My Character was Shaped, My Life was Changed… But was My Purpose Found?

The last 9 months of my life have proved to be the most challenging I have faced yet… Freshman year. I know that I wasn’t completely new to the college game, but can you ever really be used to pushing your brain to the limit on a daily basis? Actually, I sure hope so because if not, the next 7 years of my life will be the end of me. Emmaus has a slogan repeated so many times you think your ears might bleed if you hear it again… But then you stop. You think about it. Emmaus is a place where character is shaped, lives are changed, and purpose is found. On an average day you hear it then move on. Today, I stopped and thought. How was I shaped? How did my life change? Did I find my purpose? As an inside observer I would say that I am the same person that graduated from high school a year ago and left for an entire summer on an island outside of Seattle, Washington. I hope that’s not true. I spent hours reading, learning, writing, planning, and praying… to what end? In a perfect world I would be able to tell you that I understand the Bible to the fullest, I can teach a class of 35 kids with ease, I can treat a clinically depressed person with little more than a prayer. It’s not true. I learned that learning, in it’s purest form, is difficult. Gone are the days of straight A’s with little to no work. I learned that I have to rely on strength that no human can possible posses. I learned that college students that need less than 8 hours of sleep a night have been given a gift that I will never have. College is a challenge. I am proof that high school gives a false idea of college life… sadly. My life changed. How? That I can’t tell you. I don’t know when it happened. I don’t know what happened, but it happened. I am not the 18 year old who romanticized life in the dorms. (FYI- one year of that was enough for me.) I no longer expect my best effort to be good enough. There are real expectations in life. Dead lines aren’t open to interpretation… why I ever thought that, I don’t know. I am different. I am older. Purpose found… that’s an easy one. I know what I was made for. I was made to glorify Christ. I was made to spread the love of Christ. Exactly how I will do that… well, I have 3 more years to figure that out.

So, I guess what I’m saying is this: Emmaus isn’t a joke, like so many people think. Character is shaped, lives are changed, and purpose is found.