Personal Reflection Paper

Elijah Lofgren

September 11, 2006

LETU-1101-04

Dr. Brent Ellis

“I want use my computer skills to work with diligence and integrity and show God's love to others by being helpful”

I don't think a discussion of who God has created me to be would be complete without some background about how I came to know Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour. God has blessed my with the gift of being raised in a Christian family. When I was about five or six years old I remember being in a Sunday School class at New Life church in Little Rock, Arkansas. I think there was first a discussion about the plan of salvation. Then my teachers told us to come with them to another room if we wanted to ask Jesus into our heart. I followed them and prayed what many people would call the sinner's prayer. Since that day, I have learned and experienced many things that have helped me on the road to spiritual maturity. There have been struggles along the way, but I have found that God is faithful, even when we aren't. As a follower of Jesus I have the responsibility to obey his call for my life.

There are two aspects to who God has called me to be. First, there is general calling that is given to all Christians which is to be in relationship with Christ and be about His work in the world. Secondly, God has called me personally to do specific things. Each person has a unique call on their life to use the gifts that God has given them to serve the body of Christ. If everyone had the same call, the body would cease to function. As it says in 1 Corinthians 12:21, “The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!'.” Sometimes I forget what this verse says and wish that I was more like someone else. I need to remember that we are all different and that is actually a good thing.

God calls each of us to love Him. In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command.” There are two main parts to obeying God's command. The first is to show His love to others. The second is to share His good news, the gospel, with other people.

Part of loving God is showing His love to other people. In Galatians 5:14 it says “The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” I sometimes forget that my neighbor does not just mean my friends and people that I like. Jesus commands us to love the people that we don't like in Matthew 5:44-45 where He says, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” This passage make an interesting point about the reason that we are to love our enemies: “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Jesus, God's son, showed love to his enemies by asking God to forgive them, even while He was dying a torturous death on the cross. If Jesus can do that, can I forgive the person who wrongs me for no reason? I need to forgive. It's a hard thing, but in Jesus I have a perfect example to follow.

A major command that God gives is to spread His good news. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God is with me. I don't need to worry. He will guide me in the way that I need to walk.

As far as I understand it, God's call on my life in the next four years is to study Computer Engineering at LeTourneau University, serve in the community, and grow in the Christian Leadership Distinctives.

The overall purpose of my life is to bring glory to God. In order to bring God glory I need to learn more about Him. Spending time in God's word each day is essential in increasing my knowledge of Him. God has designed me to bring Him glory by using my skills in the best way possible.

I want to become deeply grounded in my values. To really understand them I need to study the source of true values, the Bible. In addition to understanding my values, I need to apply them. Knowledge without application is useless. I want my values to control the way that I act. My best witness will not be the words I say, but the way I act.

To say that an education at LeTourneau provides me with knowledge is a great understatement. I would compare it to drinking from a fire hose. I find it hard to soak up everything, but with God's help I am trying my best. I realize how important deepening my knowledge is in preparing me for what God has called me to do. Knowledge begs to be shared. Not only do I want to learn all I can, I want to share what I know with others. One way that I do that is through posting computer tips on my website.

Computers have always fascinated me, from the first time that I was introduced to computer programming, to my 13th birthday when I created my first website. At LeTourneau, I want to deepen my knowledge of how computers work by majoring in the field of computer engineering. Often when learning something new, I realize how little I actually know. I hope to use the next four years that I spend at LeTourneau to become proficient at the design and implementation of computers. I have learned about how technical skills can be used to for furthering the gospel of Christ. By helping with Bible translation to improving the ability of missionaries to learn new languages, technology is playing an increasingly important role in world missions. Whether I am directly involved in missions or not, I want to use my skills for God's glory.

Serving others is the main way that I can use my skills to glorify God. Serving shows love. Even though I have only been at LeTourneau for a short time, I have already been given many opportunities for service. Within days of our arrival, my Cornerstone's group did a car wash as a fund raiser for Family Assistance in Temporary Housing (F.A.I.T.H), a charitable organization who helps people out when, for example, their home burns down. I enjoyed Longview Blitz where my floor helped organize mounds of donations at a second hand store. At the church I attend, Hope Fellowship, I have heard about a need for someone to help with their website. Since working on websites is one of my skills, I need to step forward and offer to help. There are an abundance of opportunities to help out, the main thing limiting my involvement is lack of time.

According to the Clifton StrengthsFinder, my most dominant strength is harmony. When reading the description I thought it fit me pretty well. However harmony may not actually be my strength, as evidenced by this quote from my father, “I don't know that I have seen harmony as a theme in you. I have seen more avoidance of conflict. You hold you tongue, but harmony requires the work of trying to seek common values and move forward. Actually, this theme may be one of yours--it just hasn't been obvious to me.”

As I grew up my parents gave me more and more responsibility. At a young age I took over emptying and sorting our trash so that it could be recycled. In high school I took over the scheduling of my school work.

I usually think about what will happen before I do things. Being deliberative has often kept me out of trouble as I tend to think through the consequences of a foolish action and deciding not to do it.

While I wish I were always disciplined, that is not the case. In high school, I would sometimes procrastinate when faced with something that I didn't want to do. Being home schooled, I was able to get away with this because I did not have any hard deadlines. Thankfully, even in my short time here at LeTourneau I see that I am becoming more disciplined. This is more out of necessity than a conscious effort on my part. Here, I actually have to finish assignments by a certain time! As the year progresses, I want to learn how to be more disciplined in my time management so that I will not feel like I am spending every spare moment doing home work.

A month ago, Intellection would have never been something that I would have told you was one of my strengths. Taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder brought intellection onto my radar. After reading the StrengthsQuest description of intellection, I think that intellection really is one of my strengths. I do enjoy thinking things through. I'd just never thought about that before. The fact that I have the strength of intellection was further reinforced by my Father when he wrote, “I think intellection is true of you. You like to think through things and solve problems, generally on your own. You liked the challenge of how to set up a great web site.”

Although graduation is a long time off, I need to start planning for it now. My goal is to find a job in which I use my computer engineering skills to glorify God by doing my job with excellence. God has greatly blessed me with strengths, I want to use them to bring Him glory by serving others.

Elijah Lofgren