Can You Keep Your Faith in College? by Abbie Smith

Author:Abbie Smith [Smith, Abbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56274-6
Publisher: Crown Religion/Business/Forum
Published: 2006-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

GOD, I'LL GET BACK TO YOU

University of North Carolina

NickJ.

m y senior year of high school came with college applications, acceptance letters, and senioritis at maximum force. I was anxious for the escape and freedom of living away from home. As with many high school students, I had experimented with drinking, so I could imagine the fun nights it would create in college. The next four years would be one big party.

My freshman year of college turned out to be all that and more—parties, girls, beer, pot, and all the freedom I'd ever dreamed of! I was making a bunch of friends and meeting twice as many girls. I gloated in the fact that I went from being the adolescent dork to one of the guys everyone had heard of. I joined a fraternity my second semester so I could have more parties to go to. Classes got pushed aside, and I rationalized my low GPA to my parents by saying school was just harder than I expected.

The continuous party life carried on for the next two years. My grades improved a bit, but so did my tolerance for alcohol, marijuana, and girls. I was wandering in this party and hookup culture, and, I'm not gonna lie, these things brought me happiness. But it didn't last.

Up to that point in my life, I definitely would have told you that I was a Christian. I knew there was a God and even believed that Jesus died on the cross. College just seemed like a time when it was okay to put God in the background. It was like saying, “God, I know You're there, but You know, I'm just having too much fun right now. If I start listening to You, life will be boring, so just give me some time and I'll get back to You. In fact, just give me two more years of fun, and then I'll be a better person.”

During my senior year, God's gentle knock started to get a little louder. (It had probably always been loud, and I was just too distracted to hear it.) I had come to a point where, although I was still partying a lot, I realized that the parties weren't as much fun anymore. We'd get trashed, do stupid things with anything or anyone, and then wake up in the afternoon of the next day wondering what had happened.

About this time, one of my fraternity brothers asked if I'd like to be in his Bible study. Because partying had started to wear on me, I decided maybe it would be a good idea. Six of us started meeting on a weekly basis, and before long, I found myself looking forward to our study.

Not long after, the brother who was leading our Bible study invited me to a nationwide, Christian, Greek Conference in Indiana. I knew I wouldn't fit in and honestly wasn't thrilled about the idea of hanging out with a bunch of real (i.e., boring) Christians. I pictured a long, drawn-out weekend that would leave me feeling nothing but more guilty.

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