Student reflection on the promise of Easter: hope in Christ's resurrection

PHC freshman TJ Huizar reflects on the power Easter Sunday, his journey to PHC,  and the true cost of taking up his own cross and following Christ into the unknown.

In April 2024, I was on my way to church in Vienna, Austria. My life was well-established after two years of living there: I went to university in the mornings, and studied in the Burggarten in the afternoons. If all went according to my five-year plan, I'd graduate and continue a life of travel in Europe.

Earlier that year, I met God in Vienna, a city famous for a number of intellectuals who had cast Him aside. My church was only a few blocks from my house, and I would try to attend services as often as I could; I didn't get to exercise my faith much at the secular university. Living alone on another continent, where few people shared this gift of faith, the church was the one place that felt like a taste of true home.

It was Good Friday, and I was on my way to a youth service when suddenly I got attacked and beaten by two masked goons, left dazed and bleeding all over the sidewalk. One bystander called the police, and I was rushed to the hospital. In the ambulance, as I tried to describe all that had happened to the paramedics—in German at that—all I could feel was disappointment for missing service. They robbed me of my Good Friday service, and in that, they broke my heart more than my nose. 

It was hard to feel safe in town after getting hurt so close to my own apartment. A slew of events made it clear that it was time for me to return to my original home, Arizona. In less than 48 hours, I had to gut my apartment and move continents. I only had enough time to say goodbye to all my plans, but not to my friends. It was after Easter when I came home, and I was quite hopeless. There went my five-year plan; I had no idea where to continue my studies.

Of course, while I believed, in that moment, I was lost.

But I knew the promises of Scripture. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..." takes on a new meaning when your face is sore. To the Jews crossing the Red Sea, it is written: "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent". When I came home, I only had whatever clothes I could fit into my suitcase and a handful of books. My life was a clean slate, and my ambitions were reset. So, my only option was surrender. 

Around the second day I was home, my mother, Conay Huizar, shared a curious dream she had the night before. The words "Patrick Henry" in her dream caused her to wake up at 3 AM and do some research. She found a school with the same name and rolling admissions, with a mission statement that answered all our prayers.

Admittedly, I was skeptical. Could it be so easy to find an academically rigorous and spiritually sound school so quickly? By the hand of God, certainly.

In July of that year, I visited the Purcellville campus for the first time. There was no doubt in my mind that God had used tragedy and pain to bring me to the college of my prayers. In August, I joined the rest of the freshman class on the Barbara Hodel Center steps in worship, as is tradition, and began a year that would change my mind, worldview, and calling, and punctuate my need to surrender to the Almighty God, who knows all and works in all for His glory.

One year later, Holy Week brings back bittersweet memories; I vividly remember the feeling of hopelessness on the plane back to America. Yet in hindsight, I can see the good that came of it all. On Good Friday two thousand years ago, Jerusalem mourned the death of a faultless man. The disciples scattered in dismay. Yet, on the third day, when the stone was rolled away, Christ declared his victory over death, persecution, pain, and suffering. The battle had already been won by Christ that sweet Sunday morning in first-century Judea, and we have only to be silent and trust that the Holy Spirit is on the move in all things. 

This year, I celebrate Easter Sunday with great joy, knowing that I am free from the grip of sin through Christ's sacrifice. Persecution and pain will come, but it will never separate me from the comfort of knowing that the King of Kings has already fought for me with his blood. Rejoice, for He is Risen!

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Patrick Henry College challenges the unacceptable status quo in higher education by combining the academic strength and commitment to biblical principles that elite institutions have lost; a commitment to high academic rigor, fidelity to the spirit of the American founding, and an unwavering biblical worldview