Reflection Paper

Across the world there are a surplus of beliefs and systems regarding Gods and religions. There are hundreds and thousands of theologians that claim they have the “truth” about the world and human creation. Although some of these claims may have truth wrapped in them, often times they are covered with fabrication, simply desiring to please the listener and offer the most beneficial reasoning for accepting it. I understand why someone with no religious upbringing or background would not quite know where to start when taking a look at Christianity; however, I’m here to help you understand the amazing aspects of Christianity. These aspects have caused over two billion people around the world to dedicate their lives and ways to follow the center of the religion- God.

Science Instructional Analysis and Methods class has afforded me countless learning experiences which I have taken into my intern classroom. I have several take away for this fall’s science methods course. The first being, in Methods class I learned to work in distinct groups of with peers of various levels. My peers who are experiencing classroom teaching for the first time and the graduate interns. Surprisingly, I learned from working with both of these groups. From the graduate level students, I was able to actually make a connection with the content we read about in our text and experiences I had everyday in internship. I appreciate the opportunity, as I felt safe and free to ask questions about the experiences they had in teaching science. I commend you on the way you had broken up the class groups, and afforded us to work with different groups. During this process, I feel I have started to find my voice as a professional. This opportunity allowed me to be more confident to voice my ideas to the teachers I worked with in internship, as I contribute to my PLC group.

Personal experiences within the mystical realms of religions tend to set a confirmed believing in whichever religion one is practicing. For example, if one were established as being Christian, their mysticism of personal experience would relate to feeling God in their heart – experiencing Him and living

In our ever conscience society, the idea of God has become a highly tried and tested controversy between the believer and the non. Faith is no longer the matter of blind reliance like it has often described as.The debates over the existence of the Christian God have reached and pressed limits in our current society more ravenously than they have ever before in history. The all too well known statement of doubt is summed up in the simple phrase: “ How can you serve a God you can’t even prove exists?” While God cannot be put in a test tube or out on display in a museum, his existence can be archaeologically proven.The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that he is the Almighty God.

I’m a highly academically driven student and have several, quite lofty, goals for my time here at Texas A&M. I want to maintain a 4.0 GPA, or at least a minimum of a 3.5 in order to maintain my Cornerstone Honors status. My dream, and biggest goal, is to intern for a congressperson in Washington, D.C., and I also want to study abroad, hopefully in England.

Sitting at my corner desk wrapping up yet another conference call with a prominent energy company at the number one Inbound Marketing agency in America, I swipe the tears from my eyes before anyone else can see. I don’t want this life anymore. I shuttered as I finally verbalized what had been building up the past few years but I was always too afraid or embarrassed to say - ‘The career I worked so hard for was the biggest regret of my life.’ My immediate thought is I cannot wait to get home and wash away this day with a book. My one reprieve in a day filled with angry clients, looming deadlines and office politics is to read. “The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails” (White, T. H. The Once And Future King. William Collins, Sons, 1958). Suddenly, a puzzle piece finally shifted into place - I’d read this book more than a few times, but this time the words resonated with me differently. The printed words hadn’t changed since I’d last read them, but I had. I wanted to be happy, continue to learn and teach others how to learn as well and on that axis, my world shifted.

I can see it now. The day of judgment is before me, and I see the Lord standing in front of me for the first time. There’s nothing here to prepare anyone for this day, but all I know I can do is trust the Lord and know that he will take care of me, no matter what. At times I fear the day of the resurrection, but it also makes me really excited to see heaven and all of my loved ones that have passed away.

When I was born to about the age of 8, I kept to myself and enjoyed playing alone. I didn’t want anyone else’s input on what I had to say, because I was happy with the choices I was making when I was playing with my toys. My mom told me I would sit in my room and play with my stuffed animals and My Little Pet Shop toys for hours on end just talking away, but when it came down to group settings I would just be quiet. I have been trying to figure out why that is. I do not remember being to told be quiet or to listen. I just did it. I enjoyed listening to others, because I was learning from their words. I already knew what I thought and didn’t see the importance of sharing that.

I started to pray and read the Bible, and I just drank the wonderful words of Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (Jn 11:25-26) or “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” (1 Jn 1:2). However, it didn’t take too long before I started to doubt. How do I know that God even exists? And how do I know that Jesus had better insights in who God is than Muhammad or Buddha?

I am a Michigan State University transferred sophomore student at WCCCD majoring in Pre-Nursing. I still have my whole life to go. I am 19 years old so, I have a lot to live and go through in life. I am through the adolescent age of becoming a young adult into an official adult.

Matthew 22:37 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Mark Noll emphasizes that Evangelical Christians are not loving God with their minds. Noll shares that if Christians do not become well-informed intellectuals, they will not be able to lead others to Christ. When I reflect on my religious upbringing, I realize how much truth I accepted came from humans, and not from scripture. When people challenged some of my beliefs, I was not able to support myself, because I accepted what I heard as truth. I am thankful that God has showed me the importance of wisdom in my faith.

Every religion has different beliefs. I personally am Catholic, so we believe in some things that other people do not. Since I am Catholic we believe in having Godparents; it is almost like having a second set of parents, but they do not live under the same roof. Having Godparents is like having backup parents. If your parents pass away the Godparents would raise you and take care of you. Godparents are the ones who are supposed to help children understand things about God and their religion. They also make sure children are going down the right path in life. Sometimes I still question: What is the correct path in life? There are a variety of different paths that I could take, but sometimes I do not know which one is the perfect one; this is when my Godparents help me discover which path is the one for me.

When I decided to register for this class I chose it because out of my options the only one that seemed interesting was women’s studies. I did not think it would have an impact on me or my way of thinking. Looking back, I have learned so much that I will take with me in life and not just use in the classroom. Through the semester, we have talked about many aspects in this course that have made me relate and connect to past experiences in my life. This class has helped me to make changes in my thought process and I am glad that I have had the chance to learn everything that I have. It has been very beneficial to learn about the social constructs that I always saw in my life. I have connected many aspects of this class to my life in various ways and situations.

Thomas was administered the A.P.S. and told about how the results would help reveal his strengths and weaknesses. We discussed how that temperament is the basis for personality. I took down some basic information and discussed how that the additional information would be helpful with the sessions.

When I picked up the book Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland, I could not help but form a negative opinion about it. I thought, “Great. Here is another book trying to tell me how to generically make my life better.” I looked up at Ms. Purser with a sneer and pessimistic thoughts running through my head. As soon as I began reading the first chapter, though, my opinion turned on its head. This was proving to be a book written from a real person’s perspective. Instead of cliché instructions on how to improve my life, I was reading the story of a man who came up in the ghetto, but changed his mentality and began leading a