Comments from Pastor Billy about chapter one of his summer book recommendation - a great read for high school graduates and their parents!
I’m Worried about Being a Christian at a Secular University--How Will I Survive?
Michael Kruger starts off the book with an honest look into how the most daunting questions can cause young men and women (even us older ones) to doubt if they don’t have the answers to those questions. He uses the example of losing an exchange with another student or professor and feeling embarrassed that you don’t have all the right answers.
His response, “you need to give yourself a break. Most eighteen-year-old Christians are not fully equipped to answer the barrage of complex (and aggressive) questions coming their way, nor is it reasonable to expect them to be.”
How refreshing is that! You don’t have to have all the answers figured out in your head. So you don’t know how to defend the inner workings of the trinity or the exact hour by hour account of creation. At least not right in the second by second exchange with a classmate or professor. You can go and read the Bible, do some research, and think through the parts of the question you were not 1000% sure about.
Kruger writes about how this opposition to your faith can actually sharpen you, on page 34, “Let all these questions drive you to pursue the answers. Be a reader. Be a studier. Be someone who dives into the deep issues of faith...You can become a resource for others.”
Meaning, those questions that cause you to think, question, or doubt, can be the very questions that draw you closer to Jesus Christ and deeper in your faith. Then, you can go and share that information with other believers so that all of you are stronger. As we recently talked about in a Staff Meeting about Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, we are all much stronger when we are united together supporting one another in Christ.
Finally, the first chapter ends with Kruger giving two sound pieces of advice for going off to college or university.
Finding a good local church
Finding a good campus ministry to plug into
Both of these will keep you in the company of believers who you can pray, learn, and talk with about your struggles.
I will be going through the book over the summer months, however, I would encourage you to pick up the book and maybe read through parts of it with your family, whether they are headed off to college or not.
In Christ,
Billy