Inspire, Spring 2006

16 Spring 2006 L O G O S W h a t ’ s t h e W o r d ? Formative Years By James Bjornstad Professor of Philosophy at Cedarville University College years are often referred to as “years of formation.” This is when everything preceding college is expected to come together with the college experience and produce men and women who will function well in society and make a positive contribution to it. It is a time when students encounter certain basic questions and problems, have their horizons broadened, determine their life’s goals, get training for their life’s vocation, and even think about a mate. With so much synthesis occurring in the college setting, it necessitates the allowance for decisions to be made by students. They must be able to respond freely to meaningful information and to make personal choices. By doing so, they become their own persons. Allowing such freedom, however, can be risky. There are times when students may make wrong decisions or even elect to consider that which would make the professor shudder, despite guidance from the professor. Our concern here at Cedarville is to help students make reasoned choices that are also good and godly choices. Our goal is to develop men and women who will function as Christ’s ambassadors in whatever vocation God gives them and wherever He places them in the world. Brock Weston ’02 Brock is currently a student at Southern Seminary. When I started college, I was perfectly content to study, eat, occasionally dominate on the intramural basketball court (at least that is what they tell me!), and then study some more. One day I remember getting really crazy and taking a break from calculus to wander across the street to Mom and Dad’s. I plopped down 100 pennies and received my small brown bag of Sour Patch Kids and then returned to Lawlor, where I proceeded to consume them all before I completed my calculus homework. My mouth was a little worse for the wear. That was the extent of my wild side during my freshman year, and generally speaking, relationships were optional for me. However, behind the scenes the Lord was beginning to forge key relationships that would forever change me. God had placed men in Lawlor 10 and 12 with whom I would laugh, cry, and rejoice in my future years. I met fellow students at Cedarville with whom I almost instantly bonded. Beginning my junior year we moved to Harriman Hall and were known as the “Harry Men.” It was in this house/dorm that a corpus of men grew to know bonds that broke down barriers: relational, social, and economic. We began to know what it meant to love our God and love each other in the realm of true community. In all fairness, we worked through hard times, like the death of relatives and in-house fights. There were fun times, like open houses, “pile on” times with Travis, and the hunt for Ben’s sock. We enjoyed memorable times, like prayer times in the attic and air fresheners at our final house meeting. In His great providence, God used all these experiences to shape and hone us. He was shaping us into men who deeply cared about obedience to our Lord. He was molding us into men who were willing to set aside the vocabulary cards the night before a big exam when a fellow “Harry Man” needed to talk. He was honing us into a community that welcomed God’s chipping away at each of us with His chisels. Those chisels could be found in Room 2, Room 7, Room 4, and Room 9. While imperfect, we were tools in the hands of a Master Craftsman who was beginning a very good work. The work continues to this day. At my desk here in Louisville hangs an air freshener I received at our final Harriman house meeting. It has long since lost its aroma, but smelling good was only its secondary function anyway. Its primary purpose is to hang as a steadfast reminder of the men who have most shaped my life. It serves as a daily reminder to commit them to the One who is faithful, the One who began a good work in Harriman Hall. It reminds me that without a persistent God and faithful friends, Cedarville would have been merely an empty shell, and I would have left unchanged. This air freshener reminds me that my time at Cedarville was one of those few truly life- shaping experiences.