Tonight, the senior women’s bible study sat down around a table for the last time. While sipping tea, we thought, prayed, and rejoiced. Many had no idea what God had in store for them when they started their time at Berkeley, many had a much harder time than they thought they would, most are in different places than they ever thought they would be, but all recounted the faithfulness of God. 

It’s often hard to transition - hard to leave the life you’ve known for the last four years, and even harder to say goodbye to the people in it. But Scripture gives us many ways to recount, reflect, and rejoice in the midst of change. I think God has given us ever-changing lives, circumstances, and seasons in order for us to depend on Him. In the transition we depend on his faithfulness, in the change we depend on His steadfastness, and in the fear we depend on His security.

Have you ever been given an amazing opportunity and thought, “Oh my gosh, this is a total God thing”? It’s like it just falls into your lap and it’s almost too good to be true. Well to be transparent… I recently had an experience like this, and it’s taking me a lot of courage to even type it out, so please bear with me.

As of today, I have less than two weeks left with Cru on campus, and I have no idea what I’m doing next year. So, I sang in a wedding in February and ran into a friend from college who works at Google. We joked around about me coming to work with her but it didn’t seem like a realistic goal, so I didn’t get my hopes up. About a month later, I received two texts from both her and another friend who works there; they were hiring for a position I was told I would be perfect for! I worked for hours on my resume, had them read it over for me, and sent it in for review.

To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. - Friedrich Nietzsche

My journey, through suffering and seeing evil up close and personal, has lead me to encounter various philosophies and world-views. When I was young, if you had asked me if I was a Christian, I would have said “yes.“ But this was a culturally held view and in reality I flirted with more of a pantheism or Eastern world view. In this framework, there is really no such thing ultimately as good and evil. Everything is one (monism) and the appearance of individual persons and objects is an illusion. And God is beyond all descriptions and categories such as good and evil.

A few days ago, I received a letter from a close friend from college. He was quite literally the first person I ever met at Berkeley, and we've stayed in touch ever since that first day on campus. In his letter, he brought a memory back to the forefront of my mind.

Nearly a year ago, we sat down for a meal before he moved away from Berkeley, and he proceeded to tell me that he had decided to walk away from faith in Jesus. That conversation was difficult and emotional, it was raggedly beautiful, it was quiet, it was slow.

As I think back to that summer afternoon which turned into night, I remember the pain. I remember the two of us sitting on my mattress which lay on the floor as I prepared to move into a new apartment as well. We listened to a song on repeat, we talked about life, and hurt, and victimization, and triumph, and personal victory. The song we listened to that night still causes me to breathe deeply when I hear it. 

Whew! You made it to Spring Break! My hope is that you’re reading this while enjoying some well earned R&R. Some of you, sadly, have those professors who determined the Tuesday following Spring Break is the perfect time for a midterm. Those profs remind me of Proverbs 15:21, which says, “Folly delights a man who lacks judgment.” Zing! 

The reality is, however, Spring Break is a great time to catch up on some rest. Our bodies, minds and hearts need time away from high pressure and stress to rejuvenate. To spend time with those who have known us for longer than just the past couple of years. While our college friendships are great, and many will last the rest of our lifetimes, there’s something different about being with family or friends who have known us for even longer. So here’s to Spring Break!