Category - Student Life

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Decision Making
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God’s Proximity In Our Adversity (Part Two): Suffering
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How to Not Feel Like a Freakish Anomaly
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The Incompatibility with Pride and being “The Best”
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Making Friends at JBU
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Stagnant Faith and the Christian College
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God’s Proximity In Our Adversity (Part One): Loneliness
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Finding Home
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The Adventures of Scott’s Tots
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From Your Fellow Non-Trad

Decision Making

As I look forward to graduating in May, I feel bombarded with decisions. Some are big decisions, such as where to go to graduate school. Others have smaller repercussions but affect people outside myself, such as who to hire to take over my job next semester. Other decisions are as mundane as whether I should hang out with friends tonight or read those last ten pages of Nietzsche before class. After struggling with indecision for much of my life, I have learned a lot about satisfying and effective decision-making. I have learned even more about what not to do when[…]

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God’s Proximity In Our Adversity (Part Two): Suffering

Disaster, disease and death—there are infinite instances every day that cause suffering. Because we live in a broken world, we all experience suffering in different ways.   Something God has really shown me is that sometimes we grieve for those who are suffering. In other words, when those we love are in pain, we hurt, too. God has placed in each and every one of us a heart of empathy for those we care about. We especially experience this grief if we have an emotional connection with someone who is afflicted. The stronger that connection is, the stronger we are[…]

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How to Not Feel Like a Freakish Anomaly

Eager for a sunny spot by the window, I asked to sit with two female, traditional students in the cafeteria one day. From their glances, I gathered they possibly felt awkward about my sharing their table. Perhaps they thought I was a staff member. Feeling out of the norm is uncomfortable. On the days when loneliness stabs deep and isolation tempts, that’s when we non-trads need to get out of our bubble of self. It’s the only way to fight that yucky feeling of being … odd. Try these: (Because I do.) Compliment someone. Pick anything: the shoes-laces, unicorn-umbrella, Star[…]

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The Incompatibility with Pride and being “The Best”

One of the greatest temptations we, as humans, commit is to compare ourselves to others. Our human nature, in essence, is to be prideful. We compete against each other in every way possible, from grades to relationships to careers to status. I too dismiss others and make myself the center of my life. I guess I haven’t yet listened when my father always said, “Justus, someone will always be better than you.” Hearing those words growing up, I immediately had resentment thinking, “I’ll prove him wrong; I’ll be the best at something.” American culture especially is very individualistic and selfish.[…]

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Making Friends at JBU

Coming into college, I expected to immediately make amazing friends without putting in a lot of effort. I dreamed of evenings exploring Siloam Springs, hiking local trails on Saturday afternoons and having late nights with lots of laughter and long conversations. I made plenty of friends my first semester at JBU, but I only had one friendship that went beyond the surface level. I struggled to find anyone else that I really clicked well with. As a result, I found myself sitting in my room, lonely many afternoons and throughout my weekends when she wasn’t available. I couldn’t figure why[…]

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Stagnant Faith and the Christian College

As JBU students, we are inundated with the gospel, which is a huge blessing. Chapel is held three times a week. Professors pray in classes. Core Bible classes are required for every major. Not to mention the Bible studies, spontaneous prayer/worship sessions, and general Jesus talk that takes place all over campus every day. Our minds are never far from the Word of God, but where are our hearts? My first semester at JBU, despite being constantly surrounded by God’s truth, I found it difficult to draw near to God. When you’re talking and thinking about God so much as[…]

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God’s Proximity In Our Adversity (Part One): Loneliness

In my life, I have struggled over and over with feelings of loneliness. Throughout these dark times, God has taught me about Himself. I have learned that He is understanding, He is caring, and, perhaps above all, that He is lovingly present, especially in the refining fire of hardship. During a time when I was young, and before I had actually accepted Christ, I remember one night I felt so alone that I started talking to myself. Trust me, I know, it is weird but at that time it was the only thing I wanted: a simple conversation with someone[…]

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Finding Home

I chose to attend JBU on a warm June night at 3 in the morning during a sleepover with my friends. I was thinking about how I wanted a cold glass of apple juice and how tired I was of not knowing where I was going to college. I had hoped that I would walk onto a college campus and just know that it was right for me, but my memory of JBU’s campus was of walking through the winter wind to scholarship interviews and panicking in one of the practice rooms in the cathedral before my piano audition. Still,[…]

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The Adventures of Scott’s Tots

When I first arrived at JBU, there was a lot to prioritize, and I hadn’t given much thought to the struggles of adapting, particularly to new relationships. At first, I didn’t expect that my best friends would be found in my suite mates. I lived in Hutchinson Hall, which can be seen as the dullest of the halls, and I was just not excited about the people I would soon be living with. When I met my roommate, we were both shy at first, and that went for the rest of my suitemates as well. However, our RA, Scott Lightbourn,[…]

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From Your Fellow Non-Trad

Hello! I’m Tami. I am a non-trad. Meaning a non-traditional student. Like, REALLY out of the traditional scope of the way things usually go. The following words are my hand out to you. You, who may feel out of the ordinary. This is my story, for you. We piled out of the van, stiff-legged, having driven from our Southern California home to the JBU college visit. It was the spring of 1984.  I fell in love with John Brown University and completed my freshman year in 1986-1987. Going home for that that summer of 1987, I was all geared up[…]

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