Out of the old; into the new!

And so, I figured, I had not only survived, but thoroughly enjoyed, my very first little mini-taste of international life and ministry (by myself, that is). It was a great trip—short, but packed in with thoughts and learning. I loved it! That little post-high-school week long trip gave me the mental “okay” to continue to entertain the thoughts of such things for my own future. Incidentally, it was also perhaps around this time that another godly young person first saw a picture of me on a friend’s refrigerator. He will come into the story later (and can now be happy he has been given his deserved mention in this blog ;) ).

I continued on to start college that fall. I was thrilled at the opportunity to go to my school of choice, The Master’s College. The first few weeks were a delightful whirlwind! So many new friends and wonderful people (not to mention MANY new facebook friend requests from people who’d just barely stepped out of the realm of “stranger.” Haha). Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that probably most, if not all, incoming students to TMC (and probably many other solid Christian schools) can hardly help but entertain at least SOME thoughts of “I wonder if the next person I meet of the opposite gender may be my future spouse?!” (Really, I think even those who try to avoid those thoughts will not get away with it for long, as our “W.O.W.” orientation week is always well known for its plentiful supply of marriage references. ;) I don’t really resent that, just find it appropriate to enjoy a laugh at.

So, now that I’ve qualified and excused myself (just kidding) I will admit that there were some of those thoughts in my girlish mind. Really, how can one not consider the reasonable possibility? “W.O.W. Week” (whose acronym makes little sense) is great fun, and one of the entertaining parts is to watch young students get into “introduction overload” mode. Seriously, by the end of the week, nearly every freshman feels that they must introduce themselves to, chat with, and subsequently add on facebook each person they meet at the pool or in the food line. It’s awesomely, hilariously, ridiculous—though certainly not bad, and again, not something I resent.

So of course I met and conversed with many great young people, and perhaps I should not mention that I would often check off in my head the guys I knew would not match well with me. And there I found myself, several weeks into school, and hardly a single potential guy on the radar. There were a few guys who I knew would be good friends, a few who’d probably be nothing, and one potential good friend from church, but he was still only a senior in high school. It wasn’t really a big disappointment. I decided that was exactly where God had me, and exactly where I wanted to be. My life should never be defined by liking some boy. I would enjoy the beginning of college with my head free of such concerns. I was content.