Chuck's Thoughts on Life and Spirituality
>My dream job would be to be a volleyball coach by day and a Broadway singer by night.
>A dream I hope to see realized one day is to finish the works of Marcel Proust.
> If I could meet anyone past or present, it would have to be Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther.
>My best qualities are that I’m optimistic and joyful.
>Something I would like to change about myself is my unwillingness to show weaknesses
>I’d hate to be without my Bible, guitar, pen and paper.
>My most embarrassing moment was when I drank that lemon hand cleaner that Swiss Chalet used to give out at the end of the meal because I thought it was dessert.
>My room is a sociological experiment in progress.
>In my spare time,you’ll find me running, writing, and listening to tunes… folk rock and rap. I also enjoy volleyball.
>Playing sports, getting good grades, and being popular. My life was about trying to show the world how well put together I was intellectually, emotionally, physically, even spiritually.
>No matter how good of a job I did at living my life, it was a stressful and burdensome life trying to plug every new weakness that popped up while realizing that I was probably doing my best from unravelling.
>I figured if God was there, he was a composite of George Burns, Santa Claus, and Zeus. I assumed that he would also be quite smart, quite busy, good teeth, but grossly irrelevant to the everyday world. Besides, if he was real, why can’t I feel him? Hear him? See him? This lack of physical evidence didn’t exactly appeal to my scientific leanings.
>My background in science told me I had to evaluate God. In considering God, I never assumed that I was the problem. In so many ways, I had broken God’s laws and gone my own way. That was why God seemed so naturally unreal to me and why he would also seem unreal until we do something about it.
>I knew there were things I was ashamed of and hoped no one would ever find out. I could see that logically, this was a feasible explanation for the sense of God’s remoteness and unreality. If he did exist and if I had turned my back on him, it would make sense that there would be breakdown in communication.
>I knew I needed to turn to God and be forgiven by him, made possible through Jesus dying for me. The results of God’s forgiveness were epic. I no longer felt like my life was spinning out of control. I was relieved of the weight of constantly being vigilant of my image and status.
>For the first time I felt free from guilt, confusion and stress — things that were directly attributable to my self-value being derived solely from money, status, relationships, and grades. What a wonder it was to no longer feel like I was constantly trying to prevent my eventual unravelling to pieces.
>I know that whether I bomb a test, can’t find a journal, or bounce my rent check, it doesn’t stir one iota the peace and joy I experience from knowing God. Life is worth living when you know the secret of being content in all situations.
>Most students seem to ignore spiritual things during their university tenure. From my own pains and heartaches, I’ve seen that despite our own perceived success in life, there are things more important than material and personal gain. We have all had experiences and feelings that we could not explain. We ignore brushes with the spiritual world because it feels ‘weird’ and ‘awkward’ and ‘what the heck would people say about me?!" when deep down, the truth resonates inside of us like the shattering of a window.
What Chuck learned about himself and life in university . . .
Related reading:
- Questions about spirituality? Read our spirituality articles
- What’s your Spiritual Interest Quotient? Take our SIQ quiz and find out
- How you can know God personally
- Back to Student Profiles
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