From academia to the real world

And so, I have officially begun my final year of university.

I never thought I would feel ready to graduate -- to leave this campus and these people. But I honestly think I will be. After working, doing what I love, all summer, returning the the world of academia is frustrating to say the very least.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy academics. But I enjoy employment more. And once again, I have to divide my time between what I love -- actually practicing journalism -- and studying it. And I know what takes priority each time. And my GPA, I know, will reflect my priorities.

But over the past two years, my concern for an impeccable GPA has diminished to essentially nothing. A pretty GPA is nice, but it isn't practical without a solid resume.

All my life, it feels like I've been prepping for the next step up in academic. In grade school, the next grade. Then junior high. Then high school. Then -- the big one -- college! But now, college is coming to a close. And the real world is what I have to be ready for now.

I'm just hoping I can put enough emphasis on my classes to learn what I need to prepare me for that.

College has been a blessing. A privilege. But I must say I'm thankful I only have to wait one year instead of two before marching across that stage on a sweltering Saturday in May to receive my fake Biola University diploma.

Bingo: Inspiration

After touring the L.A. Times today and hearing from the blog editor about how vital it is to keep an updated blog, I decided to start posting again.

The thing is, after a few months, I hardly know where to begin.

Summer felt like watching God create a beautiful tapestry that I never would have pictured by myself. He worked out the details, each and every one of them, from my rooming situation to post-graduation employment.

I never expected to have the privilege of interviewing Newt Gingrich, getting a position at a paper in Santa Barbara next summer, or meeting some of the finest reporters I have ever known.

But all that pails in comparison to the way the Lord used this summer to shatter my pride and my stubbornness and transform my self-centered heart and short-sighted mind.

There were several factors in this awesome renewal God blessed me with this summer, three of them being my church, my accountability partner and John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life.

The brevity of life has always shaken me, but never enough to actually change me. This time, I pray, is different.

The people at Capitol Hill Baptist Church were the best examples I have ever met of truly Christ-reflecting Christians. And the solid, theology-packed sermons, which often lasted nearly two hours, left me hungry for more always.

God is good. We say it all the time. But this summer, I experienced His goodness more than possibly ever before. Never before have I been so aware of my depravity. And never before have I been so aware of how sweet my salvation from that depravity is. I am saved into the Kingdom of God. It's so simple. And so earth-shatteringingly profound.

Why do I not wake up each morning overwhelmed all over again? I'm beginning to more. But I know that even now, closer to my sweet Savior than perhaps ever before, my feeble self can only grasp a sliver of that joy.

This year will push me to my limits. I can already tell. Spiritually. Physically. Academically. You name it. But I have found that it is only when I have reached the end of my self that the glory of God is revealed. For His strength is perfect in my weakness.

If it is in my most challenging times that God reveals Himself most to myself and to those around me, I pray to God to keep me clinging to Him for strength.