Appreciating life: Ryan Bomberger and Justin Earley take the Convocation stage

Ryan Bomberger took the stage Jan. 24 for Convocation and began his sermon named “Life Has Purpose.” Bomberger began with how he started an organization, The Radiance Foundation, with his wife to illuminate the topic of abortion, teaching the truth about unborn lives and motivating people to see the value in all lives.   

Bomberger continued to explain that he loves speaking about life and all the craziness, beauty, triumphs and even tragedies that come with it. Bomberger himself came from a family of 15, where 10 of them — himself included — were adopted.   

“I enjoyed the worship and the theme of how precious life is,” Bella Stone, student, said. “I especially loved when the speaker spoke about how important it was to love the women who have gotten pregnant through rape and assault and that abortion only makes their experience more tragic and violent.”

Bomberger concluded with the personal reflection that had his biological mother aborted him, he would not have the wonderful adopted family he has today.

“If you don’t remember most of what I said, remember this: Some of the best things in life are unplanned,” Bomberger said.

Next, students had the opportunity to hear from Justin Whitmel Earley at the Friday Convocation Jan. 26. He opened his speech with an anecdote of him going to the hospital at 3 a.m. for an unforeseen issue that prevented him from sleeping for 48 hours. Earley explained that the thoughts running through his head were not regarding his health, or to fix the issue, but if he was going to make it back to work before 8 a.m.   

“My life was full — jam-packed — of commitments; something was always beeping and ringing and dinging and alerting,” Earley said. “I was always trying to add something more to the end of the day (or) wake up earlier. … I had no limits.”   

Earley continued by explaining that since all the law students were doing it, he believed he had to as well. In turn, he realized that although the house of his life was decorated with the Christian content of calling, the architecture of his habits was like everyone else’s.   

“My life very quickly, in a span of weeks, became this hallucinogenic nightmare while daytime mood swings plagued me,” recounted Earley. “Then for the first time in my life, (I had) suicidal thoughts. My emotional life fell off a cliff.”

Earley said that in order to understand the importance of spiritual habits, think of them like liturgies.   

“They’re both things we do over and over, consciously and semi-consciously. They are both things that form us,” Earley said.  “You want to know what’s the difference between liturgy and habit? Liturgy admits it’s about worship; habits obscure what we are worshiping.”

Earley cited Psalms 135:18, “Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.”   

“I really enjoyed Convo. I thought it was a great testimony of how habits affect our life and worship,” freshman Amaryllis Selah Barbosa said. “One thing I loved that the speaker said was that we can rest in knowing we are limited as human beings, but God is capable of anything.”

Earley concluded his sermon by challenging the student body to put down their phones for one hour and talk with their friends or loved ones each week. He explained that Christian friendship will either make or break one’s life.

“Friendship is a way to embody the truth of the gospel to each other,” Earley said.  “When my friends know everything about me — all my messed-up brokenness — and they just say, ‘I love you, and Jesus loves you,’ something profound changes. That theoretical concept that Jesus loves me despite my brokenness becomes real and embodied.”

Amaro-Millán is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion