Caring and Action

Hey Guys,

Today in TWUSA we had the privilege or having our school president coming and talking to us about Trinity Western from his perspective. He shared with us about the financial side of the campus, where they are looking to globalize and the overall attitude around campus. Not just what he thinks is up, but we were allowed to ask questions and seek after answers. The reason I share this is because it made me realize that authorities do care. I know that sounds weird but it was great to see that there is an actual care that he has for the school. As the day went on I began to think about this idea, what is caring? what does it actually mean to care for someone? We often hear it from many people: I am here for you, I care about you, I will be there to listen, and I am always around to help. Those are forms in which people show they care but are those really caring? 

We live in a society in which we throw heavy statements around like they have no meaning what so ever, for example: I LOVE steak, I HATE that person, I am going to KILL you, etc... The list goes on of words that we use to lightly. Edward Albert wrote that:

The simple act of caring is heroic.

Sadly I will have to disagree with him on this point, I believe we no longer live in a society where the simple act is enough. We walk around spending so much time acting... is the simple act enough anymore? Read through some of the lines I wrote before about common lines we say, how many of those do you act like you care and how many do you follow through on?

I guess "caring" ultimately comes down to ones character and their ability to actually follow through with their actions. I am not the best at this, I am trying and will continue to struggle with this but this is what caring comes down to. It is another action. So maybe Edward Albert did have it right? The simple act(ion) of caring is heroic. The act of telling someone you care, or the act of just listening but not actually being fully there is useless but the ACTION of caring maybe that is heroic. Now I know a few of you are probably just saying act and action are the same thing and I bag differ. Acting one way is different then action. A act of something in my opinion expresses something fake like an actor playing a role. Where as action you are following up what you are saying. This is the last thing I want to leave you with is this, be men and woman of action. Do not act like you care or pretend that you do because eventually it will be shown through. You can fake caring and fake love for a while but eventually you will be called to action and where will you stand? I am thankful their are people in my like who are of action and I need to continue to try and learn to be a man of action. Hopefully you will continue to be people of action too.

Goodbye for now,

Christian Sawka

History

Hey Guys,

Today I had been thinking about the past alot. There have been a few things lately that have caused me to think about my past. The idea that I was thinking about was how the past/history limits our future. Now bear with me, read the whole blog and come to your own conclusion about what you think.  I will not write this like an essay but I want to get my point across. There have just been a few things in my past that I sometimes wonder if they will limit my own future. So basically what has gone on in these last few days is I am trying to figure out what to do with the next few years of my life, I met a pretty great person and I am trying to figure that out and some personal ideas. Those are just a few things going on in my life right now.

First off is trying to figure out my life in the next few years. FIRST OFF, I am not dwelling in the past, I am not freaking out about the future and I am not fearful of chance. Back to the point with figuring out what to do over the next few years I am thinking well what has happened in my past when I made big decision. It seems as though they were split down the middle right? Deciding to come to TWU, deciding to change Church's and get involved, deciding to do College Pro, deciding to stay in school through and after depression and the list goes on and on. Now I am faced with a few decision in my life and I cannot help but think about my past, how it has effected me and would it repeat? I will be honest about my what I am debating, I am debating as to whether or not I should finish of my time at TWU or if I should take a year off. I am not taking this decision lightly and there is a ton of factors that are going to lead into what I ultimately choose. So I thought about what has gone on in my past with decisions, I sat there for a while and thought about when I didnt choose something or when I did etc... then I thought this, is my past decisions ultimately going to limit or affect the decision in my future?

Second, was I have started to get to know this pretty great person (no I am still trying to follow my no dating rule) but we are talking. It has been great but guess the first thing that went through my mind? I thought about my past and what has gone on, when I have been hurt, when I have hurt and when I made mistakes. I even had to stop and say to myself not to be fearful, but rather not have the worry of something going wrong. In my past I have made a few mistakes and I am wondering will those repeat? Now today I am wondering will the limit me from opening up and limit me from being vulnerable. It is an interesting idea that I have been wrestling with.

Lastly, what is this how much time do we spend not doing things because we are fearful of repeating a mistake? It is often said that:

"History repeats itself" 

Well I disagree with that and want to add to it:

"History repeats itself, only if not you do not learn from it!"

So anyone who is reading this I want you to think about you future and ask yourself does your past limit you from doing it? Does the past limit you from taking a trip, talking to that girl, losing some weight, or anything in general. I know in my life for the most part of it I have been fearful of doing tasks because I had already failed once, or I let people down or I made a mistake. Do not let your past dictate you future!

Goodbye for now,

Christian Sawka

Back in the Flow

Hey Guys,

Reading break or spring break is now over, life is back to normal, or "Normal". It has been such an adjustment to come back to school, back to life and back to school. It has been a pretty big change, went from travelling through California, went from spending time on the beach and just having fun. Well now we are getting back to studying, assignments and tests. The problem is right now my 'heart' is not in the school mode. I would much rather be back in California spending time with friends, hanging out with family and just basking in how nice everything is :) BUT it is time to get back to regular life. I am trying to regain my motivation.

For the first day that I got back I wanted to just tell everyone about my trip, I wanted to hang out with all my friends and just enjoy life. Well I quickly realized how fast life catches up with you. First thing that caught up with me was a midterm this morning. Yes that is a true statement my first class back was a midterm but DONT worry my third class was a speech.  So I was kind of stressed about the midterm and push my focus of the speech back. The midterm went alright and then it was time to stress about the speech. Guess what? My first time speaking about my topic was the time I had to present in class. It actually went pretty well I demonstrated to the class how to create an effective powerpoint. Yes I am that boring.

But it kind of was a swift push back into the school system and now I am trying to find a "balance". I am trying to find a balance between church, school, sports, friends and family. It is a difficult balance and for the most of my life I have struggled with this. So I guess this is a mid-semester reflection. I would encourage you guys (anyone who is reading this) that you should take the time to reevaluation what is a priority to you, what you need to do this semester and what your objectives are. Something I am starting to realize is that I need to relax more. Need to breath, smell the fresh air, have a cup of tea and just enjoy life a little bit more. Hopefully over these next weeks I can get back into the rhythm of blogging and there are going to be some up coming changes to my blog :) Hopefully you guys are looking forward to them.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and has encouraged me it has truly been a bless, there will be an update blog coming up in the next few days. Hopefully it will be something cool I am looking forward to these news changes and I think the biggest shock will actually come to my family (not in a bad way) but in a good way :) Hopefully this break for most of you was relaxing and trying to find motivation is going better then it is for me!

Goodbye for now,

Christian Sawka