Update!!!

So I haven't been around much lately, I've been really busy with school and volleyball and trying to get enough sleep to do well with both, and I know it's a ton of excuses, but I'm working on a better balance this semester.

Coming off WinterFest, I've had some mixed feelings about what I'd learned and InterVarsity as a whole. My track, Transformation, was basically about evangelism. Honestly, I didn't get a whole lot out of it, and I think I would've benefited more from attending another track, but one thing we did talk about was missed opportunities.

This really hit me hard, as I realized that I've been put in the perfect place to share my faith being in Chicago and involved with the Athletes here, and lately I haven't. I've always regretted in high school that I didn't tell my friends my beliefs unless I was asked, so when I came to college and got into the IV community, I was super excited to be able to talk about my walk with God. A few weeks ago I went to a Cru meeting to check it out, and one of the activities was creating these little prayer cards as a reminder for what we were going to pray for. We were asked to write down the name of 5 non-Christians that we wanted to open up with more, and tell about our faith. The goal was to have them be people around us, so mostly IIT student. I couldn't think of anyone, so I flipped through my contacts on my phone. Upon doing this I realized that I really didn't know anyone on campus that wasn't a Christian, and that made me feel really horrible. I wrote down 5 names after thinking for a while.

For those of you at winterfest, I shared with everyone that I was upset and blaming a lot of my confusion on one particular person, but then I realized that the separation of that friendship has really forced me out of my comfort zone. It turned out 4 of the 5 names I wrote down, were Christians and I was too self-involved to even know that about them. This has made me realize that we all have struggles and we can't pass judgement when we ourselves have problems and struggles to work though.

I think this ties a lot into what Rich was saying (of course, we're twins). But until now, I've never completely realized that while a Christian community is good, talking to just believers is never going to help spread the word of God.

TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH

Hey guys, Sorry about how it takes me so long to do stuff like this. Im extremely good at wasting my time, for those of you that haven't realized this already.

Anyways, I guess i'll fill you all in on my life as of this week. Im currently in this iPhone development class, which has been murdering all of my free time. Its a good class, and im learning quite a bit, but i end up spending a LOT of time on the labs. Actually, this is all boring. I'll skip the rest of the 'my week has been blah' crap, and get to some fun stuff.


WARNING: Incoming wall of text.

SO! My relationship with God has taken an interesting form this semester/year/4years. Over the past couple years since coming to school, and subsequently having to choose whether I believe the things i've been told to believe in, i've made a lot of discoveries. The things that intrigue me the most about God, and how we relate to him, is the idea that God made all of us differently, our walks are not all going to look the same, and the big (and potentially dangerous/scary one) is that there is some sort of cultural context to the bible. This latter subject gets me all giddy because of how controversial it is, because I can already see people taking anything I say after that sentence as 'blasphemy'.

Anyways, that being said, i've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out just what's important about having a relationship with God. What things do i need to focus on? Are all the do's and dont's in the bible to be taken literally, or is there a bigger picture/reasoning behind those things? Given, im not taking an extremely smart approach to trying to 'discover' the answers to these things. My basis for whether or not something im doing is 'right' is based upon the way I feel, and if i feel like it's growing me closer to God.

FOR EXAMPLE: I told everyone how I was basically partying with a bunch of hippies for new-years eve. Now, if I were to ask a Christian how they felt about attending a stereotypical college 'party', their answer would almost certainly be 'that's bad.' BUT, upon doing it, I realized a lot of things about my friends (oh, the loose-lipped effect of alcohol), but most importantly, it put me in a spot where they no longer saw me as 'the Christian kid we're friends with when we aren't drinking/partying/getting into trouble', and saw me as a person they could trust, and who wouldn't judge them. And it made me wonder what was more important? Maintaining this 'clean-cut' image I had had since high school, or going to my friends "where they were". The message I hope they got out of it was "Hey, i'm a Christian, and I believe these things, and God is going to love you regardless of what you've done, as long as you believe in Him and let him love you"


Now, all that being said, I want you guys to know that I am still VERY much in the midst of trying to figure things out. And I think it's completely cool and understandable if you don't agree with anything I said, or think i'm wrong in any way-shape-form. And I would LOVE to talk to anyone about this! And most importantly, i'm not condoning partying for the sake of partying, i'm condoning leaving the social 'box' that is normally given to modern Christian and leave it between yourself and God to decide what is right for you.

Hey Guys,


This is a temporary post. I'll be missing small group, so i'm gonna be posting here sometime within the next 2 days to update the small group on how I am. So if you dont see anything new in the next day, someone find/text/call me and REPRIMAND ME! I'm not kidding.

-Rich