My Experience with Spiritual Guidance - Christian Callaghan

 We were told it would be a role-play competition, and that we would spend 7 weeks preparing for it. CNU would then fly us out to Kansas, where we would spend 3 days in Topeka: 1 day for prep, 1 day for the competition itself, and 1 day to fly back home. Suffice to say, I was in no way expecting the importance and weight of this competition to be at the level at which it was. I made it through the 7-week trial and was sent to compete in the name of CNU against 15 other universities. Was I nervous? You bet I was, but I knew this would grant me social and intellectual abilities I could never have had if I had ignored that email. I don’t want to bore any of you, but the competition was a grueling 7 hours of backing a political campaign and deliberating on how to present our case to a panel of judges. We did not end up winning this competition, but going to compete was one of the best decisions I have made while at CNU. 


That was about the LCE, which CNU sends five people to every year. Excuse me for that abrasive hook, but now that I have given you the actual meat of the story, I can explain how it connected to my spiritual journey.


 I had but one entity to rely on during my frustrations, my nervousness, and someone to call upon in a time of need. God. My connection with religion has done unimaginable work in guiding me throughout my life. But an easy way to gauge how strong your relationship with your religion is through an experience that forces you to face new challenges. I can recall being in that test room, scrambling for pieces of information to include in an email and submit to the judges, but nothing would click. It was only when I stopped to reflect and asked God for his guidance that I found my way. Proverbs 3: 5-6 states, “[t]rust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”. This trip has taught me so much intellectually, but has also connected me more spiritually than ever before. My hope is that I will continue to thrive in my relationship with my religion and let it guide me as man in faith.

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