Wow, I can't believe that it is already the end of the semester. I also cannot believe that I have been down here so long, or that it is Christmas in a week. Today was the first chance that I have really had the time and the mental capacity to look back on everything and review what has happened. I'll probably spend the better part of my plane rides back home looking over things even more. But for what it's worth, and that may be nothing, I would just like to recap some brief things and continue to add more in later postings.
First, I can remember myself coming into this year quite like a deer in the headlights. And as it turns out, I wasn't that far off. But after some struggle and help and counsel from some of my friends, I think that I had started to get the hang of things, and with me being more on top of things next semester I will continue to stay in the groove and carve it further. This moves me to talk for a brief spell on friendship.
I do not think that humans can exist without some form of friendship. They provide the love, support, and affection that we so often need when living our lives. In times of struggle with one's faith, he or she may look to a leaf, the human mind, nature, or the way the stars glisten far off in the night sky to prod themselves into keeping the faith in God up. For me, this category is filled by friends and family. I cannot begin to describe the impact that true friendship has played in my life. People have seen something more in me time after time, that I do not see in myself. They have rode the storms and sailed the tranquil waters right along side me. Before some of you may get the wrong impression of what I am trying to say, I would like to bring up a passage from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Paraphrased, he states that we should not put our faith in God through other people. Other people can show the love, mind, and heart of Christ, but one needs to put faith in what is being shown, not the person themselves who are showing it. This is why friendship brings out a spark of faith within me. The love, mind, and heart of Christ is shown through the people I am friends with. The person may not always be there, and they may fall apart or mess up, but the eternal attributes shown in them when I haved reflected back upon my life and even see everyday I will never ever forget.
And with that I would like to take this moment to reflect upon the new people and friends that I have met, and ask all of you reading this to do the same.
First, I can remember myself coming into this year quite like a deer in the headlights. And as it turns out, I wasn't that far off. But after some struggle and help and counsel from some of my friends, I think that I had started to get the hang of things, and with me being more on top of things next semester I will continue to stay in the groove and carve it further. This moves me to talk for a brief spell on friendship.
I do not think that humans can exist without some form of friendship. They provide the love, support, and affection that we so often need when living our lives. In times of struggle with one's faith, he or she may look to a leaf, the human mind, nature, or the way the stars glisten far off in the night sky to prod themselves into keeping the faith in God up. For me, this category is filled by friends and family. I cannot begin to describe the impact that true friendship has played in my life. People have seen something more in me time after time, that I do not see in myself. They have rode the storms and sailed the tranquil waters right along side me. Before some of you may get the wrong impression of what I am trying to say, I would like to bring up a passage from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Paraphrased, he states that we should not put our faith in God through other people. Other people can show the love, mind, and heart of Christ, but one needs to put faith in what is being shown, not the person themselves who are showing it. This is why friendship brings out a spark of faith within me. The love, mind, and heart of Christ is shown through the people I am friends with. The person may not always be there, and they may fall apart or mess up, but the eternal attributes shown in them when I haved reflected back upon my life and even see everyday I will never ever forget.
And with that I would like to take this moment to reflect upon the new people and friends that I have met, and ask all of you reading this to do the same.
