The other day in evangelism class, my teacher was praying before class, as is the Liberty tradition. During his prayer, he ask God "Hide me behind the cross.." That really stuck out to me. I'd heard something that kind of sounds the same to me in other ways, but never in a way like that. He not only wanted to lift Jesus up, but he wanted to make sure that the cross was what we were seeing, as he gave us his testimony. I was taken aback by this statement, because that should be a prayer for our every day lives. I've never thought about not only trying to show Jesus off, but just showing the cross off. The work that had to be done, the sacrifice that was made on that cross. So much happened on that cross, and my teacher wanted us to see the cross of Jesus as he shared his story with us that afternoon.
What does it look like to be "hidden behind the cross"? What could it look like? These are a few things that I don't have the ability to answer fully. My prayer is that God would really reveal that to me as I grow with Him at LU. I want to be hidden behind the cross as well. I don't want people to look at my life and see me. As Lecrae says in one of the many great songs he is in, "I hope that they seein' You, every time they seein' me." That's the kind of thing I want. I want people to see the cross of Jesus when they look at me. I've said it before, in a different way. It's something we strive for and must keep striving for until we are called to go home, and at that point, Jesus is all we'll see so we won't be worried about it anymore. Everyone who is a real Christian wants to show off Jesus, and His love, but it's so hard to do with our imperfections. We must also be hidden behind the cross to show that even with those imperfections, we are made white as snow by the blood of Jesus, that was spilled before and while on the cross. Maybe to accurately really lift Jesus up, we must show the cross. We must always be hidden behind the cross, and maybe then, we will see what it's like to fully trust in Jesus.
Just something that's been on my mind.
Thanks for reading! Love you guys
TJ
This is where I'm going to tell you a little about me, and a lot about Christ. We're in it together
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
College Life: A New Start
Yesterday was my first day at Liberty University. It was a time for me to no longer be a child but to really be an adult and have to do things all by myself. It's a brand new experience, which is frightening and exciting at the same time.
I woke up at about 7:30, which was perfect because I was asked to go see some friends one last time before I left. I got to hang out with them for a little bit, which was great, but then when it was time to finally say goodbye it was hard. Leaving the people I've hung out with this whole Summer makes it hard. Some of those people I have hung out with for most of my high school life, and now I'm an hour or so away from most of them. It's crazy
After I got home, I did some last minute packing, and going around to make sure that I had everything I needed to be ready to leave. My mind was racing basically the whole time because this was one of those things that I couldn't afford to leave stuff behind if I really wanted it to go with me. There was a lot that I still had to get packed somehow, and I had to get everything together so that way we could pile it all up into my youth minister's car. At this point I'm going crazy for about 3 different reasons.
When my youth minister showed up, we started to load up and talk about the excitement behind it, and really the challenge that it's going to be. We stopped at a McDonald's and got a bite to eat. After we got that, we were off and we weren't stopping til we were pulling up on my dorm. During the car ride we just discussed a lot of things that were important to talk about. Made some last minute shopping list so that way I would have basically everything I needed to be ready to go without hesitation. We talked a while about denominations, the beliefs of some of them, and just a few other random things. Discussed music and all that stuff like normal as well.
When we pulled up to LU, my heart was pounding pretty hard, but it was a pretty exciting thing at the time. I couldn't wait to get moved in and to meet all my roommates. We drove around the campus and we got to the circle, and started looking for my dorm. Ironically, my dorm had put posters up all around campus telling everyone where to go for my dorm. We pulled up right next to it, and then it was time to move all my stuff into the room. With some help from leaders, we got everything in one trip, and then I was unpacking. Once everything was unpacked, I met a few people, including one of my two roommates who just happens to be one of the prayer leaders.
Once we realized what all I still needed we made a quick trip to wal-mart and K-mart to grab a few things that I still didn't have. Pretty much once we were done with that, it was time to say goodbye. My youth minister left and then I was on my own to figure out what I was going to do. The adventure had just begun
The rest of the day consisted of just walking around campus trying to learn where things are and all that good junk. I eventually met up with my two friends from Cave Spring who also attend Liberty with me now, and we hung out for a while with two new friends who are great guys. We went to Wal-Mart, and Applebee's We just had a little bit of an adventure where we just hung out and got to know each other. I'd like to think it's a good way to start my college life.
It was a great night, and one of the best parts of the night was not only the anticipation for when my friend from Work Crew got to Liberty, but also the fact that me and my only roommate that was there at the time had a great talk at the end of the day just about everything. That was something that was very uplifting.
Today has been an adventure, and I have loved pretty much everything. Took an assessment which wasn't very fun, but I did well on it, and was able to take only the math class specific for my major, so that's pretty good for me. Played a little soccer, got dinner with my buddy from school and then finally, after a year and some change, got to see my Work Crew friend, who I have missed so much and love dearly.
I hope all my friends who are either here with me at LU or off to some other place in America, or not America if they're not here anymore, are having just as great a time as I am! It's a great experience, and I can only pray that everyone loves it as much as I do!
That's all for today!
TJ
I woke up at about 7:30, which was perfect because I was asked to go see some friends one last time before I left. I got to hang out with them for a little bit, which was great, but then when it was time to finally say goodbye it was hard. Leaving the people I've hung out with this whole Summer makes it hard. Some of those people I have hung out with for most of my high school life, and now I'm an hour or so away from most of them. It's crazy
After I got home, I did some last minute packing, and going around to make sure that I had everything I needed to be ready to leave. My mind was racing basically the whole time because this was one of those things that I couldn't afford to leave stuff behind if I really wanted it to go with me. There was a lot that I still had to get packed somehow, and I had to get everything together so that way we could pile it all up into my youth minister's car. At this point I'm going crazy for about 3 different reasons.
When my youth minister showed up, we started to load up and talk about the excitement behind it, and really the challenge that it's going to be. We stopped at a McDonald's and got a bite to eat. After we got that, we were off and we weren't stopping til we were pulling up on my dorm. During the car ride we just discussed a lot of things that were important to talk about. Made some last minute shopping list so that way I would have basically everything I needed to be ready to go without hesitation. We talked a while about denominations, the beliefs of some of them, and just a few other random things. Discussed music and all that stuff like normal as well.
When we pulled up to LU, my heart was pounding pretty hard, but it was a pretty exciting thing at the time. I couldn't wait to get moved in and to meet all my roommates. We drove around the campus and we got to the circle, and started looking for my dorm. Ironically, my dorm had put posters up all around campus telling everyone where to go for my dorm. We pulled up right next to it, and then it was time to move all my stuff into the room. With some help from leaders, we got everything in one trip, and then I was unpacking. Once everything was unpacked, I met a few people, including one of my two roommates who just happens to be one of the prayer leaders.
Once we realized what all I still needed we made a quick trip to wal-mart and K-mart to grab a few things that I still didn't have. Pretty much once we were done with that, it was time to say goodbye. My youth minister left and then I was on my own to figure out what I was going to do. The adventure had just begun
The rest of the day consisted of just walking around campus trying to learn where things are and all that good junk. I eventually met up with my two friends from Cave Spring who also attend Liberty with me now, and we hung out for a while with two new friends who are great guys. We went to Wal-Mart, and Applebee's We just had a little bit of an adventure where we just hung out and got to know each other. I'd like to think it's a good way to start my college life.
It was a great night, and one of the best parts of the night was not only the anticipation for when my friend from Work Crew got to Liberty, but also the fact that me and my only roommate that was there at the time had a great talk at the end of the day just about everything. That was something that was very uplifting.
Today has been an adventure, and I have loved pretty much everything. Took an assessment which wasn't very fun, but I did well on it, and was able to take only the math class specific for my major, so that's pretty good for me. Played a little soccer, got dinner with my buddy from school and then finally, after a year and some change, got to see my Work Crew friend, who I have missed so much and love dearly.
I hope all my friends who are either here with me at LU or off to some other place in America, or not America if they're not here anymore, are having just as great a time as I am! It's a great experience, and I can only pray that everyone loves it as much as I do!
That's all for today!
TJ