Biola University - Biolan Yearbook (La Mirada, CA)

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kenman wong during my four years here at biola, i have experienced tremen- dous growth marked with constant struggle and pain. during my freshman year, my world was highly idealistic, i was a young christian with high goals, like many believers, i was taught to see the world through rose-colored glasses, naivity told me that perfection could be found in this world and christians were capable of being perfect. of course, this outlook affected my view of biola. it had to be perfect! its advertisements emphasized that fact, biola offered daily chapels, 30 units of bible, christian service assignments, talbot seminary, and even dorm prayer meetings, how could there ever be sin in such a place? then suddenly, my perfect world caved in. my bubble burst, i heard a swear word, i saw people cutting chapel and lying about their attendance, students had bad attitudes towards christian ser- vice assignments and not everyone attended church on Sundays. was the whole world depraved except me? it took a full semester before i finally started to wonder if the problem wasn ' t me. the answer really shook me. i realized that i was just as sinful as everyone else, everyone was depraved. naturally, my first reaction was to frantically search for a way to rid my life of sin and to change this world, i bought christian books on self image, holiness, recreation, philosophy, you name it. i engulfed myself in the christian thought and world-view, i constant- ly scrutinized myself going as far as to repeatedly calling myself a failure. i didn ' t realize it then, but the more i tried to improve my self- image, the worse it became, why? because i was focused on myself rather than God. i also began to ask if christians didn ' t have all of the right answers, how could we and still disagree about so many key issues, how could we prove that what we believe is true? what makes our beliefs any more accurate than those of other religions? then began my quest for true Christianity, is it obeying regula- tions and remaining separate from the world? if so, where are the lines drawn? is Christianity merely going to church, reading the bible, and praying? ask me about my spiritual walk and i would immediately think about whether or not i had gone to church last Sunday, or how much praying and bible reading i had been doing. these were my measuring sticks of spirituality. i knew that Christianity had to be deeper than that, i searched on and on. some things i have resolved, other questions i keep on probing. will i ever be able to live the life that God intended for me? with the constant biases and thoughts that have plagued me, i don ' t know if i ever could, so many of our beliefs are based on tradition, rather than as a result of thought and analysis. biola is evangelical and has the same traditions and limitations as main-stream evangelicalism, sadly, some people will spend their whole life in a bubble, they will have been brought up in christian homes, attend christian schools, work for christian organizations, then die. others will feel a need to escape, they will sow their wild oats in order to experience the other side of life where christians can not go. i admit that i ' ve often tossed around thought of trying this route, how great it would be to be free for awhile, for a year; maybe two, but is it worth the risk of getting trapped. i love biola with all my heart! a place that has caused me to struggle and think so much can only be good, as this is the path for growth (James 1: 2-3). therefore, it is my hope that all biola stu- dents will struggle similarly with the issue around them, this is how values become internalized, and subsequently lived out. it is important to remember that although christians are limited by a constantly changing culture and society, God remains perma- nent, unchanging, and most of all, loving, our world can be affected for Christ through love alone, but, in order to communicate this love, there must first be thought, thought that is free from the influences of the bubble. one thing that became clear is how little christians think, evange- licals are far behind on the creative aspect of life, for example, our fine arts, drama, music, and art constantly imitate the world, this was not the case in the days of rembrant or bach who led the rest of the world in the arts, wouldn ' t it be great if the world imitated christians, if we set the standards of comparison? when christians regain the forfronts of thought and creativity, this world will change. 10

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HAPPINESS HIS CHARTER ;by; mark bardwell and todd myatt flies are buzzing all over the place; there is a strong smell of animals; everything is filthy; and it is extremely hot. some people have the most unusual ideas of what it is like to be a missionary, envisioning pictures of half starving people; snakes hanging from the trees; thick, dense jungles; mud huts; and mosquito nets. this hardly describes the general conception of a vacation such as a fishing or skiing trip to crystal-clear lake tahoe. missionary life is quite a contrast to the peaceful, relaxing life in a bubble made of rules, many missionaries find themselves in comparatively dis- agreeable surroundings, one often asks, why do people leave a country like the united states to live in such an uncomfortable environment? why leave a perfect life, one that most of the world longs for, to clean ugly wounds, endure life-threatening situations, and to survive on less than a substantial income? the general thought is that most missionaries do it out of guilt because they know Christ ' s great commission is to go into all of the world and preach the gospel, however, generally it is quite the other way around, believe it or not, most missionaries enjoy what they are doing, nothing could give them more joy than serving God and others on the mission field. life in the bubble is satisfying . . . sometimes, but in reality that satisfaction one gets in the bubble is nothing compared to the joy and fulfillment that God can give to those who are willing to give up their present comfort to serve him. admittedly there are many ways to serve others than through foreign mission work. God obviously has not called everyone to go overseas because there is still a need for workers here at home. it is very unlikely that a christian can ever be fully satisfied by shutting himself up in a bubble of rules, separated entirely from the world outside, he must break out into the world and do what God has called him to. without bursting that bubble he can never really grow, be satisfied as a christian, or experience all the joy that God had planned for him. - t:F 12