Freaking Out and Fellowship.

I bought 120 stamps the other day (that's not cheap, folks) to mail out fundraising letters for my summer mission trip to the Philippines. As I was at the cashier's, he asked me, "Are you graduating?" I replied that I was, and he congratulated me. But it wasn't until I had my stamps in hand and was walking out of King Sooper's that I realized why he had mentioned graduation. A college student buying six books of stamps = graduation announcements. Yikes.

That means I'm graduating soon (two months to be exact) and I have yet to think about announcements, regalia, grad parties, and whatever else comes with this momentous occasion. I am now finally beginning to freak out.

People have been asking me left and right how I feel about graduation coming up so soon, and everytime they ask, I respond that I'm doing okay, that I'm excited and it's really not that big of a deal. But now that it's coming up, it's finally beginning to sink in.

My close friends are all juniors and sophomores, so it's easy for me to lose sight of graduation because it's not common conversation. We're not on the same page academically anymore because I'm the only one in my circle of friends wrestling with this thought of moving on. It's easy to feel lost, frustrated and alone when you're not surrounded by people who are going through the same experiences with you, who are there to encourage you and support you, because they themselves need the same encouragement and support.

I've realized the same thing about Christian fellowship. If you don't constantly surround yourself with others who are going through similar experiences with you -- similar hardships, similar doubts, similar struggles -- you're going to get lost. RELEVANT Magazine posted an article that investigates this topic on a deeper level. I recommend checking it out.

Don't let yourself become lost. Find people who are also freaking out about similar things, and then keep each other accountable to trust God with those things.