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Insightful title about communities or something idk


 Another year, another blog. Here I am, sitting up in my chair, stretching out my fingers and typing on this fine Monday evening.

So, last week, we discussed how to write college essays, which left me questioning if my current college essays were good (or even passable for that matter). However, the UM community essay stuck out to me, because it got me to think about the communities I fit into, specifically that of my church. So I guess I'll just spitball an idea here.

Me rewriting my college essays, circa 2023







My relationship with my church has always been kinda complicated, because my dad is one of the pastors of the Chinese group there.

Pros: All the old ladies know me!

Cons: Pressure.

If you know me, you'd also know that I like biology and evolution (I hope you can see where this is going). Like, ever since I was a kid I had this big human anatomy book. Sure, I couldn't read it, but those pictures sure looked cool.

Pros: AP Bio was easy!

Cons: My church doesn't like evolution as much as I do. 

So, inevitably, they would crash together, like two drag racers on the interstate. Introducing...

High School Discipleship Groups

Preparing high schoolers for a scary place, the one swirling with new ideas called...College (dun dun DUN, the crowd gasps, lightning strikes in the distance, the whole shebang). In short, when the topic of evolution came up, it was absolutely butchered. There'd be misused quotes and outdated information out the wazoo. And to top it all off, the speaker would say,

"God exists or he doesn't, that's a 50/50 chance!"

Now, I've never taken a statistics class, but I'm pretty sure that's not how probability works. To my surprise, this was met with applause from the mostly young and middle aged adult audience. Maybe it was supposed to be a one-liner or something, but those are usually reserved for movies, and are way cooler. This whole ordeal had left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Now, I do want to clarify, I don't dislike my church or the speaker, I dislike bad arguments. Nor is this a reflection on my whole church, most attendees are pretty cool people. However, if you are going to present a point, to a large audience no less, present it thoroughly. Misinfo makes the people who take it at face value much harder to talk to.

Topics would come and go (some decent, others that I don't want to mention) and I found myself not wanting to attend the groups more and more often. But I continue to show up, because it's important to go to church. Imagine if the pastor's son didn't show up to church. I mean, what would that look like?

Well, that got a little heavy, but I'd like to end it on a high note. Ultimately, my place in the Church is somewhat mixed, with many happy moments and...some not so happy moments. But, I appreciate the place it has had and will continue to have in my life. 

Well, now I'm rambling. Dang, this is a pretty good starting idea for a college essay. Which I'll probably procrastinate for a month before I write a first draft and decide that it isn't such a good idea.


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