I wrote this during college but never posted it.
Freed-Hardeman University gave me some of the most incredible memories.
Here you go.
Love God first. That is pretty much it. If you can love God first, then the social club will not be you top priority.
When you feel like you had a killer Makin’ Music show, best of the best, and you get second. You congratulate the other club. You cheer for their handwork and dedication to the fundraising of the school. You tell them how much you enjoyed their show. You are Christ’s hands and feet.
You are his hands and feet on the field too.
Therefore when you are in the heat of the last quarter in flag football, your blockers get trampled and you get sacked by an ex-soccer player, you keep your cool. Because you love God more than this social club. You smile, and move on. (I totally did not keep my cool, and so I am telling you this with 20/20 vision.)
It’s 5:45 on Wednesday. You have a meeting to plan, posters to make, games to cheer at, a group project to work on, a memory-verse test, and rock collection to make (aka find, break, glue, and label.) You go to 5:45. As hard as it will to shove an hour of worship and learning into your busy schedule, you go. You may have to skip those games, but there will be more.
When you love God first, you will see that student sitting alone in chapel. You’ll give up your seat shoved between all your best friends, and you’ll share yourself with another “kind”. Someone who maybe not make you feel as comfortable. Someone who might not be wearing any sort of jersey for club day. But, someone who God made. And remember, you love Him before your social club.
When you love God first, you will not only enjoy the company of the guys and girls that wear the same letters as you, but seek friends in other colors. You will agree to workout with, eat with, ride to church with, share your story with, study with, and worship God with someone who fits in a different group as you. You love them. (I stink at making friends who aren’t in the same letters as me.)
Funny to think that God is most likely going to welcome many different types of people into heaven, and unfortunately it is most likely not every single Chi Beta member will be there.
The colors you wear do not represent the worst or best. They don’t represent the jocks, nerds, goody two shoes, go with the flow-ers, preps, partiers, or pokemon freaks. They are in every club. Social clubs don’t represent who you actually are. They represent who you wanted to be like. When you ranked the clubs your first year, you marked that you wanted to be with those you saw in those colors. They represent who you felt like home with. They sometimes represent your dare to put yourself out there, or you challenge to make a difference. The colors do not represent who you are, but who you wanted to be. You change the stereotype of the letters. You change what they mean. We recruit not to get all, but to get who think will be the best for us all. We recruit who we know will keep a good name for the club. Who we think will carry the legacy of what we believe we represent. We recruit to be better, not cause we think we are the best.
TIPS:
The letters don’t change you, God does. Allow the people wearing those letters to influence you for the better. Keep an open mind. Go somewhere that you feel at home. Go somewhere that you know the people there will help you make positive changes in your life. Go to the colors that you see people that you know will hold you accountable for sin, who will laugh with you, cry with you, but mostly pray with you. Run to the colors that you believe will benefit you.
And when you get in, make it your mission to serve others. Serve them. Get involved, and serve your club, school, and community. Use your club family as resources of encouragement, help, and your hands and feet to your crazy ideas turned into projects.
The key to being great is to humble yourself, and serve your God in your club, with your club, and all around this campus.
Love,
Addie Williams
Addie Williams 