Since it’s getting close to High School graduation time, I am giving away 2 copies of Thriving in College: Make Great Friends, Keep Your Faith, and Get Ready for The Real World by Alex Chediak.
Click here for a quick review of the book.
Enter your info below between now and Friday at noon and 2 lucky names will be drawn.
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“College can be a wonderful and dangerous place,” writes Alex Chediak. And he should know. As the associate professor of engineering and physics at California Baptist University, he has worked with and taught students for several years. But even though college can be a difficult place, his desire is that students not just survive, but thrive. Therefore, he has written Thriving In College: Make Great Friends, Keep Your Faith, and Get Ready for The Real World, a book designed to help students make the most of their college days.
“The purpose of college,” writes Chediak, “ is to be a launching pad into all that goes with responsible Christian adulthood.” He comments how “it’s shameful that one in every three men of ages twenty-two to thirty-four is still living at home with Mom and Dad.” College is the place to begin to develop responsibility. But to do so takes intentionality. It requires a plan. And it involves being aware of a few dangers ahead.
Naturally, Thriving In College seeks to encourage its readers to grow closer to God during their college days. Chediak writes that “college is a season in which you can—and must—take ownership of your faith.” There will be moral and intellectual challenges to one’s faith in college, but one must not neglect his/her relationship with God. Chediak argues that “Christianity doesn’t just make sense; it provides a firm basis to build your college years and your entire adult life upon.”
As Chediak builds the case that Christianity should be the foundation for one’s days at college, he allows it to guide him to write about some practical advice a college student needs to excel. I really appreciate this aspect of the book. He does not compartmentalize Christianity but allows it to speak to how a student should do everything from taking notes in class to building new relationships.
The specific suggestions Chediak mentions throughout each chapter to help students “thrive in college” are practical, helpful and challenging. Below is a sampling of some of his advice…
You don’t want to assume that college is just like high school (p. 31).
It’s so important to have friends whose character you admire because, like it or not, as they go, you will go (p. 68).
Before you jump into a dating relationship, you need to take responsibility for your own Christian life so that you aren’t looking for someone else to be for you what only God can be (p. 94).
Embrace responsibility and avoid making excuses or exaggerating (p. 169).
As you select a major, move toward the decision with intentionality, an accurate self-assesment, and a wise consideration of the pros and cons, but recognize that the selection of a major os only the beginning of a journey (p. 221).
Study regularly instead of cramming (p. 228).
Don’t waste opportunities in college. Prioritize and develop your academic skills, but also take advantage of extracurricular growth opportunities like internships, mission trips, student organizations, and special events (p. 281).
If you are a college student, work with college students, or are even a parent of a college student, Thriving In College will be a tremendous resource for you. Of all the resources on the market that deal with the transition to college, I have found this book to be the most balanced as Chediak deals with matters from apologetics to learning to handle finances.
At around 350 pages, Thriving in College might appear a bit lengthy for some students, but nonetheless, I would consider placing a copy in their hands. Or better yet, using the material in a high school senior or college freshmen small group.
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5 universal fears and needs have been grouped together by Marcus Buckingham in his book The One Thing You Need to Know. They are…
1. Fear of Death — The Need for Security
2. Fear of the Outsider — The Need for Community
3. Fear of the Future — The Need for Clarity
4. Fear of Chaos — The Need for Authority
5. Fear of Insignificance — The Need for Respect
The question we must ask in regards to these universal fears and needs is what do we do about them? How does everyone overcome their fears? How does each culture meet their need for security, community, clarity, authority, and respect?
Notice the question regarding our fears and needs is not “Are we going to do something?” but “What are we going to do?” Everyone has a plan. “Everyone is trying to find salvation,” writes Tim Chester. “They might not ask, What must I do to be saved? But everyone has some sense of what it is that would make them fulfilled, satisfied, and accepted.”
If one believes that to gain respect he or she must make millions of dollars or hold a high position of leadership, then he or she will do anything necessary to make money or attain power. If one holds that to achieve security he or she must obtain a certain college degree, then he or she will work towards his or her degree of choice.
Though everyone has a “salvation story” they trust in to be saved from their fears, we must inquire as to the validity of each story? In other words, do they work? Does the one seeking security receive it by developing a great retirement plan? Does the one seeking significance find it by having a “prestigious” job?
I am not going to delve into and expose the inadequacies of the variety of ways that fall short of eradicating our fears. Instead, using verses from the first couple of chapters of Ephesians, I want to show how the glorious power of the gospel is THE SOLUTION. These verses should speak for themselves!
He chose us in him before the foundation of the world (1:4).
In him we have obtained an inheritance (1:11).
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (1:13-14).
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone (2:19-20).
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2:4-6).
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (1:19-23).
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (2:10).
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