I was just reading over the requirements for my colloquium class again, and I realized that I had been procrastinating. One of my blogs is supposed to be a “Why” project…. finding a subject and doing research and diving into it. It probably doesn’t really count, but I have been thinking about this project a lot…. my musings just haven’t made it to the computer screen.

I considered studying “normal” people my age. What makes them tick? What are their motivations? What do they do to help them with their stress and struggles? To be honest, I haven’t had much dealing with normal college students before now. I used to go to a community college down in Georgia, and most of the people in my classes were non-traditional students. So was this a good project? Probably not. I mean, I have learned a bit about what students like and don’t like, what motivates them, etc. But I don’t know if this is a good topic to pick….

I considered doing my study on my new church. I just moved to the area, and just started to attend a church here. What do they believe? How do those beliefs affect their lives? Do their beliefs impact the community? Are they really willing to sacrifice to follow God’s calling? How do they believe the local church fits into the worldwide Body of Christ? How do they deal with differences?
I have learned some about the church. They believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, fully God and yet fully man. They believe in salvation through grace alone, not by works. They believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell, and that while God doesn’t want to put anyone in Hell, some people choose to go there to get away from Him. How do the beliefs affect their lives? Some of the church members devoted years of their lives to full time Christian work. Others believe in sincere hospitality and open their homes to anyone who wants to come over. Their beliefs have impacted the community through tutoring programs for students at Science Hill High School, as well as projects to collect shoes and Christmas gifts for children in orphanges overseas. A group from the church went to stores on Black Friday and gave away coffee and snacks to people who were lined up for door buster specials. That involved some sacrifice, since they had to get up at 4am! Community groups at the church (including the “poor” college age class!) are buying Christmas presents for families in our area who can’t afford to buy gifts. I’ve also gotten to see how they deal with differences; there are some minor doctrinal disagreements in the church, but instead of splitting, the church came together to work through the issue (with much prayer and fasting). I was really impressed by the way they handled the situation.

I could go on more about church because it’s something interesting to me. I’ve never been to a church like this before, and I really like it. I have a chance to learn more about the church in the next few months, and I’m excited about the possibilities for getting involved there.

Another subject I considered was dating. Just this fall I started dating. I had never been in a serious relationship with anyone before, and neither had my boyfriend. And we’re not just dating for fun; in fact, most of the time we spend together is either with my family or his, sometimes doing work projects around the house. Not exactly what most people consider fun. But we’re honestly exploring God’s will for our lives. Our dating has a point: we’re spending time together to see if God wants us to get married. So I considered writing about relationships; what does it mean to have a godly relationship? We both agree on virginity until marriage; but are there also other things we should do (or not do) to glorify God in our relationship? What does it mean to love another person the way Christ loved us? Or to submit to another person the way the Church is supposed to submit to Christ?

Well, you can see that I’ve done plenty of musing… unfortunately, I haven’t documented any until now. I think that my new church is probably the best subject for my why project…. there’s a lot of potential in any group of people. And it’s not as personal as the relationship one! 🙂