I am a C... I am a C-H...

So I had a thought today. (Just one. Don't worry.)

I was reading my friend Christian's buddy info and one of his statments is: I'm a Christian - it's more than my name. (Or something to that effect.)

Anyway, it kinda got me thinking. Anywhere else but a Christian college and that would be a big deal. Him being a Christian would be a much bigger part of his social identity. But here, at a Christian college, where it is assumed that everyone is a Christian (or at least buys into the Christian metanarrative somewhat), Christian saying that he is a Christian has little value.

What about that? Is this a good thing? Is it good that at a Christian college our social identity is built more around our interests, friend, majors, and extra curriculars than our adoption into the family of God? Perhaps it allows us the opportunity to really find out who we are in Christ, rather than just saying that we are in Christ and leaving it at that.

I can't help but think that perhaps our loyalties are a little reversed here, though. At a public university, I think I would first be known by others for being a Christian, and then as an actor/Sherpa/video game design hopeful. Here, I am known as a Sherpa/actor/video game design hopeful more than I am as a Christian.

In the original example of my friend Christian, I think of him first as a musician and film enthusiast before it really sinks in that we share beliefs in the risen son of God who came to take our sins away from us. To me, this kinda sounds screwed up...

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Am I alone in thinking this (that'd be fine... I'm kind of a weird thinker sometimes...)?

And... responsego!

Here it comes, a beautiful collision

At least, I hope.

I like David Crowder. His music makes me happy. And thoughtful. And kinda honest.


Only a few more weeks, then I'm home for the summer. I'm looking forward to it, but I have to remember to rest. In my head, I keep coming up with more and more I'd like to do this summer: first May term... maybe another class... read a bunch of books... go hiking... spend time with friends... work at the theater... work at the golf course... volunteer at the church... hang out with the college ministry... teach middle school or high school a few Sundays... That's a lot of stuff. I have to remember to rest this summer. I need it.

I'm hoping to wrangle the Sunday school teacher for college students into "mentoring" me a bit. I need someone more experienced than me at this Christian thing to help keep me accountable to both rest and growth over the summer. The trick with mentors, though, is that I'm bitter about them. So I've got to be careful.

Homework and driving tomorrow. I definitely didn't finish everything I needed to this weekend. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Night.

Just how many of you are there?

I want everyone to know that Windows Media Player frustrates me to no end. I can't get the furmudgen thing to display my library nicely. It tries too hard to be like Apple and display all of my (nonexistent) album art with my (nonexistent) album organization. GAH!

In other news, I'm home, which is nice. I get to hang out with my family, watch movies, do homework... It's good.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to go somewhere and spend time with God, but with the weather so bad, I don't know where to go...

Now I'm off to do homework. See yas.

A Real Confession:

Number of true facts in my entry dated 4-1-07:
3 (The decision making thing... Feeling like I'm shortchanging my education... and I love you guys....)

Number of not true at all facts in my entry dated 4-1-07:
the rest of the entire story.

The look on your faces when you read my entry dated 4-1-07: I wouldn't really know, but I imagine it's priceless.

Happy April Fool's day, everyone.

(Now you have a reason to kill me, Michael...)

How I Should Make Decisions

So I've had this theory for a few days about decision making and I'm going to share it.

I figure it this way: as humans, we have three main decision making faculties, right? We've got our heads (logic), our hearts (emotions), and our gut (instinct and intuition). My new way of making decisions (I think) is that these three decision making faculties have to agree. Or, if not totally agree, two have to agree and the third has to see where they're coming from.

Let's use a recent example as an illustration. But first, a confession:


It's finally time I tell you guys something. I've managed thus far to keep it pretty secret, only asking advice of a few select people and telling precious few others. Anyway...

I won't be returning to Cornerstone next year. Some of you know how I've been joking around like I'd transfer for a long time, but the joking has been motivated by some serious goings on in the background. Time for a story:

This past January, I applied to the University of Central Florida kind of on faith. I've thought about transferring in the past, but God gave me a real peace about coming back to Cornerstone this year. Then I decided to change my major last semester to Film in order to pursue video game design. I felt like being a film major at Cornerstone would be decent preparation for grad school, but I still felt like I was shortchanging my education. I would be staying at Cornerstone pretty much just because I have a Keen scholarship here.

I thought I'd apply to UCF to see what God could make happen. I was absolutely fine with staying at Cornerstone if that was God's will and I was also absolutely fine with leaving. So I applied. Long story short, I was accepted and the financial aid and transfer credit wheels started to turn.

I got all the detail-y stuff back about two and a half weeks ago. It turns out that the financial aid worked out to be a little cheaper here tuition-wise, but there's a lot less room and board (I could even stay with relatives). As far as my credits go, just about all of them transfered. Even IDS 100 and Scientific Inquiry, oddly enough.

So that's another part of why I've been so stressed for the past few weeks... I've been praying like crazy and asking advice and looking for options and seeing if other doors open and I think God is leading me to go to UCF and major in Digital Media. This is why I've been really hesitant to do any leadership positions or make any hard committments for living next year and why I've been kind of angsty and burnt out...

So to bring this back around (like I do on this blog so often...), the logic is satisfied by the better education and the working out of the details... The intuition is satisfied because this feels right. Following my dream seems better this way. And... the heart hurts, but it can see what needs to be done.

I love you guys. I'm going to miss you, but I feel like I have to go. I'll be back to visit and stuff, so I'm not dying or anything, but I do have to follow this.

Sorry this confession was online. If you guys have any questions or anything, feel free to find me and ask. Or just kill me. I'll understand that, too. (Mike's planning that for tonight anyway...)

See ya later.