filled up with something else rather than Yahweh. But I am now liberated from all of my failures, the chains have broken, and I am free to crucify myself, my desires, my life, for the world around me. I believe that verse it saying that in order for God to able to work through us to save the world, we must escape from the "sin that so easily entangles" (Heb 12:4) in our life by humbly accepting Christ's death on the cross…accepting that we have already been set free from the very beginning, and all we have to do is choose that which has already been done for us. I am no longer part of the world, because Christ has put "the world" to death in my life through a grace that I never deserved. I want the people that I run into at UT to find this truth in their lives as well, and I will continue to look to Yahweh as to how he will work through my life to make this happen. How exciting!

As much I as wanted to attend Baylor University, which is known for its safe Chrsitian environment and campus, I feel that God has called me to be a light in other places. I am called to "become blameless and pure…without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which [I] shine like stars in the universe, as [I] hold out the word of life" (Philippians 2:15)…to God's people in Austin, at UT. It's as simple as letting God shine through me in Austin and God alone, nothing coming from me, so that all the glory goes straight to the Maker. It's an exciting thing, and I can't wait to see everything that the Lord has in store in these years of college!

Hook 'em.