As a college student, summers were the best and worst of times. I say the best because, well, not being in school with all of its demands was pretty excellent. I say the worst because, well, being away from friends, rhythms and routines made life difficult. Specifically, my relationship with Jesus became somewhat non-existent as I always seemed to fall back into old patterns and habits that were destructive to any spiritual growth actually taking place. And every summer, I would tell myself that this summer would be ‘different’ only to finish the summer often worse off than I began.
As many college students have begun their ‘summer break’, I’ve been wondering what the summer will look like for them. Will it be a summer of continued growth? A summer of coasting? Or a summer where old habits resurface?
As I am nearly twenty years removed from my college years, I’ve been wondering what could I have done differently to make sure that by summer's end, I was different – less like me and more like Christ. Below is a letter of sorts – a letter that I wish I would have read twenty years ago. It’s a letter from an older version of me to the younger version of me. A letter encouraging the younger me not to settle for another ‘summer slump’ but to fight hard for a summer of enjoying all that God would do with me and through me in the summer months.
Dear College Michael,
I hope this letter finds you well. The summer is fast approaching and I desire that this summer would be radically different than any other summer you’ve experienced thus far. Yes I know that summer’s past have been marked by falling backwards, but I believe this summer could look much different for you. Please do not read the following as a ‘to-do-list’ of things that if accomplished will guarantee you a summer of God-honoring growth, rather, please consider the following as a map of sorts. A map to help guide you into unchartered waters. A map to help lead you where you’ve never been before.
First – please stop trying to avoid sinning. Every time you seek to stop sinning, your focus is on a particular sin that you don’t want to commit rather than being on Jesus. And the more you think about the sin you don’t want to do (whatever that might be), your eyes will be off where they need to be which is on Jesus. Simply put, the more you look at Christ this summer, the less you’ll even be thinking about sinning. And to be honest, as you dwell on Christ and the things of Christ, sin just doesn’t glitter like it used to.
Second – please surround yourself with some people that will love you enough to tell you what you need to hear which is often what you don’t want to hear. True friendship is not found in just spending time with people who like doing what you like, rather, true friendship is found when people are more concerned about helping you pursue holiness rather than watching you settle for happiness. Just so you know, having people around you who are your friends is very different than having someone be a friend to you. These type of friends are rare, so you might have to seek this friend out. You might have to challenge one of your current friends to step up their game in your life. And by the way, as you ask someone to do this for you, you will be doing for someone else what they desperately need as well – both of you will benefit.
Third – Go to church… like every Sunday. If you don’t have a community to call home this summer, find one quickly. Find a community that makes a big deal about Jesus through song and Scripture. You not only need to find a community where you can celebrate and worship God for your sake, but more than you realize, that community needs you there. They need to see God at work in your life, and as they see that, God will be using you to inspire those around you. Sadly, there are many people who are much older than you who have begun to believe that God is not big enough to reach younger people – well, your presence in church will be used by God to remind others that God is a big God – big enough to even reach college students.
Fourth – Serve. Wherever you find to go to church, commit from day one to serve within that church. Serve with their Kids Ministries. Serve on their Connections Team. Serve on their Facilities Team. Point being – serve someone else this summer. Listen, I know committing to just about anything is scary, especially in the summer when there’s so many other ‘fun things’ you’d like to do, but I can promise you that as you seek to serve others consistently and faithfully, you’ll be the one who is blessed and better off for it. There are many reasons you could come up with for not serving {no time, will be leaving soon, not sure where, etc.}, but no reason you could come up with would ever trump the primary reason for serving. You are most like Christ when you are serving those around you.
Fifth – Be with God. Read your Bible. Spend time in prayer. Journal what God is talking to you about – write down what you are struggling with and the questions you might have. Every day – set aside time to be with God. I know you think you don’t have time for such things as this in the midst of your busy summer schedule, but you do. You actually have plenty of time – you don’t need to find time you already have, you just need to make time with God a non-negotiable in your day. And here’s the beauty of being with God everyday – God shows up. And when God shows up, well, you’ll see that there is no better way to invest your time then being in the presence of the Creator of the universe.
Lastly – find someone older than you and ask them if they’d be willing to spend time with you. It’s not a bad thing to hang out with your peers – meaning people who look like you, but never under-estimate the value in getting yourself around someone who’s walked with God longer than you’ve been alive. Ask them questions about God, about marriage, about family, about purpose, about hope, about love, about life. Spend time with someone this summer who’d be willing to share with you the lessons they’ve learned along the way, mistakes they’ve made and about things they would have done differently. I realize you might not want to hang out with an ‘older’ person, but I promise you that you’ll look back at those times at summers end as some of the best of times.
College Michael – please don’t spend too much time considering these things, just act upon them. Your summer will go by quick – quicker than you might think. You could spend your summer pondering all that you’d like to do, all that you know you should do – or you can enjoy doing today all that will make every day this summer the best summer yet. Enjoy all that God has in store for you this summer… and don’t ever forget College Michael that God has immeasurably more for you then you could ever imagine!
