At Student Activities, one of our four values is Cultural Engagement. We define cultural engagement as “encouraging the university to appreciate, discern and critique various aspects of arts and entertainment, discouraging retreatment from or passive consumption of cultural products.” Something that has begun to shape my lifestyle as I further try to engage in culture is how I can live sustainably to be a better steward of the earth. As Christians, we have a responsibility to maintain the earth wisely, lovingly and thoughtfully. Passive consumption is typically used to define how entertainment is consumed, but it can also be attributed to passively consuming the culture that defines our lifestyles. As believers, we should question what companies are doing and what we are consuming apart from entertainment. Christ has entrusted us with this earth, and we should be held responsible for the active or passive consumption of this planet.

Christ has called us to be stewards of the environment. In Genesis 1:28 He commands Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” My concern lies in my belief that we are turning away from this responsibility that Christ has given us. We are misusing this precious gift from Him. I am guilty of not being a steward of this earth, but rather an exploiter of it. I live a life full of excess, while Christ calls us to a life with only an excess of Him.

Every day, there are small steps we can take to live a simpler life to develop ourselves as stewards of the earth. Three simple ways I challenge myself to live a more thoughtful lifestyle begins with first thinking consciously about the clothes I wear. Fast fashion is an epidemic in the marketplace, and Millennials are twice as likely as baby boomers to toss clothing because it is unfashionable or they are bored of wearing it. Fast fashion companies don’t care how clothing is manufactured, instead they want to churn out new trends every week to ensure that consumers are buying as much clothing possible, as quickly as possible. Let’s change the statistic as Millennials and aim to buy second-hand clothes when possible, support sustainable clothing brands when possible, and donate our used or unwanted clothing.

Another simple way is to use re-usable water cups, bottle, and mugs. 500 billion disposable cups are used every year; specifically, there are 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups used every year. Styrofoam cannot be completely recycled, and most Styrofoam will stay in landfills for over a hundred years. We all love our local coffee shops, and a simple way to contribute to stewarding this planet is by bringing your own re-usable cup or mug. Some Lynchburg coffee shops even give you a discount off your purchase for bringing in your own cup!

My favorite way that we as college students can take steps towards responsible consumption is using re-usable bags at the grocery store. As Americans, we go through 100 billion plastic bags a year, which takes 12 billion barrels of oil to manufacture. The next time you see a Student Activities promotional shift grab one of our tote bags, and use it for your next Target run!

The key to taking responsibility for our role in being a steward of God’s creation is to simply be conscious of what we do and how our actions contribute to the preservation or destruction of the earth. As Christians, we should become involved in building sustainable industries and businesses that put environmental sustainability at the forefront. Ultimately, the earth belongs to God and He has given us this responsibility to take care of His precious creation. We must shift our attitudes to take on this responsibility while actively engaging in appreciating, consuming, and enjoying the earth.

My childhood was “normal” in the best way: it was filled with beautiful moments with my family. I was always going to amusement parks, hitting the road to places like the Grand Canyon, and I had every opportunity to try any sport I wanted. Life was generally full of bliss. I never lacked an imagination and was always exposed to new experiences.

As I was growing up, those childlike rose-colored lenses began to change shades. Eventually, by the age of seventeen, my lenses had changed to an entirely different color and I no longer saw the world the same. We each reach that moment in life, whether we are far too young to be forced into a dark world or we don’t experience evil until we are adults.

I grew up in church and was very familiar with how the Christian faith was played out within the context of four walls. A month before I graduated from high school, I received news that my youth pastor was resigning from his position for reasons I could not know. A world I once knew was shattered in a quick moment and I wasn’t sure how to handle each emotion that came flooding into my body. All of the youth in my church were told we were not allowed to speak to him or have any contact with him at all. Confusion and the sense of loss started to creep in to each of our minds. How could a person be in our life one moment and gone in the next, yet still be alive?

Eventually, more information was unintentionally exposed and I found out why he was forced to resign. He had an emotional affair with a student. It was so hard to swallow that news, and I imagine that is because we, as the Church, can sometimes become numb to affairs. The Christian Church isn’t always the best at handling affairs, fraud, and countless other scandals. My point in this is not to simply talk about pastors and accuse them of doing wrong over the years. My point is to discuss spiritual trauma.

Spiritual trauma can happen at the hands of leaders but also between church attendees. The stories I have heard over the years, ones I will not share because they are not mine to expose, are incredibly horrific. I am sure many of you can use your imagination or watch the news to find out the countless heartbreaking stories that have unfolded in the Church. Suffering and trauma in the Church is one of the most underexposed and least discussed issues from the pulpit.

Trauma is when experience in your life creates some kind of distress or disturbance. I was not aware of my spiritual trauma until years after the experience occurred. I can vividly remember sitting in my room with my best friend from church and going through all the different encounters we had with the youth pastor. Each memory we would share, would end with “wow, that was so inappropriate”, and at the end we felt like victims. Spiritual trauma is difficult to work through and you may never have the desire to return to a community of believers. You may have walked away from Jesus and be terrified to enter back into that life, but I encourage you to seek healing. The process of healing is so important and is something I hope churches across the world begin to implement into their communities.

Seek a form of healing that works for you and can push you toward restoration. Of course, I hope you can find reconciliation with God if that relationship was strained from the trauma, but there are many other ways to find healing. Clinical counseling, which is speaking with a trained professional on how to take steps to unpack and heal from the trauma, is so important. For me, I chose active ways to heal because my trauma and stress are usually driven somatically, so physical healing was important to me. I chose to start practicing yoga, meditation and to find time outside where I can feel at peace but also experience the power of God. Reconnection to the power of the Creator was important for me to believe that God was still good in every hurt that was inflicted by an individual claiming the name of Jesus. For me, I knew I needed to take active approaches toward healing my soul and cleansing my relationship with the Church. I hope after reading this you find yourself taking a step toward healing or helping a friend or loved one seek restoration from spiritual trauma.

Sources

https://spiritualtraumarecovery.com/

https://theliturgists.com/spiritual-trauma-podcast-page/

Let’s talk money and finances. If you’re like me and 70% of college students who aren’t comfortable discussing anything dealing with finances, the first sentence of this post brought stress upon you when you read it. Money is so personal and creates vulnerability within our relationships. Even spouses have difficulty talking about it; research by Fidelity Investments found that 43% of Americans don’t even know their spouse’s salary. Talking about money and finances from a general overview can be a difficult, uncomfortable topic, but as Christians, these conversations are necessary to understanding how something seemingly destructive can actually be one of the most powerful tools God has given us. The creation of money completely changed the landscape for human interaction by slowly moving humanity towards a current state of impersonal transactions mediated by its exchange. With this amount of control, a greater amount of stress arises that can take a toll on not just us, but also our relationships with everyone around us. Yet, if approached from a biblical standing, we can learn to change our view of money and finances to reflect God not only in the church but in our culture as a whole.

Even though Jessie J tells us “it’s not about the money, money, money,” I disagree with her. Growing up, I was always taught that money wasn’t important to Christians. This principle was reinforced by my parents, my school, and my church. Whenever money would slip into a class or sermon, it always revolved around the unimportance of it – telling me not to worry about it and to just leave it alone. I understood every time what they wanted us to learn, the underlying theme of the message being: “Money leads to greed, envy, and other sins that will pull you from God and others around you.” And of course, they always served this dish up with 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” I agree that money has the power to corrupt someone and can lead to all sorts of evil, but I think God, in His goodness, intended for money to be a way to glorify Him. In 1 Corinthians 10:26, Paul writes, “For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” So how do we take these two verses and unite their meanings? The key is the first four words of 1 Timothy 6:10 – “for the love of.” When I look back at when I was taught at school or church about money, the first part was not nearly emphasized as much as it needed to be. The lack of emphasis on those words engrained in me that money was evil.

What if those lessons were different among my school and church? Instead of a constant bash on money, what if a class was offered that taught high schoolers basic financial skills needed to go into college or the workforce from a biblical perspective? Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert who has helped millions of people better understand a biblical approach to finance. Ramsey is changing the way Christians deal with money. I highly recommend his books, radio show, and podcasts. One of the most basic principles he will tell you to remember is that you don’t own any of your personal finances – God does. As Christians, we need to be a manager of God’s money, spending or saving it in the way He desires. It is our heart behind our financial actions that determines whether money is a powerful tool for God or for evil. We should remove ourselves as the main part of God’s financial picture and allow Him to guide our spending/saving for His glory.

The importance of money also changed cultural landscapes when first created. During a Q Talk by Andy Crouch, he talks about three different revolutions that have changed society and culture forever. The first he talks about is the financial revolution, which shifted wealth from being found in relationships to being found in money. The example Crouch gives is a visit to Wawa, and he breaks down buying a snack to show how impersonal modern transactions are. When Crouch purchased his snack, he didn’t have to know the cashier’s name or even make eye contact with them; nevertheless, Wawa got the money they wanted, and Crouch got the snack he came for.

Money has been able to change culture gradually. As Crouch says, the creation of money was a trade of “personhood for power.” Instead of people finding wealth solely in relationships with the people they know, we are now able to acquire and possess wealth through money. As Christians, this is a part of money and culture that we can resist against and use as an opportunity to represent God. In a world where people can be impersonal, we have an opportunity to show God’s love by recognizing personhood over what Crouch refers to as power. This doesn’t mean you have to proclaim the Gospel when buying Chipotle or your next coffee. It’s simply taking time to talk to people. When you’re at the register, it doesn’t have to be an awkward minute waiting for the transaction to go through; you can use it as an opportunity to ask the cashier how their day is going. Make the effort to prioritize personhood over power.

Crouch, in his example of how money changed culture, only talks about interactions with a cashier, but whether we realize it or not, all our relationships have a financial exchange somehow interwoven to a degree. I’m not saying that our relationships are dependent on it by any means, but money plays a part in them, and we need to understand how it can affect us and others.

Money is the second most common reason for divorces. In 2015, the American Psychological Association (APA) conducted a study finding 64% of Americans said finances were a significant source of stress in their lives. America’s Debt Help Organization found that debt can lead to fear, panic, anger, and depression. It’s no question that stressful financial situations will hinder our mental health. Payoff, a personal loan company, conducted a financial health survey and found 23% of respondents were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of personal finances. Fortunately, we serve a God who can bring us through any situation if we rely on Him. Most of us will face periods of financial stress in our lives in some shape or form that will force us to either rely on God or try and figure out how to navigate it on our own, which will cause more strife.

Another way to help combat these issues is emotional support. This ties back into the way money has changed culture and created impersonal exchanges among people. It can play a part in loneliness and be a part of people’s mental health issues. To combat the impersonality and loneliness money can bring, we need to surround ourselves with trusted individuals to be open and honest with in times of financial stress. The ability to be in trusted fellowship with people, especially when it comes personal finances, is something from God. We can use this opportunity for community to build each other up and glorify Him.

Money can be a difficult topic to discuss in any setting and is such a complex topic to try and fit into a couple of paragraphs. We must be willing to have the tough conversations to better understand the way money can glorify Him. Let’s change the conversation from money being evil to how money can grow God’s kingdom.

Sources:

https://www.moneymanagement.org/blog/2016/05/financial-stress-leads-to-symptoms-of-depression

https://www.debt.org/advice/emotional-effects/

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/04/money-stress

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHGwOYzUw9o

https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/stewardship/do-what-makes-your-heavenly-father-smile

https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/make-a-plan-for-your-money

https://www.daveramsey.com/pr/money-ruining-marriages-in-america

https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/couples-retirement-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2018/09/most-americans-avoid-talking-about-money.html?page=all 

Revelation 2 contains the letter from John to the Church in Ephesus. In this letter, Jesus, who had been using John to write letters to several churches to either call out their issues that needed addressing or affirm them as they went through times of struggle, brings up how the church in Ephesus has been “enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” but “have abandoned the love [they] had at first” (Revelation 2:3-4, ESV). These letters to the ancient churches contain truth for not only them in that time period, but for us nowadays as well, and the truth that struck me with this message not too long ago was that I, in some ways, have lost my first love, or at least had lost some of the things I had done when I first was falling in love. When it was all fresh, new, and exciting, and I had my first real encounter with Jesus, I loved reading books and listening to sermons all to try to learn so much more about Jesus, but as time went by, I got too busy and sort of lost my love for doing those things, but I longed to get back into the swing of things, remembering my first love once again.

JR Vassar’s “Glory Hunger: God, the Gospel, and Our Quest for Something More” was the book I initiated my resurgence into reading books regularly again with, and I am overjoyed that it was. Vassar, the Senior Pastor of Church at the Cross in Grapevine, Texas, sought to show readers a problem all of us have as a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, the repercussions of that problem, and how to renounce one of the ever-present side effects of the Fall, which is the issue of us seeking the glory that rightfully belongs to God.

Following a foreword by Matt Chandler, Vassar exposes how “the glory hunger we all possess is to be restored to a glorious image and crowned with honor by God” (pg. 23) which stems from our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, who brought sin into the world and made a need for restoration. As a result of the Fall and the emergence of sin we often try to compensate for our lost glory, adopt narcissistic tendencies that turn the attention on ourselves, and try to put on a good face to try to remain in good graces with society; “a hunger for glory is a legitimate part of humanity’s intended design, but it has been twisted. God built us for glory but our glory hunger has made us slave to it.” (pg. 16)

Vassar observes that “until the opinion of the one who matters most actually matters most to you, you will never be free from your unrelenting glory hunger” (pg. 44) and calls for us to abandon the hunger of our own glory by giving it to the One truly worthy of it. Referencing multiple passages of Scripture including Psalm 145, Vassar motions for readers to look upward to God who is vast and wonderous in all of His ways instead of inward to our shallow hearts that are prone to be selfish, wicked, and in search of ultimate affirmation, as “in Him [Jesus] we are given the unchanging status of justified and adopted children of God” (pg. 54). Once we get it through our thick skulls that when we are saved we are called God’s beloved sons and daughters by God Himself, we can finally rest in our pursuit of our own glory and instead give it to the One who is truly worthy of it.

With an easy to read flow and repetition of main points to make sure readers understand what he is trying to say, Vassar delivers a goldmine of practical information on a subject we all deal with in a small book. For those seeking freedom from self and the never-ending labor of trying to build up our own reputations, this book is a must-read.

Sources

Vassar, JR. (2015). Glory Hunger: God, the Gospel, and Our Quest for Something More. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

I distinctly remember in elementary school being told by an older person that George W. Bush was the good guy and his opponent, John Kerry, was the bad guy. The picture painted for my impressionable mind was that Bush was Rocky Balboa and Kerry was Ivan Drago. It wasn’t like Kerry wore a dark cape and had a diabolical laugh like most of the bad guys in the cartoons I watched growing up had; in my little “America is the greatest nation on Earth and you can’t say that she has done anything bad, ever” bubble, Kerry was the bad guy because he was a Democrat and Bush was the good guy because he was an Evangelical Republican. Nothing else seemed to matter in the process of determining who to vote for.

For the longest time, I thought that “Evangelical Republican” was a special kind of Republican, but then I came to realize that Evangelicalism originally had no roots in politics whatsoever. Donald Bloesch writes: “The term ‘Evangelical’ as designating a particular religious identity came into prominence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although it had already appeared in the Reformation period as a point of dispute between a rising Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Evangelicalism came more and more to be contrasted with Modernism and Liberalism.” Being an Evangelical used to be an identifying term that set Christians apart as those holding to sound biblical doctrine, but as it gained popularity and influence, Evangelicalism became more of a credential for politics rather than a distinguishing term for those in Christianity.

As Republican and Evangelical become more and more synonymous with one another, the lines between them often seem blurred. During the 2016 Presidential election, a common sight to see on Facebook was a Republican sharing a post on loving our neighbors, but then follow that with vicious attacks on the Clintons, from bringing up Bill’s affair with Monica Lewinsky to making fun of Hillary’s physical appearance. Evidentially, since the former Secretary of State was a Democrat, that must mean that she was not a neighbor that should be loved and that she, due to her political stances, was not made in the image of God.

This commonly-found hypocrisy has given Evangelicals a bad name, one that has made it seem like Evangelicals are more concerned with who is in office than who is being shown the love of Christ. Peter Wehner, a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, concludes, “The term Evangelical — despite its rich history of proclaiming the “good news” of Christ to a broken world — has been so distorted that it is now undermining the Christian witness.” The nastiness of politics has polluted the love that should flow out of Christianity. Author and Presbyterian pastor Timothy Keller also notes, “‘Evangelical’ used to denote people who claimed the high moral ground; now, in popular usage, the word is nearly synonymous with ‘hypocrite.’ When I used the word to describe myself in the nineteen-seventies, it meant I was not a fundamentalist. If I use the name today, however, it means to hearers that I am.”

What frustrates and confuses me all at once is that many who say they are evangelical are not even actually evangelical. Bob Smietana of LifeWay writes,

“About one in four Americans say they are evangelical Christians. Most of them are white, live in the South and identify as Republican. Many go to church every week. But they’re not always sure what they believe. Fewer than half of those who identify as evangelicals (45 percent) strongly agree with core evangelical beliefs, according to a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. ‘There’s a gap between who evangelicals say they are and what they believe,’ said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. And a significant number of evangelical believers reject the term ‘evangelical.’ Only two-thirds (69 percent) of evangelicals by belief self-identify as evangelicals.”

This is like if a fan at a Lakers game wearing a jersey he bought online got on the court and started shooting air balls, thinking he was part of the team – he would be giving a bad name to something that is meant to be good, just like how many Republicans, who do not know what an Evangelical is supposed to be, identify as one and then have their political passions broadcasted, which many on the outside mistake for what Evangelical faith supposedly looks like.

If this sounds like I hate conservative politics and all things Republican, I don’t. My quarrel is with the distortion of the term “Evangelical” and where the priorities of even some of those who claim to be Evangelicals are. If Jesus is truly your Lord & God then He should have your love far more than any nation should. Jesus should have your pledged allegiance far more than any flag should. I love this nation, but I want it to be abundantly clear with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength that I love Jesus way more than I love this country. This country can’t save me, the Republican nor the Democratic party can save me, only Jesus can save me, and that’s regardless of how I vote.

Let this not discourage you from your political convictions but instead encourage in your loving interactions. You can be an Evangelical, you can be a Republican, you can be an Evangelical who happens to be a Republican; these are fine things to be, but be cautious about getting those lines blurred and getting priorities mixed up.

Sources

Bloesch, D. G. (2008). Evangelicalism. Dialog, 47(1), 16-20. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6385.2008.00363.x.

Keller, T. (2017, December 19). Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump And Roy Moore?. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/can-evangelicalism-survive-donald-trump-and-roy-moore.

Smietana, B. (2017, December 6). Many Who Call Themselves Evangelical Don’t Actually Hold Evangelical Beliefs. LifeWay. Retrieved from https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/12/06/many-evangelicals-dont-hold-evangelical-beliefs/.

Wehner, P. (2017, December 9). Why I Can No Longer Call Myself an Evangelical Republican. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/opinion/sunday/wehner-evangelical-republicans.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fpeter-wehner&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&ccontentPlacemen=1&pgtype=collecti.

Spring Break: the long awaited and much anticipated event that marks the halfway point of spring semester. When I think of spring break I think of sitting in the warm sun with my toes in the sand, sippin’ on an ice cold La Croix. Funny enough, I have never actually done any of these things during my previous three spring breaks here at Liberty. This spring break, however, will be different. 

It’ll be different because I will be kicking up my feet in a place accurately titled the “Aloha State”, but better known as Hawaii! For the last few months now, I have been scouring the Internet for an affordable flight. Thanks to Sky Scanner, a handy app that notified me about affordable tickets, I will be making the 12-hour journey from Washington D.C. to the beautiful Big Island this Friday.

This is not a typical vacation with a five-star resort, pool and endless buffet. This break I will actually be staying on a YWAM base where my sister has been living for the past few months. Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, is a global missions organization which focuses on serving Jesus throughout the world. My sister, Lauren, is currently enrolled in Discipleship Training School (DTS) at The University of Nations in Kona, HI. DTS is a six-month program where the first three months are spent learning and being discipled in your faith, and the following three months are spent living as a missionary in many different parts of the world. My sister left at the beginning of January for DTS and will be sent out to minister to the people of Germany and Wales at the end of March.

I remember when I first learned about this adventure that my sister was about to embark on. I couldn’t help but be jealous that she would get to learn about Jesus in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. For me, the times I have truly experienced God’s presence the most viscerally has been in beautiful parts of His creation, like looking out at the deep blue waters of Laguna Beach or standing on Sharp Top at sunrise. My sister has learned many things during her short time in Hawaii and I cannot wait to experience a bit of her journey with her this week.

There are a few things I plan on doing during my limited time in Hawaii when we venture out from the YWAM base. My first plan is happily eating myself into a poké and sushi-induced coma. Hawaii is known for their seafood, similarly to how I am known for my love of seafood. The problem is, being from the Midwest, my encounters with good seafood are few and far between. I plan to “strike while the iron is hot” and eat as much of Hawaii’s diverse and delicious cuisine as possible before I fly home on Thursday. Next on my list is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I, like many, have never witnessed the sheer power of a volcano firsthand and I have also never been to any of our nation’s national parks. This would be a lot of firsts for me, but I imagine I will feel a lot like Moana when she encounters the volcano monster Te Ka and defeats it with the power of song. Last on my list is something to satisfy my inner adrenaline junkie, a cliff-jump at a place appropriately named The End Of The World. I have been known to take risks and seek out fun and adventure in many forms, but this will probably be the most wild thing on my list of to-dos. 

The remainder of my week will be spent living the life of a typical YWAM student, from going to class to meeting with my sister’s outreach team to a weekly gathering with the entire school for a time of worship and prayer (much like Liberty’s Convocation). I cannot wait to see the beauty of God’s creation in Hawaii and also get to spend time with my amazing and Jesus-loving sister.

Gabi: It was July 5, 2018, when I knew my life was never going to be the same again. I had spent the night before  sleeping in a hospital waiting room with my boyfriend and little sister. At around 7:00 am, my dad woke my sister and I up and I could tell by the look on his face that we would be saying goodbye to our mom today. Sure enough, a few hours later my mom took her very last breath. I cannot even put into words the way that I felt that day. Only a week before, we found out that my mom had a rare skin cancer inside her chest wall, and she would have about two more years to live. How did two years turn into one week? How could this really be God’s plan?

Kaitlyn: It was September 4th, 2018, when I got the call from my parents while I was walking through Montview Student Union. I knew from the missed calls on my phone and the tone of my dad’s voice that this was not the normal “How are you doing?” call. Without hearing the words, I already knew that my brother, Kyle, had passed away. At that moment, there was relief because of the struggle my brother had gone through, but also immense pain and heartbreak. Only two weeks into my semester, I had to face the fact that my life was going to change forever.  The thought of dropping out and going home popped into my head, but I heard my brother’s voice in my head telling me I need to finish strong. Ultimately, I decided that I needed to stay at Liberty and fight through my pain and suffering; I think that is one of my biggest accomplishments. The first month after my brother passed away, I felt constant guilt whenever I had a smile or a good laugh because I thought to myself, “How could I be happy and have fun while something this horrible is going on?” I had to fight through that and learn that the joy I was experiencing was the joy of the Lord. Even though this was the hardest experience to ever happen to me, I have never felt so near to God, and because of that I experienced strength like none other. Ultimately, I was still constantly wondering: why was this God’s plan?

People are constantly wondering “why bad things happen to good people”. When dealing with death and pain, it is important to remember the life that God desires for us to have. In order to begin this journey of healing, we have to look back in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. In Genesis 1 and 2, we see that God created a perfect world and man in His image. God desired for the world to be filled with life and sinlessness. Genesis 1:31 states, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good…” God admired the world that He created because he saw the perfection and beauty within it.

Although God created this world to be perfect, in Genesis 3 we see sin enter into the narrative. Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord’s commandments and believed that their ways were higher than God’s. Therefore, they listened to the serpent and ate the fruit from the tree of “knowledge of good and evil”. It was man’s own doing that brought sin into the world, not God’s intention. When man sinned, not only did sin enter the world, but so did death. In other words, because we are sinners we deserve death. Thankfully, death is not the end of the story. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our past, present and future sins. Because of this, we are able to have eternal life in Heaven with our Creator. Death is only temporary on this earth and no one is immune to it; however, we are able to accept the free gift of eternal life and salvation from Jesus.

As Christians, we are able to hold onto the hope of what is to come because we have the promise of Jesus, and the battle against death has already been won. Often times, the world views death as depressing, but as Christians, we are able to view death as a celebration because we can recognize that this earth is our temporary home and heaven is our permanent destination. By making Jesus the center of our lives, we are able to have the assurance of knowing where we and the ones we love go after our life on Earth ends.

Although we as believers can rely on the truth that this world is only temporary and Jesus defeated death on the cross, it does not necessarily make losing someone we love any easier. We are given the opportunity to either run towards Jesus in a time like this or to dabble in the ways of the world. The world may appear more attractive and simpler, but the only thing that is going to satisfy our deep sorrow and pain is Jesus. Yes, it still hurts losing someone we love, but through fellowship with the people around us and by intentionally pursuing a relationship with the Lord, we are able to overcome pain from death. When we ask the Lord for something according to His will, as stated in John 15:7, He will equip us with what we need to get through such a time, as long as we choose to abide in Him. God provides undeniable strength and peace because He understands what we are going through. God experienced the pain that comes from death because of the sacrifice of His own Son. He sacrificed His Son so that we no longer have to feel the pain of death; instead, we can rest in His joy.

Eventually, things will get easier and life will start feeling “normal” again.

Kaitlyn: For me, it took getting back into a routine and going back to activities that I was present in before I lost my brother for life to feel “normal” again. Being in a routine helped me feel like life was constant and unshakable. I tried to surround myself with people that felt like home and made me feel safe and loved. One of the most important things I learned in my grieving was that community is everything. Community comes alongside you and helps you walk when you can’t walk and mourns with you when you are mourning. 

Also, while making new memories was important for me to feel like my life was continuing, it was also crucial for me to remember the good memories I had of my brother. Some of the most important times for me were spent alone because it gave me space to think and pray. It is so easy to get caught up with being busy so we can distract and numb ourselves from the pain we are experiencing, but the best advice I could give to someone is to spend time alone with yourself and God. My journal and my Bible have been two of the most vital things in my life through this season.

Because my brother passed away while I was at school, I had not been home for a consistent amount of time until I went home for Thanksgiving break. That break was difficult because everything at home reminded me of my brother and it finally hit me that he was gone. The “firsts” are always the hardest, and I have to constantly remind myself that it will get easier and the Lord will give me the strength to go on. Even though life starts to feel “normal” again, there are still times when I am sad, which I know is completely normal. An important thing to remember is that mourning looks different for everyone and there is no right or wrong way to process grief. Sometimes sadness will hit you in the weirdest way and at the most random time, but that is okay. Whenever I experience those feelings, I have learned it is better to deal with it right away than to let them boil up and slowly eat away at you. Everyone has a different process of grieving, but it is vital to remember that you need to surround yourself with community, Jesus, and times of solitude.

Gabi: It honestly took a while for life to start feeling “normal” again for me. I had a month left at home before returning back to school, and between planning my mom’s funeral, moving into a new house and starting a new semester and job, it took a while for me to take time to sit down and process everything. In order for life to start to feel “normal” again, it took a lot of tears, prayer, time spent in God’s Word, and the community that my family, friends and hall had to offer. If it was not for being intentional in my relationship with the Lord, I know that I would not be standing where I am today. Honestly, it also took some time for me to figure out God’s plan for my life, and to fully understand why something like this would happen. 

I did not fully understand God’s plan for my life until I started reading the story of Job. Job is a very popular Bible character from the Old Testament. Job had a life full of heartbreak and suffering. Although everything was taken from Job (his wife, his children, his income, his crops, etc.), he still continued to bring God worship and praise. Although I by no means was perfect at praising God through this time in my life, I learned that the more I focused my eyes on God, the more He would reveal his plan for my life and the more I would in turn want to bring Him praise through this time of suffering. Not only is it so crucial to grow deeper in a relationship with God during this time by reading the Bible, journaling and praying, but it is also important to seek out community. God desires for us to be in community with others, and thanks to the people in my life, I was able to move towards a life that is more “normal.”

As stated earlier, mourning and a normal life looks different for everyone and it will not happen overnight. Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. are going to be hard (especially the first time around), but eventually things will get easier, thanks to the grace and love of Christ. Therefore, we wanted to include some resources that we found helpful or that were recommended to us and/or are available here at Liberty.

Resources we found helpful:

• Student Counseling Services
• Books
  • Hope for Hurting Hearts; by Greg Laurie
  • Grieving the Loss of Someone You Love; by Raymond Mitsch and Lynn Brookside
  • Helping those in grief: A guide to help you care for others; by H. Norman Wright
  • Surprised by suffering: The role of pain and death in the Christian life; by R.C. Sproul
  • A Grief Observed; by C.S Lewis
  • Why suffering?: Finding meaning and comfort when life doesn’t make sense; by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale
• Community on Campus
  • Community Groups/Hall Leadership
  • LU Shepherd Office
• Many churches that surround Liberty

If you are reading this, and you have not lost someone, but you know someone who has experienced loss and is going through the process of grieving, the best thing to do for them is to simply be there for them. Although it may be uncomfortable and hard to think of the words to say, listen when they need someone to listen and speak when they need some advice. It is okay not to have all of the answers, because the most important thing is to be a constant friend during this time for them.

Another thing to remember is that if you are experiencing the loss of someone you love, you are not alone. There are people all around us who are also mourning, and we may not even know how close they are. One in five children will experience the death of someone close to them by age 18 (Kenneth Doka, Editor of OMEGA, Journal of Death and Dying). There is a lot of loss and pain in this world, which is why there is an even greater need to foster community within our halls, college campus, hometown, etc.

Although losing someone you love to death can be one of the hardest trials in one’s life, we hope this testimony can be an encouragement to you. We want you to know you are not alone, and there is a God that cares about your situation and loves you. You will get through this by the grace of God. We are praying for you!

Resources

The Action Bible Study Bible: ESV. David C. Cook, 2015.

Anyabwile, Thabiti. “105 People Die Each Minute.” The Gospel Coalition (TGC),

The Gospel Coalition, 31 Oct. 2017. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/105-people-die-each-minute/  .

“Omega: Journal of Death and Dying: Index—Contents of Volume 68, 2013–2014.” OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, vol. 68, no. 4, June 2014, pp. 383–385, doi:10.2190/OM.68.4.f.

“Student Counseling Services.” Liberty Journal, Liberty University Online, https://www.liberty.edu/students/student-counseling/

If you have been to one of our Open Mic Nights, you know exactly how much of a good time they are. Open Mic gives students the opportunity to show their gifts to Liberty’s student body, displaying talents such as singing, rapping, spoken word, and comedy. Sign-ups usually fill quickly with students eager to perform, and Argo Tea is packed with an audience of students excited to be entertained.

As an Event Staff who gets to work and sometimes host Open Mic Night, I enjoy getting to see students grow as artists and become more comfortable with performing in front of a large crowd. Every Open Mic, prior participants come back and grow in their confidence, and that is something I love to see. Part of the reason why participants are likely to keep returning and performing is because of the supportive audience of students that attend the events. Having this event in Argo Tea makes it easy for you to sit with friends, grab food, and even work on an assignment while you watch your peers perform.

For anyone who is considering performing at Open Mic, you should definitely go for it! This is a great opportunity for you to share your gifts with the school and grow in your craft. Our next Open Mic will be on March 19 in Argo Tea at 7:00 pm. Sign-ups will start at 6:45, so make sure that you get there early if you plan on performing. We can’t wait to see you showcase your talent!

Graduating is such an exciting time because you finally get to see the outcome of all the hard work you put in to get to this point. College is not necessarily easy but it is also one of the best times of life because you get to meet new people, try new things, and focus on preparing yourself for the future. Moving on from college and going into another chapter of life can be very exciting as well, but in order to get to that next chapter you have to go through the journey of senior year, and it can be tough.

If you are like me then during your senior year you have experienced what is commonly known as senioritis. Senioritis is used to describe a lack of motivation to push through senior year. While finishing my senior year and talking to other seniors, I have realized that senioritis goes so much deeper than not being motivated.

During this time of looking for a job, or a graduate school, everything is up in the air, which can be very nerve wracking considering the fact that we haven’t really gone through this much change since deciding on a college to attend. Hearing from peers that have jobs lined up after graduation can be very discouraging, but through talking to other seniors I’ve realized that most of us actually have no clue what is going on. This doesn’t make not having anything lined up any better, but it does bring me peace to know that I am not alone in this part of life.

What I have been doing to make myself feel better about graduating is making sure that I am preparing to be a good employee or graduate student. This looks like making sure that my resume communicates what it needs to and also continuing to stay focused on school so that I can show myself worthy of being accepted into a graduate program. If you are a senior trying to figure out what is going to happen with your future, my advice would be to not forget how important it is to live in the present and focus on preparing yourself for the future the best way you can.

From the ages of two to five, I had the privilege of praying every single day and night for God to give me a brother. Needless to say, my parents were very content with three children, but that is probably the most consistent and intentional I have ever been with my prayer (which baffles me due to my young age). Yet, it seems that with young age and blissful ignorance comes an unbelievable amount of faith. The same kind of childlike faith that Jesus spoke of in the Bible was the exact childlike faith that I lived out during that time. I couldn’t be more joyous or grateful that my prayer was answered. 

My brother John was born on March 20, 2004, in Enid, Oklahoma. Beginning from birth, there was a battle for his life. To put it lightly, he struggled from the beginning. The first few years of John’s life were more difficult than anybody else I have ever met. He was sickly and frail from birth, was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, he aspirated food and later had to have the food surgically removed, and was later diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and had to go through copious amounts of chemotherapy. After all of that, he had to have two surgeries, including one open heart, to repair a hole in his heart. And if all of this wasn’t enough, his hip socket was injured during one of the surgeries and for the first 12 years of his life, he walked with a severe limp. Now it has digressed to the point where he is not even able to walk anymore because of the amount of pain that it brings him.

One could have the idea that John could be the most withdrawn and spiteful person on the planet. Thankfully, that statement could not be farther from the truth. John is the single most loving human being I have ever met. He loves without bounds and is not afraid to show you tangibly what that looks like. John has one of the most admirable views of people that I have ever seen. My deepest fears, fondest memories, and greatest dreams all revolve around this human being. In the public’s eye, he is “disabled” or impaired, but in God’s eyes, he is made perfect and will be made complete in Heaven, and that is a day that I long to see more than life.

Why is it that when we see how much joy people like John have and we notice that they live a normal life in and of themselves, we still tend to view them as solely “impaired” rather than as a human with unique abilities? Far too often we see somebody’s disability before we see any possible abilities in them. I argue that this way of thinking stems from a skewed societal view of “normalcy.” 

We need to challenge and redefine what society views as normal and abnormal. According to the ADA National Network, they define a person with a disability as, “a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.” While maybe the first thing that comes in our heads after reading that definition is something like Autism or Down Syndrome or a person who can’t walk, I want to make the point of how something so common as a vision impairment where a person is required to wear glasses is defined as a disability. Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” If we are made wonderfully in the image of God, then that goes for every human, not just the ones that society deems as different.

I was 5 years old when John was born and I was too young to know that he was going through complications. As we grew, the thought never crossed my mind of what life would be like with a “normal” brother. When you grow up and spend so much time with someone in his situation, you never get the chance to view them as different because you are just doing life together. We should always strive to view everybody as a person and not just label them by their disability. Blaine Grimes, author of “Finding Ability in Finding Dory” summarizes it the best when he says, “Look for the ability in disability.” I challenge you to try and keep this in mind in the future when you encounter someone who is disabled or impaired. The key element of this is to be intentional with others regardless of who they are or how they differ from you. This simple gesture can mean the world to somebody and can promote others to be intentional with you.

References

https://www.christandpopculture.com/99917/
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/education/edlife/disability-studies-a-new-normal.html
https://services.anu.edu.au/human-resources/respect-inclusion/different-types-of-disabilities
https://adata.org/faq/what-definition-disability-under-ada