Sometimes people will ask, "Where's your office?" I usually respond, "Wherever I'm working!" or "The campus is my office!" I have a home office, but find that my most productive work time comes when I'm at a table in the vending room of the Union or at the library on campus. It's a blessing not to be chained down to one place!
Recently I was walking through the Union on the way to my "office", and I came across the Campus Navigator. Naturally the name caught my attention :). I discovered that I was looking at the campus newspaper's summer guide for freshmen and others who would be arriving on campus this summer and fall. The publication is full of articles by current students with common sense advice to those who are new to campus. Good stuff.
Yet one article saddened me. I wished it shocked me, but what I saw was all too common. The article is all about tips on avoiding the "Freshman 15" (the infamous extra pounds an American college student supposedly puts on in the freshman year).
While most of the tips are in response to the consumption of all-you-can-eat cafeteria food and large amounts of alcohol by many freshman students on campus, the last "tip" caught my eye. I'll quote it for you:
Have lots of sex: This is what all the experts really mean by "living active lifestyles." Seriously though, Google "calories burned during sex." It's a workout! --Daily Illini Campus Navigator Summer 2011, page 9.
That's what the article says! Students (eighteen year old students!!) arriving on campus and picking up this publication will see that casual sex is a very normal activity on campus (which sadly, it is). One might argue that the writer is kidding, but it's doubtful.
This unfortunately reflects our campus (and culture's) incredibly casual attitude regarding sex, strongly conflicting with the Scriptures view of sex as a precious gift, sacred act, and wonderful thing...in the context of marriage.
As we'd expect, the consequences of cheap sex is a whole lot of sexual brokenness--which is also very evident in the lives of students on campus-- Christian and not. It's an incredibly sad state of affairs.
Would you please pray today for the sexual state of our campus? Brokenness runs rampant here, but God offers hope, healing, and wholeness to those who desire it.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus declared Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy from Isaiah 61--
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. --Luke 4:18-19
Please pray that this work of Christ would be fulfilled in the lives of many students on campus, as they come to Jesus for life.
You can find the aforementioned article here.
-Noah
Recently I was walking through the Union on the way to my "office", and I came across the Campus Navigator. Naturally the name caught my attention :). I discovered that I was looking at the campus newspaper's summer guide for freshmen and others who would be arriving on campus this summer and fall. The publication is full of articles by current students with common sense advice to those who are new to campus. Good stuff.
Yet one article saddened me. I wished it shocked me, but what I saw was all too common. The article is all about tips on avoiding the "Freshman 15" (the infamous extra pounds an American college student supposedly puts on in the freshman year).
While most of the tips are in response to the consumption of all-you-can-eat cafeteria food and large amounts of alcohol by many freshman students on campus, the last "tip" caught my eye. I'll quote it for you:
Have lots of sex: This is what all the experts really mean by "living active lifestyles." Seriously though, Google "calories burned during sex." It's a workout! --Daily Illini Campus Navigator Summer 2011, page 9.
That's what the article says! Students (eighteen year old students!!) arriving on campus and picking up this publication will see that casual sex is a very normal activity on campus (which sadly, it is). One might argue that the writer is kidding, but it's doubtful.
This unfortunately reflects our campus (and culture's) incredibly casual attitude regarding sex, strongly conflicting with the Scriptures view of sex as a precious gift, sacred act, and wonderful thing...in the context of marriage.
As we'd expect, the consequences of cheap sex is a whole lot of sexual brokenness--which is also very evident in the lives of students on campus-- Christian and not. It's an incredibly sad state of affairs.
Would you please pray today for the sexual state of our campus? Brokenness runs rampant here, but God offers hope, healing, and wholeness to those who desire it.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus declared Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy from Isaiah 61--
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. --Luke 4:18-19
Please pray that this work of Christ would be fulfilled in the lives of many students on campus, as they come to Jesus for life.
You can find the aforementioned article here.
-Noah
