I have been to church. A lot. When I say a lot, I am not talking about going every other Sunday. I am talking about going every Sunday (early for every service, and staying late after), Wednesday, Tuesday for lunch with the ministers, Mondays after school, and weird times during the night. Sounds weird? It is because my mother is the music and education minister of my home church. Basically, I'm a preachers kid. I have taken plenty of naps on pews (some during the service). I know the ends and outs of what it means to go to church.
The church does not equal a relationship with Christ. The church is where you grow and nurture your relationship with Him. I did not understand what it meant to love God until I was around 12 years old. I had been to church all the time (I mean seriously, all the time) but I didn't know any life any different. When I got a little older, it was clear to me what was going on and what it was all about. Now, several years later, I am in love with the journey of having a rich faith and the seeking for heavenly goals. Also PSA to my mother who is always asking: no, my brother and I are not scarred from spending every possible second at church.
I've attended all the mission trips, church camps, and weekend worship retreats probably humanly possible and that is where my faith kept constant growing up. When my senior year of high school started I made a vow to myself that I would still attend church post high school. When I got to college it wasn't as easy. I still did campus ministries, which I 100 percent recommend and encourage for everyone to pursue, but I only went to church a little bit every now and again. Something was missing. Obviously.
Now roughly a year later, I wouldn't miss a Sunday morning for anything in the world. I knew that a fellowship found in the church is where I needed to be.
Here is the bottom line: Jesus is a big deal. Four years of missing out of time with Him is a big deal. I have no idea where I would be or who I would be if I gave up on my faith during my college years. Actually, I do know where I would be, I would be horribly unhappy and lonely. Getting an acceptance letter to college is not also a free pass on faith.
College is hard. And is it not true that your times of sorrow are the times when you would look to Him the most? Need Him the most? Want to spend time with Him the most? College is the biggest transition of your life, at that point in time, and more than likely He will be one of the few options that is always willing and able to be there for you.
I can not imagine what the Lord feels when we leave Him. A lot of times I only go to Christ when something is wrong, I forget to praise Him not only in the storm but when the sun shines as well. No Father wishes us to be gone. And what if we are gone for four years? Or longer? An absence of faith will leave us unhappy. The time without Him could leave damage that feels like it can't be repaired.
After making the commitment to weekly spend time with Christ, my walk is the steadiest and most fulfilling it has ever been in my life. Continuing my faith after I got my high school diploma has made every friendship, class, and bump in the road easy and enjoyable.
These four years are ridiculously hard, make it easier by still looking to Him. Even if you stay gone for your college years, know that Christ is evergreen, He will still be there.
"Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever." -- Hebrews 13:8
