This may be my imagination, but I think when students go into a professor’s office to talk about a test, the teacher automatically goes a little bit on the defensive. This is the result of the myriad of people that come in and moan that they got the shaft and how the teacher was so unfair in their particular case. So they tend to think everyone that comes in has a bone to pick with them. Why can’t everybody just be nice? Huh?

Do I have regrets about my school-related past? Sometimes I do. If I knew then what I know now I would have done stuff a lot differently. I might have even decided to go away to school. Back then I didn’t even consider it as a viable option. But I could’ve gotten so much more involved in campus life and campus ministry if I was away from home. I would’ve been forced to develop more close relationships with people on campus. I know the dangers inherent in this idea though, and if I would’ve gone away, I probably wouldn’t have had the Bible School experiences that I’ve had and am going to have. I wouldn’t have been able to be involved with AHQ (which, when I stop and think about it, probably would have been the deciding factor in staying local).

I think Bible School, AHQ, and college are the three, extended experiences that have impacted me the most spiritually, for different reasons. Bible School because of all the things I learned in class, the stuff I learned by being real with people outside of class, and about God on tour. AHQ because of ministry and accountability. And college because it forced me to dig into what I believed.

But that seems to be selling some things a little short by not including them. Things like the Mexico Trips with Larry Warfel and the guys’ prayer group that meets before church. And just church in general.

And another, separate category: the people that have impacted my life.