My thoughts on Gracepoint Church

whoo I love college. I love all the things that God is revealing to me while I'm here and meeting new people and experiencing fun new things. Sorry that is super vague, but it's not the focus of this post so maybe I'll touch upon those experiences another time.

I definitely like the setup and message of this church. The people seem very passionate about God. I liked Pastor Ed Kang's sermon about your life being like a Christmas tree that you try hard to adorn and make pretty, but in the end the fact remains that you are dead, cut off from the source of life, the tree stump. I also like that the appeal to reason and geekiness was very much present in the skit and the message. They understand that their audience consists of hard-working individuals, who mainly, if not on Christ, depend on themselves to earn success (grades, recognition, etc). Ed says, "We are not just a bag of chemicals--a collision of atoms." We have hearts and souls, which God sees and cares about deeply. It's really important that the message talked about death. We are college students, with the hope that we are at the pinnacle of success, fun, and happiness. I think this delusion advertised by the media is completely false because true joy and contentment is only from God. That fun you have at a frat party one weekend is not going to last. Death is a reality, and to fail to think about our mortality is the biggest mistake. We live in the shadow of death, but we never want to think about it. We never want to think that at any moment we could be gone, our physical life taken away in an instant. To live is Christ because without Him I do not have life. I may have a body, and I may be able to breathe, but that can and will be gone at any time. What people need to hear is that one decision in this life can change your soul for all eternity. Personally I don't think accepting Christ is the hard part; it's living for Christ that gets people. I often notice that I get swayed by how I should live my life, but then when I really stop to think about it, I realize that I'm trying to be like everyone else, where it's safe. I hope this year here at Cal I can dare to be different for the sake of Christ because as a believer my goal isn't to fit in but to live above the world's ever-descending standards.

I really like writing this stuff. I think i will try to do this more often :)