Society says as young people we are lazy, naive, rebellious, and followers not leaders. The world does not expect much from us as young people and that has transferred over to the church. We are told we need to follow other's examples not be the examples. The bible has very different things to say, and I'm hoping as a young christian myself at 22 years old I can help other young Christians strive to be leaders not followers, to be servants not those who are served, to find worth in God's eyes not the world's eyes. 1 Timothy 4: 12 says, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."
About me: My name is Caleb I am 22 years old and I recently graduated from Pepperdine University. I am not a young person who has been rejected by society so I am lashing out, quite the opposite. I found myself in college to be a part of the world, I drank, I partied, I went on spring break trips to Mexico, I was in a fraternity, I even modeled professionally in LA for a while. What I realized is that some where along the way I had succumbed to the World's expectations of what a college student should be and put God on the back burner. My mind set was that I had time to be a good Christian and an example when I was older, I realize now that there's no better time to serve God and be an example then the now. I have rededicated my life to Christ and helping young people do the same. I am a pseudo college intern at my church and can't wait to see the way God will challenge me.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
As a Christian you are bombarded with choices between God or something else daily. Lately for me it has been work. Man oh man is it hard on my life right now being in the situation I’m in. For those of you who don’t know I am a college ministry intern for my church but also a manager at Abercrombie 45 hours a week until I start law school. I have been pretty good with managing my time with both jobs, using my free days for church and ministry planning. It hasn’t been an ideal situation but I have to work with the plight I have been given. It hasn’t really been an issue until the last week when I was scheduled to work Sunday close and this upcoming Wednesday close. I tried switching my shifts and explained my priorities to my boss but I couldn’t get my shift switched. My frustrations right now are hard to describe, basically the conflict of interest between making money for law school and having the time I need to invest in my college ministry.
It just reminded me that as Christians we have a priority above anything else. A priority that needs to always come before anything else even if that means making sacrifices. Even if that means me giving up this job if I have to and the money I need for law school. See God provides and will always provide for us. We need to put him above all and trust that he will take care of us no matter what. I know that a lot of you are surely facing these priority conflicts and just remember everything on this earth is temporary God is eternal.