The Forge

Dear sir or madame under the guise of "anonymous,"
I assure you that this is not the exclusive medium by which i will be conversing with my parents. I would, however, grant you the benefit of the doubt and assume you've enough reason to understand that daily or semi-daily phonecalls and/or e-mails would be particularly absurd and time-consuming in an environment where i've no room for time-consumption or absurdity. Thus, if i am to give a long-winded summary of my activities to anyone, i shall do so for everyone, via The Forge. I've no desire to constantly recount my life to people and i doubt those around me want to hear the same stories repeated.


Now then...

If you have not already gathered my living situation here at Grove City College, allow me to fill you in on the details. Firstly, GCC is conservative to the bone and as such, while other colleges are assigning males to female roommates, Grove separates its coeds with two major buildings and a quad. Thus i am on the men's side of campus, in Hicks Hall, on the side closest to the Pew fine arts center. I occupy, along with Carl, Josh and Luke, the sole freshman male quad in existence at the college. Let me summarize these companions for you:

Luke: Luke was the first of our room's occupants that i met, and this entirely by chance. He and i both roomed at MAP (a women's dorm) the night before orientation and had planned to go to dinner with others from the facebook group. Thus as i mentioned names to my mother, i said "oh and luke wanted to come." The guy by the water fountain spun around and said "yeah...i'm luke." Luke is in the marching band (trumpet) and he spends most of the time in our room on the computer...whilst texting a myriad friends. Thus, while he is certainly present and included in several of our escapades, he's often a bit "distant" and thus Carl and i consider him to be half there.

Josh: Since i have a small, thin brother named Joshua i think it's only fair that i point out my roommate is a small, thin young man named Joshua. The ongoing joke is that Josh is basically never around (except late at night, for the purposes of sleep and urination). In fact, his bicycle has still not found a home outside in the rack where it belongs and as such we consider his bike almost more a roommate than he is. Despite the joking, however, i think it's fair to point out that Josh probably knows the largest group on campus and spends most of his time with Sarah Elliott. I must applaud him for the last of these if for no other reason than, with the exception of those encounters that were entirely unavoidable, i've not built up the courage to flatout just talk to a coed as of yet. Yeah....i said coed.

Carl: As you have gathered (unless you are very, very dense) the guy i've hit it off with the best is Carl. I've already had a couple really great conversations with him and i've not a single doubt that once more, God's having fun putting people around each other with a lot in common. Carl is one of only three people i've ever gotten to know that already knew about Relevant Magazine (represent!) and he's a great fan of mae and anberlin (though apparently his preference is August Burns Red). Moreover, he's a poet and a writer. He recently e-mailed me a short story he wrote a little while ago (which i've not had the chance to read yet, regrettably) however (as i already said) he has assured me it's in Dekker's style, so it should be good. And to think-- I'M the English major here. Anyway, we've secured a small table in the upper SAC as our 'hangout' of sorts for latenight blogging and facebook-surfing, as well as just plain conversation. Carl's also the guy with the frisbee, and since Ultimate Frisbee is perhaps THE most popular activity on campus, it's no wonder that we are constantly running around the field outside the TLC with the other Hicks guys whenever we have spare time.

Now then, an issue of mine. As i was telling Carl, i spent the majority of my life with the understanding that dating really ought to be with the intent to marry afterwards. And since we are clearly cautioned by God's Word to avoid being attached to nonbelievers, i've basically stopped myself from any dating pursuits through the whole of my highschool career. Those few female friends i've had have been just that--friends. And we don't need to discuss that exception.

This said, my "lady skills," as it were aren't so much lacking as they are nonexistent. To be honest, the "bad pick-up lines" you find in joke-books are better than anything i've ever thought of. This combined with the sudden realization that i'm surrounded by people who fit the "Christian" parameters leaves me in a rather humorous predicament. For, in addition to knowing i'd only date Christian girls, i've also always known that college (particularly Grove) is notorious for matchmaking. Thus, i sit here in the center of a campus swarming with potential wives that i'm flatout terrified of even saying hello to. This all spells one thing in my mind: bachelor.


Kidding aside, i'm not lacking in hope. God's done a pretty good job in getting me here (something i'm still not quite sure how He did) and thus i'm trusting that, if i'm intended to meet her here, He'll work on my shortcomings. Career Services told us that in order to figure out our future, we needed to reflect on ourselves and our strengths and skills. Well...i try to be funny. Sometimes i succeed. I'm a decent writer, i suppose. I'm smart but then, if we're talking about the GCC fishbowl, that's sort of a given. And i'd like to think that i've been doing alright with God.

But here i am in Grove City, PA, on a dry campus surrounded by people drunk with the Holy Spirit. So "i'd like to think that i've been doing alright" can't cut it. No, to be sure the only way i'm ever going to fit into God's calling for my life is if i continue to run after Him and press in as i've never done before. The chapel will be a great tool, but i think the fellowship will perhaps be an even better one. So sure, there will be an overdrive of the usual: praying and reading the Bible. But i think the thing i look forward to most is sitting down with a couple of guys and really just talking about the things that matter most: most to us, most to God.

So i guess that's where i'm at. Today was great: meeting my mentors Chris and Leslie, and Group 31 (clearly the best mentor group). Finding out that our RD hates rules as much as i do (and almost as much as the RAs do). The hilarious OB:OB show and the creeking afterwards. And now, once more i sit gazing down at the empty seats of the SAC below me. Tomorrow classes begin. I've got just three words for God when it comes to classes, chats and yes...even coeds.

Bring it on.