Why? Not

About a year from today, I had the pleasure of visiting the church home of a dear friend of mine. The church service was absolutely amazing, and after the service, my friend introduced me to the pastor. As I shook the pastor’s hand, he just stared at me with this spellbound glare in his eyes. He informed me that he had never met another person under such an intense spiritual attack. The pastor, then, asked me a very interesting question, "Are you familiar with the definition of your name?" I answered, "No". The pastor then turned and left my presence, only to return seconds later with a book in his hand. I informed him that my name was Tristan, and he opened his book to a page which displayed the Christian definition of my name: "Strong and Bold". Under the definition, was a bible passage from the book of Joshua 1:6. The passage said, be strong and bold; for, you are to lead my people to the land that I promised to their ancestors.

Ever since that day I've kept that passage in the back of my mind. My encounter with the pastor was the first time I’d ever truly felt God’s presence. God merely used the pastor as a vessel in order to convey an important message, planting the seeds for my future. What I failed to realize was that when I arrived back in Canada God had plans to test my faith, pushing the outer limits of my sanity, with the knowledge that I would develop specific character traits. Looking back on my situation as a third year transfer from UFV into the Trinity Western program, the words “strong” and “bold” bare new experiential meaning; through which, God has called me to develop my leadership capabilities at TWU.
Be Strong. I arrived in Canada, and a lot of things had not turned out according to plan in regards to my life as a second-year student at my old school, UFV. For the longest time, I was unable to choose my courses due to holds that were place on my account for the previous year; Thus, I was forced to take classes that had nothing to do with my major. Midway through the year my housing situation drastically changed for the worst, and I was forced to move into a house that was a 45 minute walk for me every day under the weirdest weather conditions (rain, snow, slete, hail). Not to mention, my wallet and passport was stolen on one of my road trips for basketball, leaving me with no identification to get back into the states to visit my family, for 8 months.
Essentially, these unfortunate circumstances caused me to develop such a home-sickness that I adopted a completely negative mind frame, which complicated by ability to assert a love for school or basketball. I began to party too much, losing touch with all of those Christian values that I had worked so hard to develop. Heavily influenced by the Devil, I began to lose touch with who I was in a place that I was completely unfamiliar with. Still, I passed all of my classes and made it through the year; though, the entire time, I felt like I literally was left stranded in hell.
Be Bold. Towards the end of my school year, after my season was over, I had decided for myself that UFV just wasn't the school for me anymore. As a result, with about 2 weeks left in school, I left campus and headed to a University about 20 min away called, Trinity Western University. Upon arriving on campus, I visited a friend who played for the University basketball team to ask him about the school and check out the campus. He informed me of a practice that his team was having and said it would be a good idea for me to come with him and talk to his coach about the possibility of transferring. The coach seemed a little uninterested, at first, given that TWU had a pretty talented team already. However, he allowed me to play in the teams open run, seeing how the season was over and open run was casual. So I played. And, I played well. For the next two weeks, I attended every open run. TWU and UFV are rival schools; thus, I was caught in a bit of a tough situation, putting my scholarship at UFV on the line. However, determined to better my situation I continued to return to TWU, making the commute right after my classes at UFV.
LEAD. About a week before I returned to California, I did some research on TWU about enrollment. I found out that because both UFV and TWU are CIS schools and I'd have to sit out a year of basketball by attending the new school, I couldn't receive an athletic scholarship. With TWU being so expensive, I needed to find a solution to pay for tuition. I stumbled upon an opportunity that involved me writing an essay for a leadership scholarship. Provided that I could present evidence of such qualities, given some things that I had previously/continue to do in regards to leadership, I'd be able to get my tuition covered for the fall. I prayed and prayed until, finally, my acceptance letter came in the mail, illustrating that I had been awarded the scholarship on the basis that I take up some form of leadership within the school.
It wasn't until I returned to California, after such a tough second year at UFV, that I began to realize how God had predestined me to be on the path that I am on now. Moreover, as I became more active within my church community, working towards securing a scholarship at TWU, God began to reveal his character within me as I learned to overcome my struggles and transition with grace. At 23-years-old, I now have no more time to waste. God has placed a calling on my life for me to take steps towards further developing my qualities as a leader. I'm not sure what God has in store for me, but He has made it quite clear, by securing my place within a Christian University that I cannot afford to lose touch with Him again. It is for this reason that I have decided to go on a spiritual fast. Through this fast, I will re-strengthen my relationship with Christ, devoting myself to His word and righteous path, as I strive to give up certain comforts in His name. Furthermore, to answer the question, why am I doing this? It is really quite simple: “Through this fast I intend to grow closer to God’s calling, as I work to reveal myself as Tristan, the strong and bold leader of tomorrow.”

~T$ God Bless