tommyTALK

What Seniors Need to Take to College

Seniors, what are you going to take to college?  You’ll need bedding and a pillow.  For two and a half years at OBU, I slept on an old sleeping bag in my dorm room.  Then when I married Beth, I had to start making my bed!  Probably, you’ll need a computer these days.  Of course, if you buy it this month, by the time school starts in August or September, it will be out of date.  There are a lot of other things you will take to college to make your dorm room your own. 
The college campus is like a wilderness.  After leaving Egypt, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years on their way to the Promiseland.  If you look at a map, it should have just taken them two or three weeks, but it took 40 years!  Hopefully, it will not take any of you 40 years to graduate from college.  You are going to take a lot of things with you into the wilderness of college.  Here are five things that I want to encourage you to take with you to college if you are going to successfully maneuver the wilderness of college life.

Take your Faith.
“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow His commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.”  (Deuteronomy 28:1 NIV)

Take the Indwelling.
You are going to experiences much success and failure in life, and you need the power of the Holy Spirit to teach you, direct you, comfort you, and lead you in the decisions you make and the actions you take.  You will be making some of the most important decisions in life.  Whom will I marry?  What kind of work do I want to do?  Most importantly, what kind of person am I becoming?

Take your Relationships.
Moses had Aaron.  David had Jonathan.  Shadrach had Meshach and Abed-Nego.  Elijah had Elisha.  Paul had Silas, Barnabas, and Timothy.  You need Christ-centered relationships while wandering through the wilderness of college life.  These relationships will stabilize you when the storms of college break upon you.  These relationships will empower you when you are feeling weak.  These relationships will help you grow mature in Christ. 

Take your Sword.
You are going to read a lot of books while in college.  Or, at least you will be assigned a lot of books to read.  I want to encourage you to develop the good study habit of reading.  Learn to read well, and read good books.  There is one book that you need to make sure you read every day, and you know what book I am talking about—the Bible.  Remember the song you learned in Vacation Bible School.
 “The B.I.B.L.E.  That’s the book for me. 
I stand alone on the Word of God, the B.I.B.L.E.”

Take your Testimony.
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”  (I Peter 2:12 NIV)

Category : Tommy Talk