An Important Decision for Me

One of the most important decisions I've made happened sitting in my bedroom in the house I grew up shortly before my 20th birthday.

Maybe that sounds a little dramatic . . . One of the most important decisions??? Really?

When I think about it, I don't see those words as being dramatic. I can't think of any other way I would put it. The decision I made at that time was and still is one of the most important I've made.

What was that decision?

The decision to go to Briercrest.

I was getting close to the end of my second year at business studies at a local college. For the most part things seemed to be going pretty well in my life . . . at least to anyone who saw me. I was in my classes. I was at church most weeks. I was involved with the young adults group at my church.

But, on the inside I was wrestling with a lot of questions and the answers from people at school were beginning to sound more appealing than what I'd heard in church all my life. That last semester had not been going as well as I was trying to make it look, and I had made some choices that I desperately wanted to hide from anyone who knew me.

I knew I needed a change. I was starting down a path I wasn't really sure I wanted to continue on, and I wasn't sure how I would change it if I stayed in the same place as I was. That's where Briercrest was appealing. I could go there and still finish my business degree.

And that's the decision I made that night. I started the application process.

And 5 months later, I was pulling into the parking lot of a school in what seemed like the middle-of-nowhere in Saskatchewan. I really had no idea what to expect from any of that year, or the second year that I spent there.

But, looking back, and seeing the way that decision has shaped who I am and how I live my life, it is still one of the most important I've ever made. I learned more about the Bible, theology, and God there than I've learned in 35 years of being in church. I made friends who are still important in my life today. I grew spiritually in ways I couldn't have imagined. And I had more fun living in community with people than I have in any other environment.

It's been a little more than 15 years since I graduated. Everything about that time has been a part of making me who I am today - of shaping how I do my job and how I serve in my church. I don't regret one minute about the time I spent there, or the money I spent to be there.

Obviously, there are decisions you could say are more important than this one. There are, I don't deny that. But, I also know that, as a part of making me who I am today, it was incredibly important. I can't say where I'd be if I had stayed where I was and finished my business degree at the local college. I still could have ended up where I am today, but the path would have looked different. I'm grateful for the way mine went and wouldn't have changed it for anything.

This is what I do know . . . if you ask me if you should go to Briercrest or another Bible college, I won't hesitate to say yes. I'll even go so far as to say that everyone should go if it's at all possible.