Making the Right Decision
Life on the Hill: Bison Blog
When you walk around OBU, you can tell by the way the students, faculty, and everyone acts: you are on a Christian campus. One of the main reasons why I chose to attend OBU is its foundation in Jesus Christ. Throughout Welcome Week, I witnessed time and time again the spiritual fruit of the campus. Even in the smallest things like the way the students welcome you — how everyone greets each other around the campus — and the way teachers want to invest in your life, you can tell that OBU has something more.
The first day at OBU, I felt so welcomed! People were cheering for me and shaking my car, welcoming me to my new home. The student volunteers completely unloaded my car and placed all of my stuff into my new dorm room. Let me repeat that, they took all of the stuff in the two cars I had fully packed, and placed everything in my room for me. The heart behind their actions is what made me stop. The act of completely serving the freshmen and their families is what made me smile, and I knew life on the hill would be a new beginning of growing in my faith in many ways.
Then, while completing the move in day checklist, I was stopped in my tracks yet again. I received my t-shirt and name tag. In the name tag, there was a little piece of yellow paper folded in half. When I opened it, my heart became at ease. Inside was a note from my two Welcome Week small group leaders. The note said, they had prayed for me all summer and are so excited to meet me. The power of prayer is so real, and just knowing that these two young ladies cared enough about me and the rest of my group to pray for us, gave me reassurance again that I was at my home away from home.
I learned quickly here at OBU, they believe that everything can be used for the glory of God. There is a saying here, “All truth is God’s truth, wherever it may be.” I find this simple phrase profound. ALL truth, everything we learn and in any major, everything will always point back to God’s truth within it. A college that fully supports every major and believes that you have your unique calling from God within that profession is rare and made me excited for the first day of classes.
By far my favorite experience was the worship. Coming from a public high school, the act of worshiping together as a student body left me speechless. I was completely surrounded by my fellow classmates worshiping together as a student body for the first time – voices of all ages being lifted up singing to the Lord, praising Him for all He has done and will do in each of our lives. The worship here at OBU was a defining moment in Welcome Week for me. In the midst of the chaos of the world, here among so many students, there was a peace.
During our last worship together for Welcome Week, we started lighting each other’s candles. I remember thinking, “We are passing each other’s light on … We each have a flame that is sparked by our personal relationship with the Lord.” With our individual flame, personally we can only light up a little of the night. Slowly, watching each student continuing to light each other’s candle was surreal. It was like our personal relationship with the Lord slowly spread until the whole lawn in front of the Geiger Center was a solid light of all of our candles joined together, conquering the night. The class of 2020 was able to join the rest of OBU in shining God’s love and light to the rest of the world.
The heart of OBU, having its foundation in Christ, is what makes this campus unique. Everyone who has been, is, or will be a part of OBU feels the presence of the Lord everywhere on campus. OBU is a college where every action, from the smallest act to the most challenging decision, is being made with the Lord in mind. I’m seeing how OBU prepares its students to not only act according to the love of Christ and be used as vessels here, but to continue those actions after graduation day.
Life on the Hill: Bison Blog
