Even-toed, fluffy, serene, delightful – my sheep. I see them every morning when I wake up in my stone castle, snuggled on an island off the coast of Ireland. Every day I take a walk amongst my furry friends and watch the waves crash against the black rocks that protect my acreage. Life is bliss. I’m seventy-seven years old, and my whole life has been based on the dream of someday attaining this retirement dreamland. How did I get here? Well, it all started in my high school years when I was going through those awkward days with acne.
When I had started my junior year, I was intent on looking perfect academically. It took up a lot of energy. Energy that I had accumulated over time from the grief of the recent divorce, in my immediate family, and, like Lemony Snicket would say it, the unrelenting series of unfortunate events. During this time, I started questioning my Christian faith. I was asked by one of my friends, yet again, to go to her church youth group. After coming up with several terrible excuses and feeling guilty, I agreed to go. The sermon that night was about how “we a...
Mary I have grown academically. Students come to school and learn so much. We learn skills and lessons that prepare us not only for high school or college but for the rest of our lives. We learn all these things from our teachers. Our teachers care about each one of us and want us to do well. They work very hard so that we can have the education we do. They also strive to be good role models for their students. They set a good example and teach us good values. We are taught how to treat people with love and respect. What's so amazing is that not only are we taught these values but you can see the students acting on these values everyday. For example, when we went to the Camp Duncan retreat we participated in some activities that taught us some about what it means to be Christian and how we should build each other up instead of tearing people down. After these activities you could see everyone being really nice to eachother, people talking to people they usually don’t, and just using what we had learned that day. It’s so amazing to see all the ways God works in our
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Check out this lady on the right side who thought now would be a good time ot walk a sheep. Wait, what is she walking? It appears as though this lady does indeed have a pet sheep -- at least for today.
This summer, after I was informed that I had been offered a teaching assistantship, I was terrified. I was not sure that I was capable of teaching students about a discipline in which I still possessed such a conscious doubt of my own abilities. For most of my life I was what you might call a non-achiever. When my parents strongly suggested that I enroll in college (the other option being to leave the house) everyone around me just sort of held their breath waiting for my inevitable failure. Then a strange thing happened. I passed my classes, and even enjoyed them.
Miss Brill is without any relatives or close friends. She has no acquaintances to converse with. Therefore, she treats her fur as if it were a pet. Her fur is a “dear little thing” (98) with eyes and a tail. She sometimes feels like “stroking” it (98).
Wed,9/26: Well, [I] started journaling today. It's kinda weird to do this project, seeing as we're all Christians anyway. Doesn't that mean we should always have this mindset, ya know, "What Would Jesus Do?" Any way, I was also considering the lecture in Global today, and that got a lot of questions going. So, I needed to go downtown, and I decided I would try to go about my errands with purpose. I am Christian, and I just happen to go bible college, and I just happen to be going shopping. I'm a Christian first and foremost.
Lions for Lambs, was a different kind of war drama, showing several perspectives by various individuals of the conflict in Afghanistan. Instead of the in-your-face action and special affects most war dramas are recognized for, this movie focused more on the ethical quandaries, political beliefs and emotions experienced by the individuals involved.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
I must have rehearsed a thousand times what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. I rehearsed so much, I began to visualize the meeting. Monday came, I prayed fervently, asking the Lord to remove my thoughts and replace them with His will. Remove the flesh and allow the Spirit to manifest in my life. I walked into the room, greeted by my principal and vice-principal. My words to them were simply; pray form me, because my flesh is week. At times my pride consumes my thoughts and actions. As I walked into the conference room, preparing myself one last time for my rehearsed words, something happened. I began to feel a sense of peace and calm, which was invigorating. I listened to both mother and father and heard their allegations in regards to my treatment of their daughter. But the one thing that resonated in my mind, the one thing that lingered, was when I heard the father say, “My daughter thinks you don’t like her.” Wow, what...
Religion has been an area of doubt for me for many years. My faith in the Christian religion has wavered so much, yet there was so much I did not know. So I took a Bible and Literature class this semester. It was the best decision I could have ever made. I learned so much from studying the Bible as a piece of literature rather than a faith. It allowed me to question the teachings I learned as a young child, and I did not feel guilty for disagreeing with what I had learned. It has made me want to learn more and question more in order to experience the true passions behind religious faith.
Which brings me to Fowler’s Theory of Faith Development, specifically Individual-Reflective Faith which occurs in early adulthood. Growing up as a family we went to church every Sunday and sometimes even twice a week, everyone in my family was a catholic and that was expected from all of us, no questions asked. I even got baptized as a baby and did my first communion when I was about nine years old. I did not mind the expectation from my family when I was little because I loved church, especially the singing. Then came a time where both of my parents started to work on Sundays, so did my sister, and so my brother and I helped out at my parents restaurant. Ever since then we really have not made church a priority, I believe this is what effected my encounter with my mother when I was eighteen years old. I was currently taking a class called “religion in the modern world” and learned about all rituals and how different religions support different things than others, and it got to me to reflect on what religion I grew up learning about. Some things I liked and some things I was horrified by. So talking to my mother, I was telling her my opinions and what I believed in and that there is not just one way to believe or think. She was furious, I was stepping out of the norm, but it had been because of my Individual-Reflective Faith than lead me to this stage. I am very thankful I was able to reflect on my faith, I now have a stronger bond on my beliefs and now my mother totally supports me on it, so it was all for the best that I went through this
During my seventh grade year, my church went to a youth rally at a local church on weekend. Because of this rally and the message it sent, I realized and wanted to give my life to Jesus through baptism. It was awesome, I got home as a young teenager and actually talked to my mom about what it really means to be a Christian and to pick up your cross and follow him. So that very next weekend, my dad baptized me in front of the whole church on Sunday morning. It was an awesome feeling knowing that because of Jesus’ grace and mercy, I will be with him one day and spend eternity with him. Although I was on top of the world at this point, I still didn’t know fully what I had gotten into. So the next few years, I live the typical Christian life. I was trying to be the perfect person by doing the right stuff, I would try not to cuss, I would try to wear as many WWJD bracelets as I could so that I wouldn’t have to talk to them about Christ and they could just see it on my wrist, I would not join in on conversations with my friends that I knew were not right, I was just living life on cruise control.
“I never see you singing in church.” I held my tongue. There was no way my Sunday school teacher had been watching me during all the songs – just to see me sing! Despite that, I became the loudest singer in church for the next couple years. Though I was only six, I knew I should not care so much about how I appear to other people. But, I could not help it. As I consider the journey of my past eighteen years, I understand how God turned my desire for others approval into a desire for His approval. He transformed my heart by pursuing me, testing me, and preparing me for success. Of the countless temptations, trials, and tests that I have struggled through, one truth
Raised by an agnostic father and a Catholic mother, I played religious tug-of-war. During my eight years of Catholic PSR study, I moved through the motions, much like a puppeteer commanding his rag figures on a string. I listened to hypocritical “teachers”, commanding me to cut ties with my Muslim friends for fear that they are most likely terrorists and to look down to gay members of our own community. Well aware of these prejudice intolerances, I said nothing, but I did I go home and continue my practices of Catholicism. Following the sacrament of confirmation, I broke away from the church and reverted to atheism - never could I support a cause that preaches intolerance and disgust towards another human being. I did not carry this ideology: I lugged it, I tugged it, I hauled it. I desired a relationship with the Lord, but I was infuriated with the way I was taught to connect with Him. After four interminable years of refusing to listen to the Lord’s calling, I took a leap of faith that I never envisioned possible - I visited a non-denominational Christian church with the man I love the most. Dressed in my Sunday-best on a Wednesday, I walked up four stairs in my tall wedges, heart pounding and stomach turning. My inner voice scolded me and said, “You turned your back on the Lord for four years, he will condemn you upon entering a holy place”. I opened my eyes and what I saw took me by surprise - men wore athletic shorts
I had allowed my very own insecurities and the words of someone else to keep me from fulfilling my dreams and from experiencing the possibilities that were ahead of me. I had shut down all of my plans without even giving them a shot! Soon after making this realization, I decided to recommit myself. I asked myself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” I definitely did not have the money or the grades at the time, but I refused to give up on myself. If things didn’t turn out how I wanted them to, at least, I could say that I never gave up on myself. I began to work on myself academically, spiritually and emotionally. First, after asking my school guidance counselor for assistance, I started taking online courses and spending all of my weekends studying and catching up on my school work, which had a great impact on my grades and GPA. Then, I began to faithfully attend my local church, where I made wonderful friends who got me out of my shell of insecurities. I also met church leaders who pushed me to be the best that I could be, not just for myself, but for God as well. Now, this definitely did not happen overnight, I spent a whole year fighting my way out of the dark miserable hole I was in, but with dedication, persistence, and God’s strength, I was able to persevere through it