College Life

85. The percentage of college students that change their major at least once throughout their college careers. 4. The typical amount of years it takes one to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. 7. The amount of years it took me to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. The reason for this simple statistics lesson? Chances are, the career that you have picked out for yourself right now will probably change 3 or 4 times before you complete your college education.

When I was a junior in High School I already knew what my career was. I knew without any shadow of a doubt that I would be an architect. I loved the idea of designing various building for people, plus the money is pretty sweet too. I also thought it would be my way of stamping my legacy on society. I liked the idea of having stuff named after me so after I was dead, people would comment on my work and appreciate it. I enrolled at ASU and went through my first semester with flying colors. I was a week into my second semester when the realization hit me that architecture wasn’t for me. The program was extremely competitive, and while I was interested in architecture, I looked at the other “nerds” that made this their lives and realized I would probably never make it. I spent the following 2 years completing general classes and finally this spring I received my bachelor’s degree in Psychology, not architecture. If you had asked me 7 years ago if I would become a youth pastor and preach every week to a group of teenagers, I seriously would have called you crazy.

So what’s the point of my little statistics lesson and my story? You might have an idea of what you want to do with your life now, but that may change. I think as we grow and mature, our motives for things also grow and mature. A lot of times we choose career paths based on a pay scale rather than our level of happiness. As we grow up, we realize it should be the other way around. I may never make “architecture” kind of money by being a Youth Pastor, but I wake up everyday excited about what I do. I genuinely love all of the students I get to hang with while I didn’t plan my life this way, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan ahead and start thinking about what you want to do. There is no excuse for being lazy and uncaring about your future. That is the truth path to living an unsuccessful and unfulfilling life. As we talked about on Wednesday, it is vital to be prepared and focused on the future as well as the present. But as important as it is to be prepared, you must also be open to what God wants to show you and teach you. As much as you may not want to admit this, God knows you far better than you know yourself. In the book of Revelations, Jesus says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and him with me.” It is incredible to me that we are constantly trying to get through this life alone when the very being that created it is there waiting to help us out. I really hope and pray for all of you (and myself) that we can begin to open that door and allow Jesus to enter our lives. If we can begin to trust in Him and allow Him to guide us through our lives, I have no doubt that we will know what to do with our lives, and we will be the happiest we could ever be. I love you guys and I can’t wait to see you guys this Wednesday!