Purpose found in Christ Jesus

Still hard for me to believe that it was a little more than a year ago that I packed up all my earthly belongings into a 1994 Saturn and drove 36 hours to a bible school with no more than 150 students in forsaken Jackson, Michigan. It is too cold, the town is boring, and I have to keep my room clean, but I have never been more challenged in my walk with the Lord through my time here and through an in-depth study of His word. I suppose the line that ultimately drove me here comes from Ecclesiastes in which Solomon exclaims, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” I came to New Tribes Bible Institute because I looked at my own life and the future I was setting up for myself and did not see a life of value. I was looking for purpose in wealth, pleasure, even in human relationships. Indeed, at this school I found a life of meaning, or purpose, although it is not in myself, but meaning is in a relationship with the one true God and his son Jesus Christ, a relationship which is found only through God's word. So with this understanding I can look with a great sense of clarity towards Solomon’s last words in Ecclesiastes, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” So, I will choose to live my life for the utmost glory of God and upon the commandments with which he has left the church.

Philippians 3:7-8
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."(NASB)