by Ryan Chan
I came into college excited to see change and passion realized in my Christian life. My last year of high school was very much characterized by the jaded feeling of playing church, and going through the motions. And so, I looked at college as a new opportunity and environment to grow. At that time, I don’t think I could have ever imagined the extent to which my intellect, faith, trust, and character would be challenged.
Now that I am able to look back, I can truly see how far I have come, most notably in areas of intellect and character. What? Intellect? The typical response to that might be “you fat head,” but for me, I can really see how it is that God used a selfcentered desire for knowledge to ultimately grow my understanding and reverence before Him. In high school, I was never a master of literature; finding the literary allusions, and analyzing rhetoric on my own was foreign to me. What I do remember though, is that while I was lost on my own, when the teachers would go over narratives and argumentative essays, my world would be opened up to the use of diction, connotation, and sentence structure, and how all these aspects really combine to portray the authorial intent. The beauty of the Christian realm is that with scripture, we are taught and fed on such a consistent basis and our analyzing and study does not result in a D or C grade. I love that Scripture uses grammar and our inherent understanding of literary devices to better enable us to understand the intent of God; it really leaves us awestruck to read mere words, and catch a glimpse of God’s love, grace, and promises.
Moving on to my character, my trek began as I came into college as a naïve and immature boy who thought that he had Christianity all figured out. With the luxury of deciding to attend LBC, there were amazing men, like P. John, P. Patrick, John Lim, Hansol An, and John Chung who showed me so much not only about the living out of the characteristics of godly men, but also the realities of life, and the struggles that we have to deal with both intra-personally and interpersonally. From them, I’ve learned that the Christian life is not, and will not be easy; we will face trials because we live in a fallen world. As strange as this sounds, one thing I am really grateful for, is that these men are all individuals. Each is simply not a drone or copy of some Christian-mold, but rather an individual with a unique dynamic and personality; we need to be who we are.
God is faithful with us and long-suffering towards us. How sweet is that?
Favorite Food: Pasta and cow.
Favorite Verse: Romans 5:6-8. I am always blown away and left in awe by the extent of Christ’s sacrifice. There are so few people we would be willing to lay down our lives for, yet Christ lays down His life for us, the undeserving.
Most Memorable Moment: Winning the pirate’s booty (treasure) at College Life Car Rally because we had maps.
What You’ll Miss Most: The freedom we have to study, to play, and to grow.
What You’re Looking Forward To: Growing in maturity, becoming independent, and life.