Is it possible to waste Cornell?

Of course it is. We all have plans to not waste it.

Make some friends. Go to awesome parties. Learn a lot. Get good grades. Get a summer internship. Join a frat. Get into med school. Get a job.

What if you’re wrong? What if that’s not what Cornell - and life - is really about? I mean, those are good things, but are they ultimate things?

The Bible gives an answer about how to not waste Cornell, or your life:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:17

We exist to glorify God. We exist to do everything we do (eating, drinking, studying, hanging out, etc.) in such a way that Jesus is treasured above everything else. Who is Jesus?

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. - Colossians 1:15-20

Jesus is God. Jesus is supremely powerful, supremely valuable, supremely wise, supremely good. Jesus is God become man to take the punishment for our sin, so that we wouldn’t have to. Jesus reconciled us to God, so that we might have peace with him, living with him eternally.

If you are not a Christian - not reconciled to God - what you need to do, before you can glorify God with any other action, is trust Jesus to save you and satisfy you. Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Why? Everyone has sinned against God by breaking his law and treasuring things other than God. God must punish sin, and the Bible tells us that the punishment is eternal torment in hell. But God became man as Jesus, who was punished for the sin of all who would believe in him, so that we wouldn’t need to be punished.

If you are a Christian, you are called to do the same thing - trust Jesus to save you and satisfy you. Stop trying to earn your salvation and trust that Jesus has already saved you. Stop trying to satisfy yourself with lesser pleasures and seek your satisfaction in the greatest Pleasure. Let Matthew 13:44-46 give you a taste of just how valuable Jesus is (hint: the kingdom is where the King is).

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

This transforms EVERYTHING. All the gifts that God has given us become merely tools and means to experience the Giver.

We eat giving thanks to a good God who has given us food to eat and enjoy… knowing that as good as the food is, Jesus is better, and Jesus can eternally satisfy.

We study hard using the minds God has gifted us with, knowing that ultimately, what we need is not good grades or a good job, but Jesus. When we do well, we know that our hope is not in our own skills and abilities, but in Jesus. When we do poorly, we rest assured that it is Jesus that saves and satisfies us, not good grades.

These are all good things (eating, studying, etc.) to be done in God-honoring ways, but they are not all there is to be done.

In his book, Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper says the following:

The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.

We were made to worship God, and help others worship God. To display to others the supreme value of Jesus, so that others would praise him.

First Peter 3:15 tells us to “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” It should be so clear to people that your hope is different from their hope that they ask you about it!. Has this ever happened to you?

What shocks the world is when they see you living in such a way that makes it clear to them that Jesus is your hope - your treasure.

What shocks Cornell is when they see that Jesus is your treasure, not your grades.

When they see that Jesus is your treasure, not your resume.

When they see that Jesus is your treasure, not your TV.

When they see that Jesus is your treasure, not food or drink or sex or drugs or jobs or parties or friends or family or future.

Are you showing Cornell that Jesus is worth treasuring? If not, you’re wasting it.

A common, often fatal myth about Jesus is perpetrated in Western culture: he’s a marginalized, Galilean hippie-peasant in a prom dress who rocks out to the Spice Girls while drinking decaf.

Myth #2: you can beat Jesus up.

We printed up a bunch of copies of this quartercard last year.  We can’t give them out anymore, because the back has some wrong information about our meeting location, but here’s the front:

Setting The Record Straight

1. Marginalized? Not at all. Back in his day, he was tremendously popular and influential… that’s what got him killed! He was doing miracles, attracting followers, taking on “The Man” (the Jewish religious-ruling establishment called the Pharisees). People either loved him or hated him… no in between. They wanted to make him king by force, and then they wanted to kill him. What they didn’t want to do was ignore him.
2. Hippie? Jesus loved and taught peace, but he wasn’t afraid of confrontation. He took on the Pharisees of his day in sharp, verbal combat, leaving them confounded every time. He entered the Jewish Temple and tore the place up, turning over tables and businesses. Jesus loved the environment - the Bible tells us that he created it for himself. But he loved people more - they were the point of his coming. They had this problem - sin - that was keeping them from heaven and sending them to burn forever in hell. Jesus came to fix that by dying the death we should have died so we can live a life giving glory to God - not subterfuge.
3. Prom Dress? Makeup? Spice Girls? Decaf? Jesus was the manliest man that ever lived. His first miracle? Making wine… good wine. His last miracle on earth? Flying. In between? Healing people, raising people from the dead, ordering demons around. Oh yeah, he died too… and then was resurrected. And about that death… Roman crucifixion is the most brutal form of execution that exists. The Romans wouldn’t even do it to their own citizens - that’s how bad it was. Jesus not only willingly died but went through all that torture silently - without complaining.
4. And you think you can beat him up? “Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus was beat up and crucified only because he allowed it. You really think you can take on God? That you can beat up the one who conquered death? This guy rose from the grave. Good luck with that.

So What?

Jesus was a real guy. Can’t argue with that. A Jewish historian named Josephus even wrote about him. He existed, he taught, he died. While he was teaching he amassed a rather large crowd of followers. Followers that freaked out and hid when Jesus was killed. So why would they decide to start a religion? Put yourself in their place - your leader (who you thought was going to become King) was just killed and his ideas black-listed. You’ve lost all hope, because everything is contingent on him being alive.

Look at what happens next: Christianity is formed, and starts growing, even under threat of death (by stoning and crucifixion - both quite painful and torturous). The effect (Christianity growing) is clear and undisputable. What was the cause? What gets a bunch of frightened, discouraged Jews to stop hiding, regain confidence, and start telling the world about Jesus? The only possible answer - Jesus did what he said he would do and rose from the dead. Jesus is real, Jesus is alive, Jesus is powerful.

A good question to be asking right now: why did Jesus have to die? Why did he give his life up willingly? What’s the point?

Answer: sin.

We live in a culture of moral relativism that says that there is no such thing as sin and that we get to define what “good” is by our preferences. But that doesn’t make any sense… rape is always wrong, right? Mugging and beating up old ladies is always wrong, right? So somewhere these “absolutes” must be defined.

You’ve heard the “Golden Rule”, right? “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Or, “he who is the most powerful gets to define what sin is.” By definition, that “most powerful being” is God. And in reality, all God really wants is for you to see him as “most powerful” and see him as “the best” (because he is), and so “sin” is really simply “treasuring anything else above God.”

Some examples:

1. Stealing. Pretty obvious - you treasure that thing that’s not yours more than you treasure God, so you decide to take it.
2. Cheating. Also pretty obvious - you treasure that good grade more than you treasure God.
3. Lying. You treasure your reputation more than you treasure God.
4. Sex (outside of marriage). You treasure that girl (or boy) more than you treasure God.

And for those of you who think you’re perfect… Pride. You treasure yourself more than you treasure God.

Everybody’s sinful. Which means that everyone has impugned God’s glory. A just judge must punish sin, and God is just, so he must punish us.  And so we all deserve death.  Well, worse than that - we all deserve Hell, which is a real place, it’s very HOT, and it’s where you’re tormented consciously for eternity (sorry, no annihilation).

Hell is the just response to our sin - it’s what a good judge should do - but God has mercifully provided a way out… he came down to earth in human form as Jesus (fully God and fully man at the same time), lived a perfect life, and then died.  He died the death we deserve, meaning that God punished Jesus for our sin, so that we wouldn’t be punished.  He lived the perfect life that we could never live, which means that when God looks at us, he doesn’t see our sin but sees Jesus’ perfection, and counts that as ours.

But here’s the catch - we’re not all saved automatically, and once we are, we don’t just get to keep on sinning.  Jesus died for all who would trust in him.  What’s required from us is simple: repent of your sin (hate it, and stop doing it) and start treasuring and trusting God (start doing the opposite of sinning). Trust God by treasuring him. This is what we were created for - treasuring God above all things.  Believe him when he says that he is far more satisfying that stealing, cheating, lying, or sex. Or drugs or alcohol or TV or World of Warcraft or Nintendo Wii or getting good grades or finding a good spouse or living comfortably and retiring early… and seek after him with all your heart.

We’d love to tell you more about this guy named Jesus that took on God’s wrath so you don’t have to and wants you to trust and treasure him because he really is worth treasuring. Shoot me an email at benhutton@gmail.com or come check out Real Life - Friday at 7:30pm in RPCC Auditorium - where we talk about what all this means.

-Ben

Jesus is the true and better lemon bar,
Who ate the sour grapes of the Father’s wrath
So that only sweet mercy remains for you.

Jesus is the true and better brownie,
Who needs no ice cream on the side
To be your greatest delight at the heavenly banquet.

Jesus is the true and better white chocolate macadamia nut cookie,
Who was cracked and crushed and rose again
To clothe us in white.

Jesus is the true and better peanut butter cookie,
Satisfying every obedient heart, regardless of allergies.

Jesus is the true and better caramel chocolate chip coconut cookie,
Who bore the furnace of affliction on our behalf,
Took our spots upon his spotless self,
And hung on a tree so that we might have spiritual milk to drink.

Jesus is the true and better dessert,
The Bread of life, the Spring of Living Water,
Who sustains you in the desert place
And becomes for you the sweetest eternal gift.

Jesus is your true and best love,
Who will never leave you nor forsake you,
Who is for you and desires to do you good
With all His heart and with all His soul.

It is His goodness, His love, His grace,
His beauty, His mercy, His justice, His peace
We long to taste and see and pursue along with you.

It’s with His love we wish you a happy belated Valentine’s Day,
-Your brothers in Christ

Philadelphia

We’ll be going to Philadelphia with KCCE for Spring Break. Check out the website section for much more info. The deadline for registration is THIS WEDNESDAY, February 6th.

Ivy Congress

This April, from Friday the 11th to Saturday the 13th, we’ll be going to the Ivy League Congress on Faith and Action, a conference held by the Christian Union every three years. This year, it will be at Yale. Please keep this in mind and begin praying about it - we’ll ask you to commit to going to it in a few weeks. Read all about the speakers and the conference at its website here.

Institute of Biblical Studies

Next Friday (2/8) there will be NO Real Life. Instead, we will be going to Kennedy Hall, Call Auditorium, to hear Stephen Um speak. You can read all about it on the Chesterton House website.

Prayer

We have two prayer meetings every week:

• Thursdays, 4:30-5:30pm, Goldwin Smith G20 or G24
• Fridays, 9-10am, Willard Straight Hall across from the ATMs

Community Groups

Community Groups (formerly known as Small Groups) have started! See here for times and locations.

Staff

Our new staff have arrived! Nic and Christy Brenner and JW and Stephanie Betts arrived in Ithaca this last week.

Real Life

We will be starting ON TIME next time, instead of at 7:50pm. This means that if you come at 7:50pm, you’ll miss a lot. So, come at 7:30pm. Or better yet, come eat dinner with us beforehand at 6:15pm!

Hey Cru!

We hope you’ve enjoyed your first few weeks at home. We’d like to offer the following encouragement:

Set aside time each day for prayer and Bible reading.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)

Outside of the routine of Cornell, it easily becomes difficult to consistently read the Bible and pray. It will be much easier if you set aside time (perhaps right after you wake up in the morning, perhaps right before you go to bed) each day. And perhaps ask a friend to gently hold you accountable.

Get involved with your local church.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
(Acts 2:42, 46-47)

You’re not at Cornell and there isn’t Real Life every Friday and a bus to pick you up and bring you to church every Sunday. But regular fellowship with other Christians is important as we seek to encourage one another to pursue God. And regular Biblical teaching is important as God works through His Word to change our hearts and our minds to love Him and enjoy Him and experience Him more.

Hang out with your friends.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
Hang out with your friends from your neighborhood and your high school. Seek to encourage one another with the truth of the Gospel - it’s what both your Christian and nonchristian friends need to hear!

Listen to some sermons online and read some good books.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me–practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

At Real Life this semester, we’ve watched messages by Louie Giglio, Mark Driscoll, and John Piper. These guys have hundreds, and in Piper’s case, thousands, of messages online that you can watch or listen to. You can find (almost) everything Piper’s ever written or spoken online at www.desiringgod.org. In fact, many of you have one of his books - Don’t Waste Your Life - we’d encourage you to read it this winter if you have a chance.

We love you guys, and can’t wait to see you again in January and hear what God’s been doing in your lives! We’d love to be praying for you guys specifically - if you have any requests you’d like us to be praying over, feel free to email us or the listserv.

-Ben, Carmen, Liang, & Sindri

 Tonight was the Cru Christmas Party.  Here’s the song the guys sang for the girls:

God can bust through your world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, sister, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

God can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a holy carpet ride
A whole new world

A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we’re only dreaming

A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I’m way up here
It’s crystal clear
That now we’re in a whole new world with God
Now we’re in a whole new world with God

Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

A whole new world
Don’t you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath - it gets better
Jesus the morning star
He came so far
We can’t go back to where we used to be

A whole new world
Every turn a surprise
With new horizons to pursue
Every moment gets better
We’ll chase them anywhere
There’s time to spare
Let us share this whole new world with you

A whole new world
That’s where we’ll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous place
for God’s glory

What’s the difference between joy and happiness?

According to Google, joy is a lot more popular. Joy has 161 million results, compared to only 77.1 million for happiness. However, happiness has its own Wikipedia article, while joy only has a disambiguation page.

Instead, Wikipedia simply defines joy as “an emotion of great happiness,” then links to the happiness article. The happiness article defines happiness as “an emotion in which one experiences feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense joy.”

So culturally and popularly, we see joy as simply being at the top of the happiness power rankings. Biblically, however, we see that they are the same thing. This is because God has ordained that feelings of contentment in God and satisfaction in God be equivalent to a feeling of joy in God. That is, the things that Wikipedia describes as types of happiness are also causes of joy.

Joy is the natural, and proper, emotional response to something that delights us. As we delight in God, he is what satisfies us and makes us content, and our emotional response is joy. That is, these states of satisfaction and contentment - what the world would call happiness - result in a feeling of joy.

Joy, Happiness, and Juice

What we really should be looking at is the difference between the world’s definition of joy/happiness and the Bible’s definition. Both the Bible and the world are telling you to search for satisfaction and contentment, and pursue your own joy/happiness. To bring back the juice analogy, let’s suppose that joy and happiness are defined in terms of juice. Drinking certain juice will make you happy, but not as happy as drinking a certain other juice. The Bible and the world are each telling you - find the best-tasting juice. Each think they have the answer, but only one can be right.

The Bible tells us that God is the only one who can truly satisfy us. He will never leave us, abandon us, or let us down. He will never give up on us or betray us. He is always looking out for our best interests. And beyond all that, the Bible tells us not just about what God has done but about who God is - about his beauty and glory and holiness and power and wisdom and honor and infiniteness and knowledge. God has done some pretty good things for us (good juice), but even better, God has given us himself (the best juice).

We get to know God - that’s what true happiness is… knowing God.

What about all the other stuff?

So you’re thinking right now… “Ben, can’t other things make me happy? You can’t expect God and only God to make me happy all the time - that’s not reasonable, is it?” To that I would answer both “no” and “yes”. In Philippians 4:4, Paul commands, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Paul says this because there is always reason to rejoice in God. Even through pain and suffering, God has said, “my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness.” And because of that, we should rejoice.

But what about everything else? Can’t other things give us joy? Yes, they can, but not in and of themselves. They give us joy because they point us to God. In Colossians 1:24, Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings.” In 2 Corinthians 7:9, Paul says, “I now rejoice… that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.” And in Deuteronomy 12:7, God tells the Israelites, “There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.” From that last verse it is clear why we are to rejoice in things other than God - because we get God. Deuteronomy 26:11 says, “you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.” Why rejoice? Because God is the giver and he is displaying his goodness, so through the good things you get, you get God too.

Joy and the Gospel

The Gospel is all about Joy. Jesus came to die to bring you to God so that God would be glorified as you turn from sin (looking for satisfaction in lesser things) and turn to God to satisfaction. Jesus died the death you deserved so you would get the joy he deserved - joy in God, in the presence of God, for eternity.

This Friday at Real Life we’ll be looking more at this issue of joy, specifically how to rejoice in the midst of sorrow and suffering. Come join us - 7:30pm in Olin Hall 155!

Some recipes for food made recently at various Cru events. Alas, no pictures are available (if you have any, send them to me!).

Baked Oatmeal

• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk

Directions: Combine oil, sugar, eggs - beat until glossy. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8×8 pan + bake for 30 min at 350 degrees.

Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Directions: Put the buttermilk, egg, and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Stir briskly until the mixture is smooth and blended. Stir the flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl so they are well-blended. Stir into the buttermilk only until the dry ingredients are moistened - leave the lumps. Heat a skillet to medium hot. Cook until a few bubbles break on top.

A common, often fatal myth about Jesus is perpetrated in Western culture: he’s a marginalized, Galilean hippie-peasant in a prom dress who rocks out to the Spice Girls while drinking decaf.

Myth #2: you can beat Jesus up.

You may have seen our quartercard:

Setting The Record Straight

1. Marginalized? Not at all. Back in his day, he was tremendously popular and influential… that’s what got him killed! He was doing miracles, attracting followers, taking on “The Man” (the Jewish religious-ruling establishment called the Pharisees). People either loved him or hated him… no in between. They wanted to make him king by force, and then they wanted to kill him. What they didn’t want to do was ignore him.
2. Hippie? Jesus loved and taught peace, but he wasn’t afraid of confrontation. He took on the Pharisees of his day in sharp, verbal combat, leaving them confounded every time. He entered the Jewish Temple and tore the place up, turning over tables and businesses. Jesus loved the environment - the Bible tells us that he created it for himself. But he loved people more - they were the point of his coming. They had this problem - sin - that was keeping them from heaven and sending them to burn forever in hell. Jesus came to fix that by dying the death we should have died so we can live a life giving glory to God - not subterfuge.
3. Prom Dress? Makeup? Spice Girls? Decaf? Jesus was the manliest man that ever lived. His first miracle? Making wine… good wine. His last miracle on earth? Flying. In between? Healing people, raising people from the dead, ordering demons around. Oh yeah, he died too… then resurrected himself. And about that death… Roman crucifixion is the most brutal form of execution that exists. The Romans wouldn’t even do it to their own citizens - that’s how bad it was. Jesus not only willingly died but went through all that torture silently - without complaining.
4. And you think you can beat him up? “Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus was beat up and crucified only because he allowed it. You really think you can take on God? That you can beat up the one who conquered death? This guy rose from the grave. Good luck with that.

So What?

Jesus was a real guy. Can’t argue with that. A Jewish historian named Josephus even wrote about him. He existed, he taught, he died. While he was teaching he amassed a rather large crowd of followers. Followers that freaked out and hid when Jesus was killed. So why would they decide to start a religion? Put yourself in their place - your leader (who you thought was going to become King) was just killed and his ideas black-listed. You’ve lost all hope, because everything is contingent on him being alive.

Look at what happens next: Christianity is formed, and starts growing, even under threat of death (by stoning and crucifixion - both quite painful and torturous). The effect (Christianity growing) is clear and undisputable. What was the cause? What gets a bunch of frightened, discouraged Jews to stop hiding, regain confidence, and start telling the world about Jesus? The only possible answer - Jesus did what he said he would do and rose from the dead. Jesus is real, Jesus is alive, Jesus is powerful.

A good question to be asking right now: why did Jesus have to die? If he gave his life up willingly, why do that? What’s the point?

Answer: sin.

We live in a culture of moral relativism that says that there is no such thing as sin and that we get to define what “good” is by our preferences. But that doesn’t make any sense… rape is always wrong, right? Mugging and beating up old ladies is always wrong, right? So somewhere these “absolutes” must be defined.

You’ve heard the “Golden Rule”, right? “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Or, “he who is the most powerful gets to define what sin is.” By definition, that “most powerful being” is God. And in reality, all God really wants is for you to see him as “most powerful” and see him as “the best” (because he is), and so “sin” is really simply “treasuring anything else above God.”

Some examples:

1. Stealing. Pretty obvious - you treasure that thing that’s not yours more than you treasure God, so you decide to take it.
2. Cheating. Also pretty obvious - you treasure that good grade more than you treasure God.
3. Lying. You treasure your reputation more than you treasure God.
4. Sex (outside of marriage). You treasure that girl (or boy) more than you treasure God.

And for those of you who think you’re perfect… Pride. You treasure yourself more than you treasure God.

Everybody’s sinful. Which means that everyone has impugned God’s glory. And so we all deserve death. Well, worse than that - we all deserve Hell, which is a real place, it’s very HOT, and it’s where you’re tormented consciously for eternity (sorry, no annihilation).

But God has provided a way out… he came down to earth in human form (fully God and fully man at the same time), lived a perfect life, and then died. But because he was perfect (always treasuring God (himself) above all other things), he didn’t deserve death. Instead, he died the death we deserve, so that we don’t have to.

But here’s the catch - we’re not all saved automatically, and once we are, we don’t just get to keep on sinning. Jesus died for sin - he BEAT sin. He BEAT death. So the action required is simple: repent of your sin (hate it, and stop doing it) and start treasuring and trusting God (start doing the opposite of sinning). Trust God by treasuring him. Believe him when he says that he is far more satisfying that stealing, cheating, lying, or sex. Or drugs or alcohol or TV or World of Warcraft or Nintendo Wii or getting good grades or finding a good spouse or living comfortably and retiring early.

We’d love to tell you more about this guy named Jesus that took on God’s wrath so you don’t have to and wants you to trust and treasure him because he really is worth treasuring. Shoot me an email at benhutton@gmail.com or come check out Real Life - Fridays at 7:30pm in Olin Hall 155 - where we talk about what all this means. This Friday - October 12th - is “Friday Night Live” - a special event where Campus Crusade will be getting together with a handful of other fellowships to learn about who Jesus is and what that means for us. If you’re not a Christian, that’s fine! This evening is designed with you in mind and should make sense even if you have no church background or prior knowledge of Christianity. It will, like Real Life, be in Olin Hall 155 at 7:30pm. Check out the Facebook event here.

-Ben