Guiding Light

Words fail me.

These, now hanging in my living room, awaken all sorts of feelings within me, but I struggle to communicate them.

There is an excitement about having them hang within the walls of where I reside. There is a pleasure at owning these pieces from my wife’s and my history.

Christen was my first dorm at Clarks Summit University (Baptist Bible College when my wife and I attended). I would spend two years in that dorm, only leaving because I preferred to follow my dorm dad Ted Boykin, to Loescher Hall when it was completed.

Thompson was my wife’s dorm for all three years. Precious memories she shares with Susie Shumaker, her dorm mom.

This is part of the school that I never supposed I would ever own. This is a part of the school I never SHOULD have been able to own. These belong still on the campus serving current students as they prepare for a life a ministry.

And that is where the sadness comes in.

BBC, for that is what it always will be in my heart and mind (And this is no disrespect to the name change, just hard to think of it in any other way than the name it bore when I attended. I still have a hard time referring to my alma mater as Clarks Summit University), holds a VERY special place in my wife’s, Kelly, and my life. We met there. Freshman orientation weekend. We held hands, link with the many others in the train of new students filing to the bell tower, freshly cleaned up from bird poo. Once there, we worship and glorified God on the eve of a new stage of life for us. I remember looking out at the lights shining in the night all around us. From the height of the bell tower, we could see many. I remember seeing one in the distance and the Spirit spoke to me. “Keep your focus on me, son. Do not get distracted by the many dazzling lights in this world that will draw your gaze and attention, your passions and desires. Keep me firmly fixed as the guiding light of your life.” What a profound insight He gave me that night. One I shared with this girl whom I had just met, who would later become the one I would continue to spend my life with. 22 years and 9 kids later, God continues to bless me with this precious lady!

Kelly and I would be trained for ministry at BBC/CSU. The heart of BBC/CSU throbbed with an earnest passion for ministry. It was a ministry training school. This was why I was drawn to it. From about age eight, give or take, I knew God had asked me to serve him by shepherding His church. This is why I never faltered in my choice of school. I knew that BBC/CSU would be the place I needed to go to be prepared and equipped for the task God had laid upon me, not just in knowledge or technical skills, but in passion and desire for the Lord.

And yes, Kelly and I were equipped there. We were given tools and a foundation that has been built upon a hundred fold since then. But the foundation we received cannot be dismissed or minimized. We would serve together there. We made friendships there. We learned more of God while we were there.

Its closing is indeed a sad deal. And I know even more so for those who spent decades serving and ministering there, training up the next generations of servant leaders for the church. If my own sense of loss is so strong, I know theirs is stronger still.

I remember the days after I learned they would be closing. I struggled. A deep sadness crept over me. BBC/CSU holds a great weight of gratitude in my life. They hold a great part in that which God used to bring me to where I am today. They really and truly were the only school I was serious about as I considered post high school plans. While I did end up checking out a few others, just to confirm my choice, BBC/CSU was really the only one I had in mind. It served my parents well. And it served me well.

I still remember that first day in chapel when they spoke about the year they put all the freshmen in the same dorm, and what a disaster that turned out to be. The stories, oh the stories….lol….culminating with an indoor water battle that soaked the dorm just before Christmas break. Thing is, I knew all the stories already. That was my father’s freshman year…LOL. And he was often involved. Though, with the water battle, even he knew better. 😂.

I remember the time we convinced a friend of ours that my wife and I were cousins. It took us as much time to UNCONVINCE him that we were cousins, which we suddenly had to do when we began dating, as it did to convince him.

I remember ministering with the BBC/CSU puppet team for a year.

I remember serving with South Clinton Baptist Church for nearly three.

I remember the late nights and long hours learning and studying theology and growing in my understanding of the word.

I remember deepening my passion for God and my desire to spend my life serving His church as a pastor and shepherd one day.

I remember so much more…

I remember….

Oh, I remember….

And I cherish those days.

These signs, hanging above my doors, are more than just signs. They represent countless hours of learning, growing, struggling, maturing, questioning, searching, and ultimately finding our way to following the guiding light of Jesus every day of our lives. A process that has continued WELL out of college and into life and ministry.

BBC, CSU, I am SO SO thankful for you. I am so thankful for the staff, professors, and fellow students that together represent a legacy of Christ committed, Word dependent, Spirit led ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am now, and forever will be grateful and thankful for the years I spent there; that God used to shape and steer my life in the direction of faithful stewardship of God’s glorious gospel.

May these signs, ever be a reminder and a charge to hold fast, to be faithful to the charge given to us to serve the Lord, remain true to the gospel, to proclaim the glorious majesty of our Creator, God, King, Savior, and father. May they serve as a constant of reminder of all that was imparted to us during all those days. And may it serve as a vision corrector when we are tempted to stray from the guiding light of our lives. May it direct our gaze back to the living word and motivate us to press on for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.