To sum it up what has happened since my last post: I have now completed two full weeks of college! Yay! Even though this is just the beginning, the last two weeks have been amazing! I can honestly say that I love college life! Yes, there is a lot of studies and homework, and I will probably wonder at times how I will ever get it all done. But, I am looking forward to what God has in store for me this semester!

God blessed me with a wonderful roommate--I don't think I could have asked for a better one! And. . .on top of that, there are three of us MK's in the same dorm! How cool is that?!?

Life has been wonderful--so far--but it definitely is not all just fun. I am discovering that now that I am technically "on my own" and away from my parents, I have to start making decisions for myself. Before now, there have been things that I have always done "because my parents do it" or because "my parents make me," yet I haven't specifically established my own convictions about that specific area of my life. Now, however, I am, for the first time, being faced with making such choices on my own. I now have the opportunity to either contiue in what I have always been taught and simply do what I have always done, or decide for myself where I stand on certain issues. I am now at the place in my life where I can decide whether I am going to abandon everything that my parents have taught me or adopt it as my own. Yes, being an adult has its privilidges, but it also has it's responsibilities!

Please don't get the wrong impression though--I have not been anxiously awaiting the moment I could run off to college so that I wouldn't have to be under my parent's authority. This is not about finally being "free" from rules and restrictions. Rather, even in the short time I've been here, I am discovering that it is about establishing what I actually believe, what my convictions are, and learning to do what is right because I believe it is right, not simply because "it's what my parent's made me do." It is about standing up for what I believe and not simply following the crowd because it is the easiest thing to do. Even at Bible school, I am discovering that I am not immune to having to make such choices.

These days are once-in-a-lifetime days. I recently read the following quotation: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." ~Jim Elliot.
I believe God has me here at CBI for a purpose. In chapel last week, the question was asked various times: "Why are you here?" My answer in a nutshell is "To grow in my spiritual walk and become better equipped to serve the Lord." Now let me ask you: "Why are you where you are now?"