“So, ah... why did ya come to UT?” This is the question that everyone responds with upon finding out that I am from Boston and yet am attending The University of Texas at Austin. “You do know there are some good schools up there?” They feel responsible to remind me. To be honest, I wasn't really sure of the answer myself, but looking back on my first year at UT and the experiences I've had meeting with Christians on Campus, I am beginning to see that I came down to Texas because this is where the Lord wants me.
I grew up in a solid Christian family, and since I was young, my parents encouraged me to go to a college where I would be with many other Christians, an experience that dramatically shaped their lives. As a child I accepted their advice, as a young teenager I thought about rebelling against it, but when the time came to apply to schools, I didn't trust myself to go off to college alone with no Christian fellowship waiting for me. I simply told the Lord that I was applying to a few different universities all over the country, had gotten the grades needed to get into them, and was going to trust Him to put me where He wanted me. So He did, and although the thought of going down to Texas had initially sent chills down my spine and caused my friends to stare at me blankly, I now felt the peace to go.
I don't know what I expected it to be like, but I know most of the expectations were wrong. I never thought I would have spent as much time as I did with people in Christians on Campus, but it was just so normal, and for the most part, enjoyable. The appointments on campus with a few others, the big meetings, the wonderful home meetings, and even hanging out “with those who call upon the name of the Lord” (2 Timothy 2:22) has saved me from so many things of the world and made my college experience unique, rewarding and meaningful because I have been learning to live the Christian life as my everyday life.
J.M.
— Boston
