In 1998 my big sister graduated as valedictorian of her senior class. She was always (is) so book smart, and could do cool things like…cooking and quilting. I never did have that sort of patience.
We all took the journey to drop my sister off at the tiny college in some hidden corner of northern Georgia; Toccoa Falls, Bible College. And as I stood on the patio of her very southern, brick dorm, I swore to myself, “Well, I will NEVER come here. My sister is crazy.”
…See but I know that trick now. NEVER, I mean NEVER tempt God like that. He has too much of a sense of humor.
I graduated a year early so I could get the hell out of Dodge; Dodge being the beautiful pastures and planted corn fields of hilly New Hampshire. Somehow this seemed very important to a newly graduated 17 year old. I loved my home but I was busting to strike out on my own and go as faaaaaaaar away from cold winters as I could get. So, a fresh seventeen, I was dropped off at a Christian University in the rich, party city of West Palm Beach, Florida.
My first semester did not go well for me.
I’d had hormonal and psychological problems since childhood, and was on medication when I entered the university. I swiftly stopped taking it because I was so happy to be FREE and you know I don’t think I ever went to bed before five AM. (You know. Classic…….ally wild and dumb college freshman behavior.)
I have a Bachelors of the Arts in American Literary criticism…
And I literally failed English 101.
English 101.
How could this happen? I became very depressed and couldn’t even get out of bed. I missed all my classes and stopped eating.
The diagnosis was Mononucleosis and depression, but I knew what it really was. It was the Holy Spirit telling me it was time to leave. Was I thriving there? NO! “Onward and upward!” to coin author C.S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia. It was time to DRIFT…
“You asked me to let go, but I thought I knew better
Afraid of surrender and what I don’t know
I’ve always had a plan, but now I’m so weary
And I can’t see clearly, forgot who I amSo won’t You make my eyes Your eyes?
My ears Your ears, my tears Your tears
And won’t You make my hands Your hands?
My feet Your feet, my dreams Your dreamsI give up control.”
King and Country; Control
We will adapt. 