Living outside the bubble

Campus pastors offer encouragement to students leaving after graduation

TRANSITION — Students prepare to take the skills learned during their time as undergraduates and put them into practice. Photo credit: Leah Seavers

TRANSITION — Students prepare to take the skills learned during their time as undergraduates and put them into practice. Photo credit: Leah Seavers

“Leaving the bubble for the battle.”

This is how Associate Dean of Students and Campus Pastor Timothy Griffin described what seniors from Liberty will face when they graduate this May.

Open letters to encourage healthy Christian living http://www.liberty.edu/onlinecommunities/index.cfm?PID=32391

Convocation, prayer and life groups, campus community and required biblical classes make the spiritual environment at Liberty (the bubble) possible. And while some students may decide to stay at Liberty for graduate school or get hired to work in a place with a Christian environment, many others will go on to secular workplaces where they work a 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. job with no consistent Christian encouragement around them.

According to Griffin, there is no doubt graduates will face battles as they move to the next stage in life.

“As you go out, you are going to be in a battle everyday,” Griffin said. “The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11 to put on the whole armor of God. Why? So you’ll be able to stand. Stand against whom? Stand against the devil. If you don’t believe that you are in battle, (that is a) problem.”

However, Griffin and Associate Dean for the School of Religion Dr. Gabriel Etzel offered advice for graduates to stay spiritually strong throughout those battles.

Etzel said students should focus on four areas of influence — the first being the impact society has on shaping people.

“We become more and more like those we associate with because they shape what we value,” Etzel said. “Guard your friends, let those you will be working with influence your choice of a job, and remember that you marry not just an individual, but that family will forever influenceyou as well.”

Griffin added that graduates should keep track of friends so they can have someone to talk to when things get tough.

“You have networks you’ve developed for your profession here at Liberty, but you should also develop a spiritual network of people who can help you in times of struggle,” Griffin said. “Liberty is a community. Take advantage of those people that you met, and make sure they stay a part of your life as you go through life.”

Although Convocation is mandatory now, Etzel said graduates should not underestimate the influence of corporate worship. After leaving Liberty, opportunities to be in that type of setting decrease.

“Look for, long for, plan for times of praise,” Etzel said. “It is a time to intentionally pursue God through lifting high His name with others.”

Etzel also emphasized the importance of prayer.

“What you have experienced at Liberty is a result of prayer, and your accomplishment of a college degree is a result of prayer,” Etzel said. “Don’t give up on prayer now, it is literally the life-line to your creator and sustainer, and it is a constant reminder that God is God, you are not, and you need him for wisdom and power every step of the way.

Both Etzel and Griffin encouraged students to read the Bible.

“Don’t underestimate the shaping influence of Scripture,” Etzel said. “Reading and studying the Bible may no longer be required for a grade, but for any believer, it should be regular activity. If we really long to have our minds transformed by God, we will take seriously His commandments to know Him.”

Griffin related his advice about the importance of reading the Bible back to his childhood days.

“There was a song I learned as a kid and it said — ‘read your Bible, pray everyday, and you’ll grow, grow, grow. Neglect your Bible, forget to pray, and you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink,’ and the reality is, as a Christian, you are not in neutral,” Griffin said. “You’re either going to be growing, or you’re going to be shrinking. Your growth is going to be based on your daily time with God … (and) your lack of growth is going to be based on not spending time with God.”

Griffin added that while many careers change over the course of time, God stays the same, and so does the Bible.

“As a Christian the difference is you continue to go back to the source, but the source doesn’t change, and I like that concept because whatever field you’re in, chances are, as time passes, there are going to be changes, and there will be new things you have to learn,” Griffin said. “The Bible will never change. God’s Word never changes.”

For those graduating without a job planned or for those experiencing an unplanned change, Griffin offered encouragement in the form of a personal trial he faced.

Griffin said he went through a difficult transition after being laid off a job he had for 10 years. He and his wife were expecting a baby and bought a new car 18 days before the news of unemployment.

“At that point when it happened, I didn’t lose hope and didn’t lose faith,” Griffin said. “That was a time I really needed to get with God and say, ‘Okay God what are you doing?’ I think that should be the same mindset with graduating seniors who are months out of school and don’t have that job yet. Use those times to get closer to God. Don’t let that be a time you distance yourself from God, because ultimately he has the answer. Let that be a time you get close to God.”

Whether graduates have a job or not, the Campus Pastors Office is teaming up with Liberty Online Communities to produce an eight-week video series that will address students and be released throughout the summer.

“These videos focus on providing biblical and practical Christian living insights that will benefit students who will be returning in the fall, but also those who are graduating,” Griffin said.
Overall, Etzel and Griffin encouraged graduates to focus on God.

“Society, songs, supplication and scripture are all important shaping agents, but ultimately they must lead to the Savior,” Etzel said. “Allow these influencing agents to help you more faithfully love the savior. That view of the good life you see will not just be a picture of worldly success, fame, or money, but it will be saturated with a desire for, a love for God and His renown above all else.”

Fraser is a copy editor.

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