Faith Shouldn't be Left at the Door

"I shouldn't be afraid to live my life for Christ on campus" this thought has been going through my head a lot the last few weeks. Since I started my second year of college at St. Cloud State, I began to notice that the majority of the student population on campus has headphones in 90 percent of the time. Most mornings, I get out of my car and immediately place my headphones in and put on a song usually by Chris Tomlin and I just blast it as loud as I can stand to prepare myself mentally and spiritually for class. 

Obviously Chris Tomlin is not a popular artist on a public campus, because let's face the reality, the majority of students don't listen to Christian/ Praise and worship music. I walk around campus with a bold personality, like someone who is not afraid of risks. But what people don't see from the outside is the fear I have walking around campus as a Christian.

As Christian's we face battles every single day. Our hearts are hardened by the coldness of this world. Our faith is tested. We fall into sin. We listen to Satan's lies. Being a Christian on a secular campus is honestly one of the hardest things I have had to face in my entire life. When I walk into a lecture class I am not allowed to express anything remotely related to my faith, I'll be judged and glared at. (This has happened already this year). I walk into my lab class and I can just feel the harshness in the air, that God's presence is needed. All I can think about is God's great love and grace. In my anatomy and physiology lab class on Monday evening's I hear our teacher's assistant talk about how cool the human body is and that all these tissues, bones, muscles, etc. make up who we are. But what these people aren't realizing is that God made every single thing in the human body. He made us in His image (Genesis chapter 1). Tonight my TA mentioned something about CAMs (Cell Adhesion Molecules) and I immediately thought of Louie Giglio's video on Laminin. WE LITERALLY HAVE A CELL IN OUR BODIES THAT IS SHAPED LIKE A CROSS. DUDE. Even if you don't think it looks like a cross, the point is this; Laminin holds the body together. Without it everything would just fall apart. Just like laminin, God holds us together. (See Colossians 1: 15-20) Literally and figuratively too. 

My point is when I go to lab I shouldn't have to leave my faith at the door, that's like putting God in a box and waiting for it to sprout legs and walk away. So, this is why I'm looking into UNWSP as a potential option for the 2018-2019 school year.