I Visited Gordon Today...

No, Gordon isn't a guy, it's a college in Northern Massachusetts.  It's a Christian Liberal Arts College with an enrollment of about 1500 students, and it was amazing.  I'd be honored if God worked it out to where I could go to school here for a couple years and finish up my Bachelor's degree.  I was blown away and moved by the way the staff and students interact with one another, and by how focused the school is by teaching the students to be more like Jesus by taking what they are learning in the classroom and turning it "inside out" in the real world.  THAT is what it's all about, folks.  Head knowledge is useless unless we put it into practice.  James tells us to be not hearers of the Word only, but effectual doers, and Gordon desires that for its staff and students.  It was an atmosphere that I have not experienced anywhere else.  I was even convicted by God while I was there!  Yeah!  That's what I said, "WHAT?!"   One of the things the prospective students visiting the campus did first thing was tour the campus, including one of the dorms.  I am thinking to myself as we walked in, "There is no way I'm living on campus in a dorm!"  We spent about 15 minutes in the dorm and talked to one of the students living there about dorm life, and I walked out thinking, "OK, God, I'm sorry for my arrogance and my bad attitude.  Living in a dorm would give me a perfect opportunity to pour into the lives of younger people and walk with them, mentor them, and help them grow in their faith.  I could totally get over my slight discomfort for that."

I got to meet with a professor from the Christian Ministries Department, which is the department both the Juvenile Justice Ministry and the Outdoor Education Ministry majors programs are under, and he was amazing and so helpful and encouraging.  He just "happened" to be a firefighter/EMT in his hometown, and he knew who I was and was able to pick me out of a full room without ever having seen me before.  It was pretty cool.  I got to ask questions of him and have him explain the dynamics of the school and the programs, and found out that I can double major or have a major and minor--that means I can do BOTH the Juvenile Justice and Outdoor Education tracks!!!  Super excited about this, and Bob (the professor) said that with what I have in mind, these two majors will fit beautifully together.  He only had to meet with me for 30 minutes, but he sat and talked with me for about an hour and 15 minutes.  It was great.

I also did an entrance interview, without knowing about it in advance.  I walked in the door to pick up my info packet and get the scoop on the day and the info desk gal asked me, "Now, you have to do an entrance interview as part of your application process, is that something you are interested in doing today?"  What was I supposed to say, "No, I'm having an off day today, I'll fly back next month."?!  Of course I said "Yes!"  It was the best interview I have ever had, and not once did I feel nervous or out of place.  Lindsey was the interviewing counselor, and I basically was asked why I was there at Gordon, and what my story was.  By the time I finished telling her just the snapshot of the story from getting hurt last December to mine and Mike Blair's conversation in September at Charlie Ek's retirement bbq to now, she was grinning from ear to ear and telling me that the professors were going to love me.  I think that's good, right?  She didn't bat an eye when I told her that my transcript didn't have all A's and B's on it, so she must really have liked my story.  When she introduced me to the professor, she told my story better than I did, and it was weird to hear someone else tell it.  Not "I'm embarrassed" weird, but the, "WOW!  God did that for me/through me!?!" weird.  It was humbling for sure!

It's hard not to be excited simply at the prospect of calling Gordon "home" for the next 2 years, and I'm really going to be asking God to work this thing out for me with the worker's comp people/vocational rehab people.  I am asking you to do the same.  If he does, that's awesome, and if he says "no" I will still be singing his praises and rolling with whatever he has for me.  I'm confident that he has big plans for me, and that nothing is too big for him to handle, including the worker's comp people :)  This is his deal, and I'm just excited that he is using me, even a little bit!!!!  Stay tuned!  Love you guys!

One of the Dorm Halls

Campus Layout Arial View

Most of the Campus Looks Like This

I didn't take any of these pictures, but this gives a general impression of what the campus looks like.  You can go look at pictures of it online if you'd like.  It's beautiful :)