Education

With a good job and support from my parents I was able to get my Bachelor's in Psychology and an associates degree in Business Administration.  I knew that I wanted to do something that God would be proud of but I did not know what.  Today I can look back and see what I perceive as God preparing my future career during college.    I started out thinking that I would become a businessman.  The business courses however became more and more difficult.  I was a "B" student.  No matter how hard I worked it seemed I was destined to have a B average.  My Jr. Year I switched my major to Psychology thinking that it would be a little easier. And from a Christian perspective I felt that a degree in Psychology would surely be a good thing.  I was surprised; however, when the education I received seriously challenged my Christian beliefs.  Most professors taught with the idea that it is absurd it to believe in anything that you cannot prove using the scientific method.  This was very hard for me to deal with at the time; however, now I am thankful for this training as I realize how important it is not to just believe in something only because it looks or sounds good.  God says that we should put him to the test. I had only put Him to the test once (break dancing story) in my young 21 years of life.  Today years later I still take a scientific approach to my faith.  My hope is that it will continue to balance out as it has over and over again in favor of a just and loving God.

Much of Psychology and Business proved later to be a great combination for me.  One course in particular that would mean a lot to my future was "Small Business Management".  The major project for the course was to prepare a small business plan for the purpose of getting a bank loan.  The class members were assigned to small groups.  I was hoping that my group would vote on my idea for a project: a gymnastics school.  Unfortunately one of the group members convinced the group on another idea and mine was voted out.  Three weeks into the course however, that member dropped out of the class and in a panic, the group was only eager to switch to my plan.  The plan was a great success and I would go on to use it three times in the years to come for the purpose of furthering my gymnastics career.

Before graduating, I took a course designed to help one begin defining what could be a future thesis for graduate studies.  My paper was titled:  Behavior Modification - Applications as applied to the sport of gymnastics.  In this paper I gathered what I had learned in my Psychology background to help enhance the teaching of gymnastics.  Today Columbia Gymnastics Academy is the home of the A.S.A.P. Gymnastics Belt Achievement Program, which is currently being used in many centers nationwide.  This program is a continuation of that thesis I wrote in college over 13 years ago. 

In summary it seems obvious that God planned out my education to match my future dreams and plans, as though He was shaping my future.