Written by Steven Ramsey
Well, last week was quite different than this week. The student center is a bit more toned down, as are the articles of clothing. People don’t match or wear so many bandanas or suits and ties or hats. I’m not knocking you if you are still doing such things, in fact more power to you! I’m just stating what I’ve observed. Congratulations to all those who made it through the week alive. I am sure the other side is much better, and maybe you can even say it was worth it.A character goes through obstacles, sometimes intense, romantic, dangerous, risky, uncomfortable and maybe even humiliating. The more intense the struggle, the more interesting the story gets. The character rarely does it alone but has help along the way that was necessary to the ending being right. On the other side of this tension is someone who is different. Someone who has been transformed because they learned something about themselves. And just as important, they found out something about someone else. I hope you who did join a club are that character. The week is not an easy one, but I hope you can look back on it and say you are glad. As humankind, we all are that character. Life is a book of open pages, and when you don’t shy away from challenges and uncertainty and risk, the better the story becomes – to you and to others. This year we have not shied away from challenges. We raised money for the Sunshine School and research for cancer. We formed relationships and had meals with those in Searcy. We did World Missions Workshop. We participated in collegiate sports and club sports. We have done clubs. We have taken on a new and small habit every week. We’ve attended concerts. We have made new friends. And honestly, we may not have done clubs or we may have lost friends or games or cried or been mad about things.But in all of this, never forget to pray. The prayer room in Shores Chapel, right above the student center, is a place of solitude and silence just for that. All joy, heartbreak, sorrow, unfairness, bad academics, not making clubs, losing or winning games, boyfriends and girlfriends, unseen sin, friendships, anything – God pays attention and cares. With it being Homecoming, I hope we can all come back to Harding someday and say that we were a body of believers who had enough faith that God would bring us through the uncertainty. That as characters we would have the trust that the Author would write a great story through the characters that boldly walked through fire. God wants to write a great story through the characters (I can name quite a few – ha) at Harding University.
