The title of this may be slightly misleading and confusing, but bare with me.

Of course, it is only the beginning of a new school year. A new semester, a new season. Exam week is so far away, how could we possibly be thinking about exam week already? When I think of exam week, I think of the stress, the pressure, and the amount of sleepless nights that occur due to my constant worrying that I simply may not be enough. So why do we do it?

Here's a few of my thoughts.

Education is not free. Unfortunately, that's the way that it is. As college students, we either pay to put ourselves through college, our parents pay money to put us through college, or some of us get blessed with the smart genes and hardly have to pay anything at all. But what I really mean by my statement that "education is not free", is that even if you aren't paying for it, you're putting in some sort of effort in hopes of getting something out, maybe a job or a degree.

As I traveled to Haiti this summer on a mission trip, one of the biggest things that I saw was the lack of education that the people and children had. In the town of Morency, where my team was blessed with the opportunity to serve, it takes a high school or university student about 1.5 to 2 hours to travel by foot to school. The teachers at the schools in the villages are rarely compensated for their work, and hardly any parents can afford to send their child to school. According to Haiti Partners, 50% of the children will not have the opportunity to attend school, 30% of children attending primary school will not make it to 3rd grade, and 60% will abandon school completely by the time they reach 6th grade. The lack of education in third world countries is a major factor in their state of poverty. And it's a vicious cycle.

While we are slaving away to pass our classes, children of all ages are slaving away to search for their next meal or water source. While we are studying for that test that we just have to make an A on, adults and children are trying to learn English, in hopes of coming to America for education or a job. While we are trying to decide which opportunity we want to take, they are searching for ONE opportunity, where they will do anything to make a living. While we are searching for better opportunities for ourselves, they are searching for a better opportunity for their entire community.

So I can't wait for exam week. And I can't wait for this semester. Because God has blessed me with the opportunity to have a world class education at a nationwide top 20 school. Let's use our education, not just to get ourselves jobs, but to better our communities. Let's use our education and let's use finals week to learn, to grow, to become hard working people who care. Let's work hard, honestly, justly, and joyfully to serve the One who made it all possible. Let's work hard so that we can love harder, giving everything back to where it came from.

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10