Cedars, August 2018

College consumes a lot of time: Between assignments, extracurriculars, campus jobs, etc., it can be challenging to make time for other things, including God. If we’re honest, making time for God can be hard even when we aren’t busy with academics. But if you don’t prioritize your time with God now, it will be really hard to do later. When I first started going to Cedarville, I made a rule for myself: I would never skip out on church, Bible studies or time with Christian brothers or sisters just to have more time to work on assignments or sleep. If I truly say Christ is Lord of my life, then I need to prioritize my time for Him. That means spending time with God will always take priority over school because school is temporary, but my relationship with Christ is eternal. That doesn’t mean I give myself a pass on completing assignments on time or finishing my school readings. But it does mean that I make sacrifices with my time. Sometimes it means I have to stay up late or get up early to finish an assignment; more often it means I can’t play that game or watch that extra episode on Netflix. I also don’t hesitate to spend an hour with a friend in need and take time to pray, regardless of pressing due dates. Every minute we have on this Earth is a gift from God, so let’s honor Him with it and be good stewards. I view it like tithing. I give God the time He freely gives me and trust that He will give me the time to complete the tasks I have been given. For the past three years I have enjoyed growing deeply in Him and still turned in most of my assignments on time. August 2018 3 How do you make time for God and school? Keegan D’Alfonso Cedars Editor-in-Chief Just Sayin’ ... Alex Hentschel Some More Unsolicited Advice For Ya “When I was a freshman, I talked like a freshman. Then I became an upperclassman, and I put aside my freshman ways.” — Cedarville Proverbs W elcome to college. Time to for- get everything about your old life and who you used to be. It might sound like an exaggeration, but it’s actually crazy how you’re about to build a whole new identity for yourself with a group of people that you’ve never met before. It’s time to find out who you are. You’re like Ty from Extreme Home Makeover — “moving the bus” on your new self. (That was really bad, but I needed a metaphor that would universally apply to all Christians.) Here’s something that you just have to accept: your fresh- man year is going to be awkward. Think of it as a trial period — a time where you can make mistakes and nobody judges you. You’ll have pictures of yourself from the Rip with whipped cream on your face in a shopping cart and you’ll just say, “I was a fresh- man, I don’t know.” Actually, you probably don’t even know what the Rip is. Never mind. College is going to speed by, and to be honest, you’re not going to remember a lot of what you learned in Earth Science. You will remember your friends. You won’t remember what each individual chapel was about, but you’ll see yourself changing, in- side and out. You won’t remember what your dorm room looked like, but you will remember the time you brought back Bill’s donuts one minute before curfew and then dropped them all over the stairs. (Did this happen to me? I don’t know. You don’t know. Nobody knows.) Savor every moment, if you can, and accept that this year will fundamentally change who you are. I don’t recognize myself at all — I’ve cycled through three pairs of glasses, cut a foot off my hair and learned Spanish. You will gain confidence, and at the same time learn that you don’t know anything about the world at all. You’ll start to narrow your interests and broaden your horizons. This is the free trial on your life. You can try out different versions of yourself before you go out into the real world and get ready to play. Pierce your nose and go through your grunge phase now — you can’t do it again. Accept that you know nothing at all and be ready to know nothing at all for the rest of your life. All adults are faking it. Some of us are just better at faking it than others. Alexandria Hentschel is a sophomore International Studies and Spanish double major and the Off-Campus news editor for Ce- dars. She enjoys old books, strong coffee, and honest debate. Letter From the Editor by Keegan D’Alfonso O n behalf of the entire Cedars staff allow me to welcome you to Cedarville University. This issue of Cedars is for you, the incoming freshmen. We hope to offer you a taste of student media, some helpful tips to get you started in this new life journey that is college and maybe a few biting jokes (sorry, even in college, upperclassmen like to pick on the freshies). You are about to start an amazing adventure here at Cedarville. College is a great opportunitty to grow and learn, not just academical- ly, but also as a person. Who you are today is not who you will be four years from now when you graduate, and that is OK. You are going to make mistakes and experience failure, and I hope you do because the best tool for growth and learning is when God takes us down to our knees in humility as we reallize howmuch we still have to learn. Too often we pursue life goals with a preconcieved idea of what success will look like and where we want to be 10 years from now. Having goals is good, however, you need to be flexible and allow your goals to change and realize that true success may be different from what you envisioned at the start of this journey. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” You do not determine your own journey, and praise God for that because it gives you somuchmore freedom. God has already set a path before you, and contrary to what your parents or friends might say, what you do here in college does not determine the path for your life. Take this time in college to figure out what you value, grow from the child that left home to a man or woman who will be a Christian witness to the world. However, just because you are at a Christian college doesn’t mean you’re going to experience profound Christian growth through osmosis. All the chapel services in the world aren’t going to make a difference if you aren’t willing to submit yourself to God. Finally, it’s OK if you leave college without achieving all your goals. Godly success isn’t measured in grades, how many accolades you recieved or if you found the perfect spouse. Preformance is a trap the devil uses to steal your peace. Success is found in following Christ and the heart in which you serve him. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” — Colossians 3:17 Keegan D’Alfonso is a senior journalism major and the Edi- tor-in-Chief for Cedars. He enjoys telling stories about his time in the Marines, making corny jokes, and sharing his passion for in- tercultural communication.