My Dash is Not Mine

My dad is one of my best friends. We seem to share the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations. One of our favorite things to do is visit colleges all around California just "for fun". My favorite part of these long drives is just being able to sit and talk openly to someone about what I want to see for my life.

Whenever we pull up to a school, we immediately begin to analyze the positives and negatives of each facet of the school. And, 20 schools later, we choose a school that should be on the top list of schools that I should apply to. I have wondered for a while now, why it is that I am so fascinated with the idea of college. Possibly it is because it is something new, exciting, or a dream I have had for a while. 

My dad and I decided to visit a school in North Carolina, High Point University, over this last summer. I had heard amazing things about this school: great communication school, awesome athletics, and well-known grad-schools around the state. The president of the school, Nido Quebein, has been one of my father's closest friends for a while now, because they are a part of Speakers Roundtable. I was so ready to see the school that was supposed to be the school of my dreams. But, I knew I had to look at this school in a different light. I would be across the country, in a different culture, and a different path than I had originally intended, if I decided to attend there. 

The second I walked on campus, I was taken aback. I have been praying to God for him to lead the way for me this last year and a half of highschool, and I am beginning to see his work.

The direction he is pushing me way I would have believed I would go if you had asked me a year ago. For me it seems that God's plan is ever changing with whatever I encounter, but I beginning to realize how big the plan actually is. 

I speak of the concept of a "dash" in a speech I do in Speech and Debate. The dash symbolizes the dash you see on a tombstone: between the year you were born and the year God takes you home. People ask me why I am in fact so passionate about this topic. It truly is because I see that the dash I am living is not for me whatsoever. With that perspective comes more responsibility, but at the same time, a sense of strong relief. 

In this sense responsibility does not have a negative connotation: not a hassle or a burden. God has done most of the work for us through his love. Now, it is our turn to relay that to the world. 

So, this is where the university comes in. Nido Quebein's faithfulness is contagious. As one walks onto the campus you feel that it is a blessed place. The students are happy, the colors are bright, the faculty is supportive. The first girl I met on campus taught me something special. With a Bible in one hand and her book-bag in the other she said, "I never let academics weigh me down," as she showed the two items in a "scale-like" fashion. She is becoming a theology major at HPU after being accepted to Yale, Smith and Brown. Wow. She saw something special in the school, and so do I.

God's Plan is so much bigger than mine. It may be vastly different too. So every day I try to align them as best as possible. Only God knows if HPU is where I will end up, if that is a part of my dash.

God is the engraver of the dash. And I feel that he wants mine to be one of significance. Lord, keep me strong as I search for a school. Let it only be the exact fit to the mold you have created for me.