Four Years Later

From baby blankets to toy soldiers to piano to basketball to computers to community college to high school graduate to physics and now...to college graduate! That's right, Pat IV has graduated from Rice University!!! Last Saturday, May 12, Pat received a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in Math and turned 22 years old as well (it was his birthday).

Wow! Four years... so many things have changed. All three of us kids have grown so much during the past four years:

Physically
Me: 9 inches
Paul: 7 inches
Pat IV: from boy to man (not to mention the muscle)

Socially
Paul and I: In October 2004 we had a massive change in who we spent time with because we changed churches and joined our speech and debate club.
Pat 4: College brought a whole new group of friendships from Bible study, church, Campus Crusade, classes, cross-country, Right-to-Life, Rice Republicans, etc...

Mentally
Four years of studying, listening, reading, studying some more, applying, asking, researching, probing, investigating, observing, experimenting, etc...all to learn more about the world which God so marvelously created.

Spiritually
Where could I possibly begin? As each one of us goes through new trials and struggles, we stand firm upon the promise that "we are more than conquers through Him that loves us." We fight the battles knowing that Christ has already won the war. He has the ultimate victory and will pick us up every time we fall down. Personally, over the past four years God has shown me how important and how hard walking in obedience is, how sovereign my Creator is, that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, what true service is like, what a wonderful church I have, how much of a failure I am, and how forgiving and loving He is. I want to thirst after His presence and be filled by His goodness. To overflow with His love and outpour it onto a dying world. To have a relationship with a Friend who is "closer than a brother" not just for the next four years...but for all of eternity.

A different church, different friends, different priorities, different activities, different attitudes, a different perspective on life...but the same God. He stays the same no matter what. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Heb 13:8)

~Christy