Pastor Jay //

This is dedicated to our 20 graduating seniors this year.

I remember my first day of college. I had the privilege of attending a wonderful baptist college in Belton, Texas (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor). I had been looking forward to this day for so long. I had no idea how detailed God could be about orchestrating that day. My Ford pickup was loaded with my things as I headed to the campus on that Saturday afternoon. Parents were there with their children unloading things into the dorm. My roommate was arranging his things as we divied up the square footage of the room in Getty’s Hall.

Resident assistants were around offering assistance to the new freshmen that were coming in a few days earlier than the rest of the on-campus students returning for fall semester. The head RA, Lane Haney, was in the lobby getting everyone checked in. I remember finally having everything in its place and sitting on my bed feeling strangely out of place. What would this be like? It was exciting and frightening all at the same time. I began to talk with one of the guys across the hall from my room, we were all trying to get to know one another (Ernest, Joel, Raul, Shane, Jason…). I remember looking out the window wondering what wonderful things lay ahead - wondering if the person that God had chosen for me to spend my life with was there that day. That day was the day that I met some of my most treasured, life-long friends. Even as I write this piece, I still long to recapture that moment and enjoy turning it over in my mind. I think heaven will have some of that feeling to it. Coming to a place where there are many who share your beliefs; a place where you make new friends that you feel that you’ve always known. Coming to the place where you belong.

UPDATE: I know what you’re thinking: going to a private college costs too much. However, more than 90% of students at these schools are on a scholarship of some kind. I talked with admissions at Hannibal-La Grange this last week and they work very hard to put enough scholarships and grants together for it to be manageable for a student to pay for school themselves. This may include being in one of their performance groups or working on campus, but it can be done. The benefit: small class sizes (5-20 avg.) giving much more attention to the student and a Christian atmosphere where partying isn’t the big scene.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 1:33 am and is filed under coffee talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.