Let me say first off - I don’t claim to be an expert on this issue. I don’t claim to know all the facts. Feel free to agree or disagree with me… and I’d love to have wisdom or advice from people who want to share it.

Covenant has this thing called “Standards of Conduct.” It is basically a two page list of standards that Covenant requires all entering students to sign and agree to. ”Students at Covenant are to practice all the virtues taught in the Scriptures, such as: self-discipline, modesty, patience, and honesty… Students are also required to abstain from all activities which violate Biblical teachings…”

I signed and agreed to it when I came to Covenant College as a freshman last fall semester.

One of the biggest things that is talked about on campus are the rules that students are prohibited from smoking and drinking while enrolled in the semester at Covenant. “Students are prohibited at all times, whether they are on or off the campus …from the possession and use of alcohol and/or tobacco.” Click to continue »

Today was a Day of Prayer for Covenant College. We didn’t have classes, but instead set aside one day to pray. It’s been really awesome… not to mention not having classes and just having the opportunity to take some time to rest and catch up on sleep or studying.

Maclellan Hall, the residence hall that I am in, had an all-night prayer vigil. They had set different times slots throughout the night from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. for different halls in Maclellan to pray. Obviously, it was just an opportunity to spend time in prayer… and to spend time singing, as well as just talking and having fellowship with people on campus.

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So last night, Sunday night, I headed over to the Anderson’s house for waffles. Every Sunday evening starting around 7:00 p.m., Wallace Anderson, the Vice President of Admissions at Covenant College, hosts a waffle dinner at his house for any students who can make it. Covenant doesn’t provide Sunday night dinner in the Great Hall – just to give the staff a break. So since the beginning of last semester, I have been making it over to Mr. Anderson’s house for waffles. At the start of fall semester, there were only about 10 people that went every week. Recently, there has been a good 30 or 40 Covenant students going over to his house every Sunday night for a free waffle dinner…

Last night was good… it’s always the highlight of my Sunday to go spend a chilled out evening at an actually home. Oftentimes, we’ll be sitting in the downstairs living room talking about the big issues of life in front of the fire place. Good times.

I’m sitting here… it’s early Sunday morning. And my mind has just been wandering back to the days when I lived in England. It’s been almost a year and a half since I last left… that’s hard to believe.

Looking back, I have changed so much since then. I miss those days. Living there was such a big part of who I am today… It was hard not to live there and wonder why I couldn’t be back in the States. Why was I living some 4000 miles away from where I was born? Why was I living in a culture that was so hugely different from the one I was raised in?

I never really understood why people thought it was so awesome that I lived in England or France. They were home to me… there was nothing all that special about them. Looking back, a year and a half down the road, I see that I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had the opportunity to live 13 years of my life in a place where most people never even get the chance to go to. I had the chance to grow up in three different cultures, not to mention see some 25 others from trips that I went on with my dad or my family. How many people get that amazing opportunity in their lives? Please don’t think I am being proud or boastful… sitting here now, I am just reflecting on the amazing blessings that God was giving me when I could care less about where I lived.

How often do I do that? How often do we take for granted where we live… and the opportunities that God places in front of us? I know I did a lot… and I still do. It’s easy to think, “I wish I was there right now” …or “If only I was with them right now.”

Don’t take for granted where God has you right now. Don’t overlook the blessings and opportunities He has placed before you by wishing the days away.. or by wishing yourself away.

So it’s a Friday night… I was just hanging out in my room with my roommates and a bunch of other guys from the Five Points. Our room is one of the main hang out places on the Five Points because it’s so big… me and my roommates have one of the two six-man suites on the hall. There is always plenty of floor space, chairs, and pillows to just sit and talk and hang out…

So we were definitely just hanging out and talking after coming back from the Great Hall. Open dorms start at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. It was around 7:00 when a few of the girls from Carter and Mac came down to hang out. We spent a while just talking and listening to music in our suite, and then we decided to head down to Greyfriars downtown.

Greyfriars, for those of you who don’t know, is a small coffee shop in downtown Chattanooga. It is actually run (or it was last time I heard) by several Covenant graduates. It’s an awesome hang out/study place… and on any given night, you’ll run into a handful of Covenant students studying or chilling out down there.

Me and my roommates, along with another two car loads of people, headed down to Greyfriars… after hanging out and talking down there for a while, we took a walk on the Walking Bridge that joins the two sides of Chattanooga.

You know what? It’s so so easy to get discouraged by criticism… or by the fog that loves to sit on top of Lookout… or by getting a low grade on a quiz. It’s easy to look at the downsides to life. You know what I mean?

Steve commented on my last post “Aimless.” He asked me if the fog or just being on top of a mountain discouraged or depressed me at all. I’m not going to lie, if I focused on that… it would depress me. It’s down right hard waking up to the sound of your alarm clock at 7:00 in the morning and having to walk up to class when it’s cold and foggy outside. But hey! Look at the bright side …at least I don’t have to wake up at 5:00. :)

But seriously, it’s really easy to focus on the downsides to everyday life. I’m guilty as anyone of doing that on a regular basis. But what good does it do? It doesn’t make me feel better… it doesn’t make the situation any better. In fact, it tends to make things worse.

I was sitting in church this past Sunday at Rock Creek Fellowship. It’s a smaller church on the back side of Lookout where i’ve been going since last semester. It had been a hard week. Classes were busy, and things were starting to pick up. Not to mention a whole array of other things that had been on my mind. As I was sitting there, Pastor Eric began to talk about storing up your treasures in Heaven and not on earth. 

Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Click to continue »

Do you ever have those nights where all you want to do is go out and walk aimlessly? Where all you want to do is forget about everything you’re supposed to remember… and just dig up good times from the past? I’m there right now. I just spent the last hour or so walking aimlessly around campus, listening to music and just thinking. This one song really caught my ear. As far as I am aware, it was written by Josh Groban. The words just really meant a lot to me… read them and think about them. I can’t make the claim that they were written by a Christian or that the words were talking about Christ. But whenever I here them, they always remind me of what Christ has done for me… and what He continues to do for me every step of the way. They were an encouragement to me, so I thought I would share. Click to continue »

I have my first exam of the semester in half an hour… CHOW I, here I come.

One of my close friends talked to me the other night about his struggle with a family member. He was saying that Rachel (for the sake of calling her a name, though I won’t use her real name) was once a Christian who believed in the power of prayer, went to church with her family, and believed in the saving grace of God. But the last few months and years has completely turned away from what she was thought to be truth. She has thrown out her belief in Christ, her relationships with her family, and turned to drugs, alcohol and relationships that don’t satisfy. Her presuppositions and beliefs have changed… what she views and holds to be truth have changed.

I was talking with my close friend about it last night… He said it was a struggle. He still loves and cares for Rachel. But how does he go about talking to her and telling her that what she is living and trusting in and believing in is all a lie? How does he tell her that what she is doing is wrong? According to our presuppositions and our beliefs, we know that drinking and doing drugs are wrong. God talks about that in His word. Our bodies are temples of Him, and we have the responsibility to care for them.

I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

But how do you try to explain and tell that to someone who doesn’t believe that drinking and getting drunk is wrong? How do you tell that to someone who doesn’t believe that sleeping around is Biblically wrong? I don’t have the answers… I just know that is a very real struggle for me, as well as for many of my friends who have non-Christian friends who they deeply care about and love. I encouraged my friend to continue to love and care for Rachel as he was and still is doing… as well as to commit her to prayer and to God’s hands.

But I would like to know what you think. What advice would you have for someone in this situation? How do you go about handling a friendship like this?

Thank you God for talks and guitar jam sessions with your RA…. what a blessing.