College Days

I've forgotten what it feels like for 9:00 PM to actually be more like 5:00 PM. The time in college when 5:00 PM was seen as the "start" of the day. At 5:00 PM, the afternoon nap had taken place and you were once again ready to go - refreshed and recharged. Meetings were scheduled for 11...11 PM, which was no problem because you could drink caffeine past 7 PM. Intramurals went from 5 until midnight... Group devotionals or events started around 8 and went until.... And of course there was the ever reliable IHOP and Waffle House who consistently ensured you still had somewhere to go after the 11 pm meeting. But remember, IHOP was for "studying."

Tuesday was a nice reminder of that time. The college we work at invited Jon Acuff to come and speak during our regular, weekly worship gathering. Typically, I do not make events occurring this late, but I had heard many good (and funny) things about him so made it a point to attend. I am really glad I did. For those of you who are less familiar with Jon Acuff, he's written a few books - Quitter, Stuff Christians Like, and Gazelles, Baby Steps And 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt. His blog, Stuff Christians Like, is followed by thousands of people. And he's a fantastic speaker - enlightening, humorous and convicting - as I learned Tuesday.

He made several great points and I really want to share them with others. I feel this would have been a really encouraging message to me back in my college days. A lot of these points are in his book, Quitter, but still worth summarizing.

He emphasizes the passion that's inside of us and what we do with it. It's where our influence comes from - in living the life God has called you too.
1. Figure out your dream (passion). If you know what your dream is but don't know where to
    start, don't put it on the shelf. It only takes a small moment to change/make a big
    person. God loves the mustard seed concept.
2. Give God your whole life. Why do we try and imagine the worst thing is going to happen
     when we give God all? It's a trick our culture has played on us. (Consider Luke 11). You
     want fame? The Alpha and Omega knows your name. We are already famous.
3. Stop trying to fix yourself. Christ came for the "broken bowls".

A few subpoints:

• Don't look for the perfect passion, make a list of what you love, work on each one - one at a time (and when you get to the #3 thing you love on your list you may discover its your passion, but are better at #3 because you worked on #1 and #2);
• Figure out what's in your core, not the execution of your dream (God will surprise you with a crazy execution!);
• Don't quit your day job. Christ prepped 30 years for His ministry. Start somewhere.
• "Someday" is not on your calendar

The evening did not end there. A small group was able to "meet and greet" with him afterwards at a local coffee shop. Another reason for highlighting how much this evening reminded me of old times...I was out until midnight. Midnight. However, it was really fun to talk with him, though brief. I'm still glad I went. He gave a shout-out for the counseling profession and our last name and signed a copy of Quitter. Jon Acuff sent a lot of great reminders my way. I feel he confirmed small beginnings in life and encouraged doing something in the now no matter how seemingly insignificant. If you want to write, start writing.