Flight

You know that feeling when you buckle in for a plane flight and the hunk of metal actually starts moving? Gravity pulls at your gut and inertia throws you back against your seat as the plane accelerates into the air. The engine roars so loud you can hardly hear yourself think, echoing throughout the cabin, and then-

       You're flying, suspended thousands of feet in the air. You dangle in the midpoint between crashing to the ground and touching the atmosphere, and you can't know for sure that the plane won't be broken apart by turbulence or extreme weather. (or, for my mother, airborne sharks.)

   

     Starting college feels a lot like that.

Leaving home is hard. Gravity- that love I have for my home and the people there- swelled inside of me as I took off into the exciting new adventure ahead of me.

 Gravity is healthy. We'd all be in space without it.

   But gravity makes taking to the air so much harder.

I had a sense of inertia too. At home, I was comfortable. At home, I knew who I would eat with and where I would study and whether or not I was accepted for the very quirky individual I am.

     At college, those things might change.

     But at college, I am plunging headfirst into the plan God has for me. I have a God I can fall back on, one that will lead me in each uncertain moment. And, despite the inertia of facing change, I can face it bravely, knowing I have friends and family rooting for me, 

and a God that works miracles.

     But I have a roaring engine too. I call it fear.

     Doubts whisper beneath the excitement of starting classes and preparing for my new job. I worry I won't be able to keep up with my Honors program, that maintaining my GPA and a job and convocation might be too much.

However, doubts cannot drown out the chorus of faith. God has brought me this far, and I lean on Him to carry me forward into the amazing studies that wait for me, starting today. (I mean, I get to study SCIENCE!) Whether or not I meet my own goals and expectations, I know God has purpose for me here. He wants me to grow. He wants me to lean on Him. He wants me to serve.

And what better place to do those things than at a 

Christian University known for proclaiming the Gospel?

So now, I'm flying. I'm thousands of miles from home. Some moments, I wonder if I will soar or fall.

 But I'm not subject to wind or hail or thunder. I will not be shaken by turbulence, in any form.

I will rest in the palm of God's hand, finding my safety, my strength, and my inspiration in Him.

It's time to take flight.