Why I Graduated College Early

Originally published: December 15, 2017

COLLEGE! The best four years of your life. Where you get to act like an adult without most of the actual responsibilities of being one. Where you find your future spouse. Where you find the best friends of your life. The glory days. The good ole days. Where you learn the most about yourself. Where you decide who you’re going to be.

A couple of these things ended up being true for me. More of them did not. And that’s okay.

I didn’t enjoy college like most people say you should. It took me 2 ½ years to find a group of Christian friends that I could rely on. Those 2 ½ years were not the best years of my life. I spent most weekends in my room alone, watching stupid shows on Netflix. Sometimes I would make it to the game room to play some pool against other random drunk college students. I was an ambassador that bragged about how much I loved the school while on tours, but then on my own I was looking into what I needed to do to transfer schools. I wanted to go home, I wanted to go to the school all my home town brothers went to, I wanted to be anywhere else other than the place I didn’t feel comfortable. I fought myself a lot on whether or not to leave. I was ready to.

God had other plans. And man oh man does he always have other plans. It had been a prayer of mine for the longest time to find a community I felt a part of. Sure I had friends here. I knew a lot of people. But I hadn’t found the people I could confide in. I couldn’t find the community I felt like the Lord was calling me to here. I was sure when I decided to come to Mesa that this is what the Lord had for me. But now that I was here, I had no clue what he was using me for, or what I was doing here. I was lost.

Second semester of a junior year, I found my group. We had a men’s group meeting that originally was going to meet once a month. At the end of our first meeting, I asked if we could meet weekly. I was tired of not having guys to call brothers in Christ. We did, and I became great friends with some fellas, and we got to talk about Jesus every week. We got to be vulnerable and pour of lives out and into each other. That semester was the blessing I had prayed for. Though it didn’t come when I wanted it to, it came when it needed to. I had already decided to graduate early, mostly because I didn’t like it here, and was unsure of where I would live for a half year before leaving. I had asked the guys at men’s group to pray about it. God was doing his thing like always when he brought a couple new guys to men’s group. They asked for prayer about who was going to fill some empty rooms they had. The moment they said that, all eyes turned to me, and I couldn’t help but put my head in my hands and tear up. God was working in my life in ways I had never seen so clearly. He was laying blessings on me that I was hoping and praying for.

I had gone from a place of despair, to a place of joy. I had gone from a place of doubting God, to wanting to submit absolutely everything I had to him. I still struggle with that and I understand that it’s a process, but the last year that I have spent in college has been the highest point in my walk with God. Learning to trust him with more and more of my life, praising him in times before that I was dishonoring him, loving life in a place I had once not enjoyed it. I was seeing his plan for my time here rolled out. I was seeing his plan for my life and was soaking it up. I wanted to stay another semester of school and be with the friends I had made here. And there goes God again, landing me an internship with my dream job company. Setting up exactly what he had for me right beneath my nose.

All of this has taught me many things. Gods plan is way more important, way more surprising, and almost never what you expect. Giving him control earlier than you think in every single situation is a smart thing to do. Not giving up when things suck, is a wise thing to do. Pressing into Jesus and letting him serve you is something that he LOVES to do. And being a servant to the kingdom of God is the most life giving thing you can do.

I’m so thankful for my time at CMU. I’ve told so many people over the last couple days that I’m going to miss the people here more than anything else. I’m going to miss the conversations about how people are truly doing. I’m going to miss Beer Tuesday’s. I’m going to miss FCA, Men’s Group, Bible Study and Church. I’m going to miss my roommates, and my brothers in Christ. I’m going to miss the Ambassadors (not the Admissions Office). I’m going to miss the volleyball team and the staff. I’m going to miss the mentors I’ve gotten close with that pour God into my life. I’m going to miss the people here. I’m going to miss this place.

I know the Lord is working and I’m relying on him more than ever for what’s next in my life. I encourage you to do the same. If you’re reading this, know that I love you. Genuinely. Whether this is the first time you’ve heard it today, this week or in a while. Whether your mom told you it this morning. I promise, I love you.

To the people in Grand Junction, know you mean the world to me and I am so thankful for the blessing you all have been in my life. I hope I have left you with some piece of me. I hope I was able to show Jesus to you in some way.

To everyone else, I love you too. I promise. I hope and pray that I have left some sort of impact on you, as I know you have on me. I hope I have shown Jesus to you in some way.

I am encouraged in what God has next in my life. This time spent in the valley (literally and figuratively) has been something I would do over and over again given the chance. Living a life for Jesus is a beautiful thing and I’m realizing that more and more each day. I’m realizing the importance of being alone in times, and the importance of exhausting yourself to be with others sometimes. God’s plan isn’t always easy to see, and for me, it was so far in the distance. It takes time and determination. It takes sacrifice. But it’s all worth it. It’s easy for me to say these things as hindsight is 20/20, but I promise you the Lord is working in your life. Sometimes we just aren’t listening.

Trust God. Love others. Be quick to forgive, and offer an understanding heart to those who need it. God is so good and I am so thankful to have been allowed the opportunity to attend college and take on this challenge. ALL the glory goes to him. It’s not me.

I love you.

Sincerely,

Kev (CMU Alumni)

GO MAVS