Student Profile: Chris
university life | random facts | digging deeper | finding true success
The Good and Bad of University Life:
>The friends I made are definitely what was worthwhile and enjoyable about university.
>Least favourable thing about university: my 8am classes.
>The freedom that I had in first year of university was a challenging adjustment. No one cared if I came to class or not so discipline to go to class and study when I had to study was the hardest. Also, being away from home the first time was hard. It was lonely at times.
>In university, two of my greatest lessons learned:
1. I learned to view my life in light of eternity.
2. I learned to love myself and stand up for what I believe in
>One person I’d love to meet would be Winston Churchill. He led the free world through one of the darkest times of the 20th Century. We don’t see that kind of leadership today.
>I’d hate to be without…oxygen.
>What you’ll find me doing most frequently with my spare time is probably hanging with friends
>The sports I enjoy the most are football, baseball, hockey, fishing, hunting
>My favourite tunes or type of music: Barenaked Ladies
>Food I would consider dying for: most of it
>My security used to come from acceptance by people. I always tried to please people and be the "good fun guy". For confidence I relied on alcohol on the weekends to help me meet girls, be cool with the guys, and from that acceptance I thought I had happiness. But now I’ve changed…
>In order to please my parents I tried to excel at sports and school. Being the oldest child I think I put extra pressure on myself to be an example of what the world considers success to be — power, prestige and money. My definition of success has changed…
What is True Success?
>As a high school grad present, I attended a Success Seminar where I learned about goal setting, motivation and self confidence. At the end, Zig Ziglar the speaker offered an opportunity to hear what he considered to be the foundation of his success.
In this seminar, he shared about his personal relationship with Jesus as the secret to his success. I realized that although I knew about Jesus intellectually from going to Church, I did not have a personal knowledge of Jesus because I didn’t have a relationship with him.
That night I invited Jesus into my life… I accepted that he had died on the cross for me, to pay for my sins and wrongdoing that separated me from God who is holy and kept me from knowing him personally. A huge burden of guilt, lies, and disappointments were lifted as I gave myself over to him.
>I used to think that as long as God was a loving God and I wasn’t too bad, I would be alright. I came to realize that not only were some of the things in my life displeasing to God, but I had failed to live up to the moral standard that even I had set for myself. I recognized that no matter how together I could get myself, I could not be "good" enough.
>My struggle with my new faith started right away when my best friend asked me, "Chris, why are you trying so hard not to swear?" That day I had to put it on the line as I told him about my encounter with Jesus just a few days earlier.
>As I arrived on the university campus two weeks later, I saw all the drinking and parties going on during Frosh week. I knew I was not going to make it on my own.
So I prayed, "God if I am going to survive here I need to meet some people that believe the same things about you that I do now." God answered with a guy from my high school who was involved with a Christian club on campus and he took me under his wing.
>I still struggled sometimes with drinking on the weekends, especially when I went back to my small prairie home town. Though I would mess up, I learned that God was right there waiting to pick me up, dust me off, and keep me going.
>God gives me a confidence I never had before. No longer am I dependent on "liquid courage" but rather I recognize that I am significant because God thinks I am. I also have lost a certain chip on my shoulder that was always looking out for myself even if it was at the expense of others.
>My view of success has changed… No longer do I define success as power, prestige, and the one with the most toys as the one who wins. I now see success as hearing Jesus say to me, "Well done good and faithful servant."
A 100 years from now, no one will care what degrees you had, how much money you made, or what positions you held. All that will matter is if you knew God personally, and if you made your life count. That’s the only way of accomplishing anything in life of true lasting significance.
Related reading:
- Quenching your thirst for real and satisfying relationships
- 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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