My Last "Real Life"

Tonight was the last weekly "Real Life" meeting for our crusade group...the last time I will sit as a college student listening to the Word of God being preached from our wonderful Staff and the last time worshiping Him with our incredible band.

As tonight unfolded, I found myself reflecting on the last five years and how God has changed my life and the lives of many around me. The emotions were intense and there were many times in worship where I found tears streaming down my face. To just think that five years ago, I was a freshman sitting in Leon Johnson lecture hall at a Real Life meeting hearing for the first time the Gospel of grace being preached...to listen, respond, and pass from the Realm of Darkness to the Kingdom of Light that Wednesday night in October. That in itself is a magnificent and wonderful gift. But then to become more involved with a growing movement who lovingly reached out to others in a deep and meaningful way, to be influenced by some of the strongest men I've known, to learn how to study the Word and connect to God through journaling, to develop a passion for the lost, to develop eternal perspective, to learn what true surrender and servanthood is, and to find the woman of my dreams on a summer project. I am overwhelmed by the emotions that are coming to me tonight. How is it that the God of the universe could care so much to bless us so? Looking back on the five years, I think I am beginning to see the true meaning of Philippians 1:6 "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." God has changed, softened, and molded my heart in significant ways. He blessed me tonight by showing me the men who have built into me and the fellow brothers who I have been pouring my life into the last couple of years. My only wish now is to have other men see truly the real and abundant life that Christ brings. I want to be His instrument in reaching young freshmen men with the life changing Words of Truth. The cross before me...the world behind...no turning back...not to us, but to Him be the glory.