I had no money, no car, and I had this itch to leave my hometown. I was going to college in my hometown at the time, but I knew that I had to go on some kind of epic journey. Maybe I had read to much Wild at Heart, watched to many movies, or just maybe, just maybe I was taping into that world of the truely unknowable. Whatever it was, I found my self lead towards Columbia International University. To me, this is the Hogwarts of the Evangelical World. Where places like Liberty University declare themselves the world's largest Evangelical institution, CIU was different. More like a secret tucked a way.
I needed a secret tucked away. I was exhausted from trying to much to fast in my hometown. And I was exhausted by family issues as well. So I took a leap of faith. My friends drove me to the school with all of my belonging, donated to me by the way, in a plastic garbage bag. I got out with my two bags and was hoping they could find a room for me.
On the way there, I stopped to meet with this youth pastor. He was a great guy that had graduated from Columbia International. He talked to me, but one thing that he said stuck in my mind as he handed me two hundred dollars. He said, "I want to give this to you as an investment. But promise me this. Don't become so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good."
I've thought of this often as I go to church and see the disparity between what the Bible declares to be the life of a believer and what the church has become. It has a lot of amazing things going for it. It is a place where people can come and grow, but it is also a place where a lot of people carry massive misconceptions about how God looks at them and others. It is a place where victims of spiritual abuse sometimes bash the life out of each other with Bible verses and a model of perfection that even Christ couldn't attain (A giant house, perfect clothes, up to date fashion with matching vehicles). It is the only place where the work acoholic is praised, exalted, and lifted high to dispense both judgement and helpful advice to the transparent.
That two hundred dollars was a huge blessing in the end because it was the exact difference between my financial aid package and the cost. The journey taught me to listen to what this veteran youth minister was saying.
How is a young idealistic leader to survive the harsh realities of helping careers?This was where the rubber meets the road. I realized that the power of the University and Bible Study in general was in giving a critical thinking mind into the very heart of this idealism. Taking the heart of a warrior and giving it ample wisdom was where the application of heavenly mindedness would lead.
The two years that I spent at Columbia International prepared me by giving me the world. I was able to travel internationally to thirteen different countries, interacting with an amazing array of cultures and people while learning the history of the world. And when I found my calling in teaching I was able to take this into the hearts and minds of the students. Helping them gain Critical Thinking while the world begs them to turn off their minds and buy stuff.
This is where the rubber meets the road. A Christianity that shuts up and puts up. Not driven by programs and feel good environments, but driven my wholistic pursuit of knowing God, in failure and in triumph.
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