Suicide

This past weekend I received word that a senior in high school back home committed suicide late Saturday night. I personally did not know him, nor any of his family, but I knew of him and his family. But from what I've been reading/hearing is that he was a tremendously great guy and a friend to many. Another thing that sticks out in his [short] life, is that he was involved in a few christian activities. Whether he was indeed a christian or not is up to God. But hypothetically speaking, why does God choose to let his own people have the capacity to feel as if they have nowhere to turn, but to take their own life? Why does God ultimately let some carry out the deed, and yet let some decide not to go through with their thoughts? In my own mind, I cannot fathom why God wants to use people through their death, and others through their life. I fail to see what God sees in an individual as worthy of living to tell their "near death experience" to others and yet predetermine that He will use a person's death to glorify His name. I still have so many questions about suicide that I doubt I will ever know, but I pray to my God and Saviour, Shepherd and Light, that He will continue to reveal His plan for my life. ~John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. "

College students and the local church

I've been in a state of unrest on my stance of the said title. For the past 3 years and some odd months, I've been attending a local church that has since become my "home church away from home". When I started attending this church, I was one of about seven college students, and about fifty people that consisted of families and elderly couples. Now, however, the ratio has shifted. The church is forward minded, in the sense that it has contemporary music, and a "small town" atmosphere about it. Because of this, more and more college students have sought out this church: to the point that the college-aged population of the church far exceeds that of families and elders. While it's nice having so many familiar faces from school, I'm sad to say that it leaves very little true interaction between non-college students and myself. The rest of the congregation feels overwhelmed and, at times, I feel as if they don't see the point in interaction because of the ever-changing faces. For me, I see the local church as an opportunity to learn from the body of believers who are not in the same stage of life as I. I see knowledge and wisdom in my elders that I often don't see in my peers. And yet I can't get to that knowledge and wisdom in a church dominated by college students. And so I find myself in a spiritual quandary. Do I stay and perservere amid the "masses" of college students, or do I uproot from what I've come to know and love, only to shop for another church that would only be my home for another year and half?