Profile: Chris
My spiritual journey:
I’ve always thought about God – even if I didn’t have a conclusion about it.
I remember when I was 7 years old, I was sitting on a fence when a neighbor girl came up to me and asked me out of the blue, “Do you believe in God?” I didn’t know what I believed, so I covered all the bases…
I said, “There may be a God and there may not. In case there is one I will believe that He exists. But in case He doesn’t, I am not going to be crazy about it or anything like that.” I felt pretty intelligent at the time.
I mainly thought of God as a spirit in the sky. I had no clue about Jesus.
When I was 9 years old, my mom told me that she now believed in God and that she was quite serious about it.
I was lying in my bed thinking about what she had just told me. I stared at the ceiling and told God, “I don’t know for sure you are there, but if my mom can believe in you, then so can I.”
When I was 17 a friend of mine wanted to start a prayer meeting on Saturday nights. I wasn’t into it. He spent 3 hours trying to get me to be a part of it. I went reluctantly but that’s where I began to find out what it was like to trust Jesus.
I wanted people to know that I was a Christian but I didn’t want to look like a crazy religious person. It’s always been a series of little steps for me – going to church, deciding to sing with everyone, listening to the preaching, praying, listening to God.
I take life one day at a time – getting involved with Campus for Christ at my university really challenged me to live my life based on my beliefs. It hasn’t always been easy.
Testing my faith:
My faith in Jesus was tested all through my university years. I was always broke because I could hardly work while I was taking six classes a semester.
I needed a truck for my job but all I had was a car. I learned to be grateful for a decent car.
One day, I rolled that decent car on the freeway and totalled it. I had no collision insurance and couldn’t afford another car but needed one to work. My faith in God was being tested. I prayed for an answer.
I decided to try and sell it back to the guy who just did some body work on it. He bought it for $900! A couple of days later, I found a little pickup truck for $900.
Not only did God keep me safe when I rolled the car, He provided me with another vehicle – a truck, which is exactly what I needed for my job!
Living my faith:
It was challenging to be a Christian at university. Everyone always wanted to go drinking after classes (like REALLY drinking). I was the only sober one in the crowd and that wasn’t a lot of fun.
There was an anti-God sentiment in all my science classes that was difficult.
At first, my faith separated me from people around me. But, as I learned to discuss my faith and my values, I was appreciated for what I believed.
I started to be more of an influencer than being the one that was influenced.
Student spirituality:
A relationship with God can offer students peace of mind, self discover and security in a volatile world.
To be able to know the creator of the universe personally holds an incredible sense of completeness.
University students are in greater need of a relationship with God because they are being inundated more than anyone else with the great theories of the great thinkers of all time.
We need something by which we can gauge our lives or we have no idea if we are on track or not.