Actually, I'm not the editor. I'm just a journalist. But anyway, here's what I'm submitting to my school's newspaper this month. It's my thoughts on my school and leaving for college and all that (there will probably be more of these as college approaches). Enjoy :)
I vividly remember my first day at my school when I came in third grade. We arrived on campus at 7:28 a.m., and my dad waited outside with me until the bell rang because I did not know anyone. Later that day, I met G.C. Our first conversation went a little like this:
“So tell me about yourself,” she said.
“There’s not really much to tell,” I answered.
Word of advice to people trying to make friends: try a little harder than I did.
Ten years later, however, I can now confidently say that I have much to tell. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior; I have published a book and am working on editing the second; I have developed an interest in photography; I have had my share of broken hearts; my brother is married; and I am attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA this fall.
Yes, my life has changed drastically since my tentative arrival to BCS, and I truly believe my time here has blessed me in an extraordinary way. I have made friends with whom I know I will keep in contact long after graduation. I have learned more about God than I thought there was to learn, and many of the lessons have come from my peers. I have seen His forgiveness, His mercy, His love, His sense of humor, and His majesty reflected in the people around me, and I have become a much stronger Christian and better person because of the lessons I have learned.
So how will I cope with college next year? Actually, it’s this year; I’m still getting used to the idea that I’ll be in Virginia in less than eight months. How will I be able to form new friendships as strong as the ones I’ve forged here? BCS has been my home for ten years, and the thought of never attending school here again is a very strange one indeed. This school, these people, these hallways -- they’re basically all I have ever known. August will bring new faces, new places, new hallways, and new lessons. A new chapter in my life will begin, one that will not be as long as the BCS chapter, but hopefully just as rich and blessed.
Because one thing will not change when I graduate and drive the 2 fourteen-hour days to Virginia: God. My friends will all go their separate ways, my parents will remain in Texas, my brother and sister-in-law will probably be in Germany, and I will be on my own for the first time in my life. But God has been the one constant in my life; He has never changed, nor given up on me, nor been farther than a whispered word away. He knows what lessons are waiting for me in Virginia. He knows in what ways I still need to grow (and there are many). He knows who will make the best roommates for me. And so I can rest assured that no matter what happens, He will be by my side.
I will miss my friends dearly. I will miss my school and all its oddities that only fellow BCS students can understand (the randomly dispersed cardboard cutouts of Elvis, Michael Jordan, and Jack Sparrow). I will miss my teachers. I might even be able to bring myself to miss Texas and its bipolar weather.
But I am excited for Liberty. I am thrilled at the thought of living on my own and being able to leave my shoes lying around wherever I want. I am eager to gain more amazing friends and learn from knowledgeable professors.
More than all that, however, I am impatient to grow as a person, to seek and study and nurture the woman God intends me to be.
When I come back and visit, I’m convinced I will have amazing stories to tell about my friends and my professors and all the misadventures at Liberty. And I hope I will be wiser, more patient, more passionate, more bold, more creative, and more in love with my God than ever before.
Thanks for everything, BCS.
