The POINT Women's Retreat

Last weekend Point University had its very first women's retreat. Once a month we have an all-girls bible study called "The POINT" (it was named this before the school name became Point U). This month we traded our Thursday night bible study for a weekend away. Thirty girls went on the free retreat. We spent the night at Spring Road Christian Church in Lanett, Alabama (the city between West Point and our new apartments in Valley). All night long we snacked and hung out. Natalie Braden, President Collins daughter, was our speaker. She spoke about guys and God (exactly what every college girl needs to hear!!). Natalie also gave us a list of things that she wishes every college girl knew:

1. Go to Counseling for a year to get to know yourself. (Point has a free counselor)
2. Stop trying to find the right person. Be the right person.
3. If you believe that God exists then STOP playing God.
4. Develop a healthy relationship with your body. Stop counting calories. It will steal your joy. God made food to be enjoyed.
5. Encourage One Another.
6. Start doing things you are passionate about NOW!
7. Date in Groups.
8. Guard your heart. Don’t tell your deepest secrets to a guy unless you are married.
9. Find a Mentor. Be a Mentor.
10. Just relax.
11. Be Confident. You have a relationship with the Creator of the world.

Then we split into small groups to discuss what we had just heard. Yes, we all see each other every day in the dorms and around campus, but there was something about us being away from our everyday lives for a little bit with no distractions that helped us get to know each other so much better.



The next morning we woke up and volunteered for Spring Road's ALaGa FliBy Race. We broke into groups of two or three and stood on the corners along the 10.2K and 5K route encouraging and directing the runners. We all wore reflective vests for safety and a couple very lucky ladies got to be prisoners for the day! I was standing with student Lakeisha Courtney in front of a beautiful 100 year old house. The owner of the home, Cathy Aiken, came out and began talking to Lakeisha and me. She brought us fruit snacks and offered us water. I am blown away by the love and generosity I experience every time I go to Point University’s new home. After the race, Mrs. Cathy gave Lakeisha and me a tour of the new Point Academic Center (which you can see at Open House on April 14th). Mrs. Cathy also gave Lakeisha and me her phone number and insisted that we call her if we ever need anything. Mrs. Cathy is just a little glimpse of the remarkable community we are about to join. I cannot wait to move to a place where the people genuinely care about Point University students.

For lunch, we had planned on having frozen lasagnas, but at 10 am all of the electricity in the entire county went out. Lunch was a delayed a little and another generous community member, Mary Susan Underwood, allowed us to take the lasagnas to her house (in the next county) to prepare them. While we were waiting on lunch some girls just relaxed and napped and the rest of us took a tour of West Point. After lunch we headed back to campus.

The retreat was incredible. The relationship building that took place and the advice that Natalie gave have already had a tangible impact on my life. I cannot wait until we can do this again and continue to transform Point University women into incredible leaders for Christ.

MY LAST DORM WARS

Since the Spring of 2009, Point University has had the traditional event called, "DORM WARS." This is a week long campus wide event that starts on a Sunday night and lasts til Thursday night. during which each dorm competes with each other in daily events to be named, "DORM WARS CHAMPIONS." Every year that I have been at Point, I have always looked forward to DORM WARS, it is literally one of my favorite things that goes on at school. This year however was my last DORM WARS considering that I will be graduating in December of 2012. Also this year I was given the amazing privilege, along with other students in the Recreational Leadership class to run and design this year's DORM WARS. This was great because not only was this my last DORM WARS, but it was the first year of DORM WARS for Point. It was very encouraging to see all the new students get involved in the events and to see my class work together to make this DORM WARS great. Since I live in the Women's Apartments, my team color was purple and our team name was, "Team Shut It Down!" Even though we were a rather small group we had a great time this year participating in DORM WARS. I will truly miss this particular practice of Point University, I have enjoyed every year and every minute of it!!

#DW2012

Flip My Burger, Trashcan Ball, Mega Relay, and Messy Tug-a-War are all a part of the craziness we know around here as Dorm Wars. It's one of my favorite things about Spring Semester. When asked to describe it, I usually say it's like field day on steroids. For one week, dorm is pitted against dorm to compete in events and see which dorm is truly the best and deserving of the coveted Golden Toilet trophy. We all have a team color and get to pick a song to generate a sense of pride in our team. Lower Head(the dorm I live in) is the Turquoise team, and Wobble is our song, complete with a really cool dance! Every day at lunch and at night, we all come together with painted war faces and decorated T-shirts to get a little crazy and have some fun!

One of my favorite parts of Dorm Wars is ironically the unity it brings to our campus, despite all the competition. Within our dorm, it brings together every girl, whether a nerd, musician, or athlete. Someone you may not have talked to all year is out there as your teammate, cheering, dancing, and singing with you as if you'd been best friends your whole life. Tonight is the Mega Relay, the final portion of this week. This is the determining factor of who will win it all! Win or lose, it's been a fun week and I'm proud of my girls, but I'm gonna cheer with all my heart for Lower Head to come out on top!

Identitiy Crisis

In Genesis 1:27 we read that God created mankind in His image. In the Book of Psalm we read the different ways that God knows us. He knows how we were formed (Ps 103:14), how He formed the hearts of everyone (Ps 33:15), and how He sees and hears everything (Ps 94:9). In Isaiah 49 we read how God called Isaiah before he was born and named him in his mother's womb. Armed with this knowledge and so many other examples in the Bible, I think it's safe to say that God had His plan mapped out for us from before we were born. He knows who we are and who we are supposed to be.
This is where is gets a little muddled up. At some point during high school, or maybe even during middle school or early adulthood we decide what our identity is. We decide how to label ourselves. If you look at my twitter bio it says I'm a wife, a mother, a teacher, a student, and a lover of Jesus. Sounds pretty good right? Well thinking about it further, I disagree. Who I identify myself with should first be a Christian. If God formed me, then He has a plan for me, and my identity should be with Him. I was given the blessing of being a wife and mother from God, a teacher and student - also gifts from Him. Why did I not say Christian first and foremost? Why do many Christians do the same thing? I think it's time we look a little more at our priorities, and college is a wonderful place to do that.
When we attend a Christian-based college, we start to see ourselves a little clearer, especially when we grab on to what God is wanting from us. We make friends, we learn about the world, and about God's word. We are able to spend more time with Him to truly understand how our identity is formed in Him. For traditional students, you may get this understanding a little sooner than those of us who waited many years to go to college. But if I take away just 1 thing from my college experience, I can say that I learned my personal identity in Christ.

Spring Break: Somebody that I used to know.

This first week back from Spring Break has been rough - getting back into the swing of the day to day routines, the daily meal times and work schedules, as compared to spring break's lazy mornings, and days spent in Downtown Charleston walking around with a cone of gelato. Even through the work involved, there has been a bright side, with there being a bunch of great stuff that has happened this week:

• Got to have a guy night with some of my friends on Tuesday (accordingly, my girlfriend had a "girl night in" at her apartment the same night).
• Have a bunch of awesome things on the horizon in terms of what the future will bring, and I'm excited for what it holds.
• Thursday I along with some friends of mine performed Gotye's "Somebody that I Used to Know" at Open Mic Night - that's me at the end doing percussion on my guitar. Click the link to view the video.
• This weekend is Nunsense - being put on by the Fine Arts Dept! I'm excited to see what these great ladies have put together!

It's a shorter post, but not much has happened so far. However, coming up soon there's the Hunger Games premiere, and then throw into the mix things like getting to see my dad in Atlanta for a business trip the week after next - and the month of March will be epic! 

Until next time,

Will

A Prodigious Ingredient In God

A Prodigious Ingredient in God

By: A.S.B. Jr.

Editing: Kamilah Smith

I Corinthians 13:1-13

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.⁴ Lovesuffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.⁸ Lovenever fails. But whether there areprophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I would lose my mind without love. My mind, body, soul, and spirit cannot live without the conscious indwelling oflove. The satisfaction of it stills my nerves. What kind of immoral Christian would I be without repaying my duty to love people where they are? It’s uncomfortable to see people doing great things without the presence of love, gifts, and talents. A child would rather receive love through deeds than through verbal affirmation. There is also a beautiful thought to imagine: Even though we may have some ideas of love God has in store a type of love we cannot comprehend. There is a better and perfect definition that God can’t even write out when expressing the totality of LOVE. The only things we can learn from this passage is to keep working on what we can achieve in Christ. What faith and hope can we obtain without the ingredients of love in the mix? If it’s only a fraction, let’s sprint to learn from its fruits and not become puppet Christians.

Prayer: Only You Lord hold affection and affirmation about the mystical powers of Love- the greatest gift to man. Thank You my precious and appointed God who has allowed us to join You once more in communicating even more of a lasting bond. It’s a great and intriguing experience to understand more. You’re not just a Father but Mother, not just a husband but a wife as well. The God I know is beautiful and a fragrant sweet dear who gives me words to speak, and ears to listen. Make my life a wonderful arrangement of love and my ministry in love. I appreciate always the time we share and I hope to further our time together. In Jesus the Christ name, Amen.

Thriller

After weeks of late night practicing, a group of Point students shocked the cafeteria Wednesday. In the middle of lunch the lights went out and the thunder began rumbling. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" began and Shaundre Horne entered the cafeteria dancing. In a matter of seconds 15 other students joined him and performed a choreographed dance to "Thriller." Why...you ask?

On March 31 , Point University is hosting the Global Missions Conference. With our flash mob, we announced that online registration has opened. The conference is an awesome opportunity to learn about missions, hear testimonies of what God is doing throughout the world, and get involved in missions. It is an all day event including breakout sessions with missions organizations and main sessions with speakers Nathan and Erin McDade of GlobalScope. Invisible Children will also be here.

Registration is only $10 until March 23rd. After the 23rd, the price goes up to $15. It includes a t-shirt, meals, and a concert by True Story.

You can register here!
http://point.edu/s/310/index.aspx?sid=310&pgid=1734&gid=1&cid=3255&ecid=3255&post_id=0

Hope to see you there!!