By Gerard Flanagan, news writer and photographer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - In the lead-up to his junior football season for the Campbellsville University Fighting Tigers, Ethan Gossage had a problem - well, two problems - on his hands.
An injury had resulted in Gossage gaining a significant amount of weight, and he looked to get back in shape before the upcoming season started.
Then, despite losing six pounds in three weeks after starting a meal plan designed by one of his coaches, Gossage had another problem: He wasn't losing weight fast enough.
His coach, however, assured him the plan would work and told Gossage to “trust the process.”
This was the advice Gossage, who recently graduated from Campbellsville University with a Bachelor of Science in Pastoral Ministries, shared with his fellow graduating seniors during a senior prayer service in Ransdell Chapel.
“The Bible actually gives us this same kind of phrasing but more toward not just trusting the process but trusting in God,” Gossage noted. “As we look toward the future, whether it's here at CU or somewhere else, understand we need to trust God.
“Trust not our process, not the process, but His process and the plan He has for us in our lives.”
Gossage of Knoxville, Tenn., reminded his fellow graduates about God's plan for each of their lives.
“You see, God, as the maker of the universe, is the One who has planned each individual moment of our lives and has an aerial view of it all from the time we are born to the time we die,” Gossage said. “Still, we think we know better than God.”
During the prayer service, Campbellsville University's campus minister Trent Creason explained that, as the father of three young children, he loves opportunities to speak truth into the lives of his children, such as reminding them he is proud of them, he loves them, and he cares about them.
“I want you guys to hear that as well,” Creason told the senior class. “I want you to know and hear we're really proud of you. We're very thankful for you as seniors. We're thankful because you have blessed us. God has blessed you to change us and invest in this community.”
Creason said Campbellsville University was excited for them and that “we see your potential.”
“There is much more potential to come you haven't even tapped into yet, because we have this great and awesome God who has equipped you to do His will,” Creason said. “You have great worth and value, not because you're getting a degree, but because you are created in God's image, and He has a plan and a purpose for you.”
According to Creason, plans are to make the senior prayer service an annual event.
“The idea birthed out of the movement of prayer and God's work in students' lives this past winter,” Creason said. “We were discerning ways to help guide and steward our students towards a commissioning that would help them follow through with the work God had begun in their hearts.”
Creason added, “Our hope is to truly walk with our students from the point they begin at CU and continue to help, support and encourage wherever the Lord guides after graduation.”
Dr. Joseph Hopkins, president of Campbellsville University, reflected on the senior prayer service, saying, “I could not be more proud of our students and their leadership in the time of campus revival we shared this spring.
“The commissioning prayer service was the perfect way to send out these graduates. They are prepared to be salt and light for Christ, and we can already see God working through their faithfulness and devotion.”
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university that offers over 100 programs including doctoral, master, bachelor, associate and certificate programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.