Coming home

I love going home.  There is just something about it.  Mom’s cooking, naps, riding the golf cart, chasing deer, Texas sheet cake, and have I said naps?  Home is full of memories, mostly good ones.  Home is the one place most responsible for who I am.  It was always safe for me, a place where I felt loved and accepted. 

Over this next week, a lot of people will be coming to our campus.  They’ll be coming back to a place where they have eaten, laughed, made friends and taken many naps.   Not to sound too mushy or like I drank the Kool-Aid, but this is a special place for a lot of folks.  In a sense, they’ll be coming home. 

I listened to Stephanie’s message at the sophomore class chapel about the “freshmen mating season,” and the pressure to find the “right” person.  Standing joke aside, this is a place where many have met that “right person.”  But it is so much more than that.

It is a place where many received an education that has led them into their vocation.  They have graduated, or gone on to grad school, preparing them to be teachers, lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, physical therapists, counselors, pastors and much more.  It is the place where they not only received an education, but their vocation was shaped by a faith that was deepened through the experiences they had here as well.  They will tell stories about a chapel service, revival, friendship, or a small group — all have played a role in making them into the person God was calling them to be.  For some, this is where they got their feet down spiritually.  For others, this is the place where they owned their faith.  For others, it was a place where they realized that not all life’s questions could be answered, and they are okay with that.  Here is where friendships were made that have lasted a lifetime.  All this at our Alma Mater, Olivet.

So for hundreds this next week, coming back to our campus is like coming home.  You will see them at the basketball game, football game, the Gaither Concert, in the planetarium, eating, laughing, in the Quad, telling stories reminiscing about their days as a student, wondering where the time has gone.  Just like some of you.

So this week, remember: They’re not just invading our space, they’re coming home.