Surviving Dis-Orientation

There was a time when I thought summers were endless. The days would come and go slowly and seemingly no end in sight. But that was a really long time ago. I was still living in my hometown and under my parents’ roof. I had virtually gone to school there all my life and often wondered what would lay beyond the threshold of high school graduation.

Wow! I really had no idea. I do remember being totally overwhelmed with freshman orientation. Too much information in too little time. Some things never change. I hear that it is the same way still. Especially at UC. Sorta two days crammed into 24 hours. So what did you learn while you were here?

Can I tell you a couple of things you should remember from your orientation or disorientation experience? First there are a lot of names to remember. You will remember your SOL. You will remember several of the folks in your orientation group, especially that goofy one or that cute one. But some names you should remember will be the couple of folks you met around the Collegiate Ministry table. And other names will be CrossWalk and Dinner@theHouse. But you will hear more of these later. I also hope you will remember the name of the Collegiate folks that contact you this summer. They really want to connect with you and help ease your transition to college life.

Another thing you should remember from orientation is that there is so much college life before you it is really hard to wrap your mind around. I promise that you will be amazed at the transformation of your life by the end of the first year ahead of you. You will be much more comfortable in your new surroundings and with your new friends. Who knows, you may even want to apply for one of those SOL positions or to be an RA in one of the resident halls. Just remember this, every vital piece of information that you need to know will be repeated. If you don’t get it all the first time, don’t panic. Every vital piece of information you will need to know will be repeated (oh, I just said that).

Here is a very vital piece of information. Part of your continued development as a young adult fresh out of the “kid” stage is the spiritual part. My desire is to challenge the way you look at your faith. The way you develop your faith over the next few years will most certainly impact your pilgrimage with God for a long time. I just read some facebook comments from “old” people who have been out of school ten or fifteen years. Some regret the things they didn’t learn or didn’t do to enhance their faith walk. Others are commenting about the way that a special friend, a retreat, small group, or summer experience really enhanced their faith in God. Your end of the deal is to choose wisely at this point. It may not be the holy grail you are looking at but it will really could be a holy moment.

Get ready. I hope to see you soon.

Ken, the campus pastor guy.