Sacrifice is not something we talk about much in our society.
It seems to fly in the face of everything our North American culture tells us we should be about.
Lookout out for #1.
Indulge yourself.
Take what you want.
Don’t hold back.
The world is yours.
You deserve it.
With 7 out of every 10 students claiming to have been in a long-distance relationship at some point, they are probably something we should know more about.
Long-distance relationships are not new, but advances in technology have made staying connected to high school sweethearts — or significant others from a previous school — a lot easier.
Yet, what do we really know about long-distance relationships???
And how do we assist students when we typically only get to see one side of the relationship.
The problem of future is simple — it’s not now.
And today’s student has a hard time grasping much that is “yet to come.” It’s not that they’re dumb — in fact we know that quite the opposite is true of them. But with so much going on in this very moment, it’s hard to think much beyond it.
They understand the here and the now — because they’ve grown up in an “instant” culture.
About a year ago I wrote a post entitled: Overcoming a Culture of Instant Gratification. In it I talk about needing to introduce students the discipline of slow. Why slow? Because in slow — and only in the slow of life — can some things truly grow and take shape in the ways that they need to.
We’ve officially survived January! I’m not sure what it was like where you live — but I’m thankful to not live in the location of the photo above.
With the flip of the calendar page we’ve started the spring term, as well as the second half of the ministry season. In some instance we carry forward our ministry efforts that began back in the fall term — and in other instances we are given the chance to start afresh.
And before you know, we’ll be on our way to spring break!
Below is a list of the Top 10 most viewed posts from the month of January* — hope you enjoy!
Preparation for the next blogathon is now underway!
As you very well know, today’s college students are more wounded than ever. They’ve been exposed to, or personally experienced, a lot of pain and hurt in relation to sex, issues of sexuality, and their intersection with the Christian faith.
And what they need most are women and men who are willing to “get dirty” with them in order to understand the depths of their hurts.
They need someone like you and like me to come alongside them — suspending judgment — and journey with them towards healing, reconciliation, and redemption.
The 3rd Annual Sex & the Soul Blogathon…
You can’t do it all. Right?!
If you’re reading this, than you’ve probably already figured this out for yourself — to some degree — because the majority of you (my faithful readers) work with college students and have gone through the process of vocational discernment in order to end up doing what you’re doing right now.
But this is not the case for the vast majority of students we serve.
They don’t know they can’t do it all.
In fact, most of them believe that they CAN do ANYTHING they want.
Parents play a powerful role in the development of their children.
Seems obvious to say, yet I think we can tend to forget this truth when we work with students on college campuses — primarily because we don’t see parents, just students.
Sure, from time to time our students might bring their parents up in conversation. But it can be all to easy to forget that the ways in which our students think, believe, and live are without doubt a product of the ways and environments in which they were raised.
It’s true for all of our students — those who are thriving and those who are not.
When I started my blog in 2006, I was planning on blogging 4-6 times a month. Unfortunately, over the last two years, I’ve been largely dormant on the blogging front. I won’t bore you with what’s taken precedence, but I’ve decided that in 2013, it’s time to fire up my blog and get it started again. I hope that there might be some things of interest to readers of Faith on Campus.
In the coming year, here’s what you can expect to see:
Win your way to the 2013 Faith ON Campus Summer Institute!
That’s right, I’m giving away 5 tickets to this inaugural event, and you could win one of them.
Here’s the deal — I need your help spreading the word about this upcoming event — so I’m going to give you the opportunity to tweet, post, and share your way into the drawing that will be held on the last day of every month.
The rules are simple:
A cure for the stressed life of a college student — REALLY!?!?!
I think we’d be the most popular office on campus if we professed to posses such a golden ticket — because we can all testify to the fact that we hear our students complain about this far more than we hear them complain about anything (or even everything) else.
Our students struggling — and they need our help.
I recently ran across this INFOGRAPHIC depicting the many things that today’s college students are stressing about… and a rather surprising set of cures for the student who feels too busy, broke, lonely, and/or stressed to keep it all together.