Laura Key - College Crossroads

College Crossroads

Navigating Freshman Year and Beyond

Laura Key

Copyright 2020 Laura Key

All rights reserved.

KeyWords Publishing

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB) New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org

The following are true stories, but some details and names may have been changed in order to protect privacy.

Cover Art by Jackson Adams

Contents

Grab the keys, and lets go.

Before your graduation hat hits the ground,

Youre speeding away on your next adventure.

But wait.

Hold up.

Youve arrived at an intersection.

A crossroad.

Turn right. Turn left. Go straight.

Pick one.

You cant throw it in reverse,

And you cant stay here.

No matter which way you choose,

The road will bring you to another crossroad.

Choose again.

And again.

Over and over and over.

These decisions, made one after another, ultimately change you.

You wont be the same person you once were.

Youve already experienced these micro-changes in high school,

But now its different.

Youve been on a country road for miles and suddenly you come upon a maze of weaving interstates and criss-crossing flyovers.

Youre picking up speed and dozens of routes are available to you.

College is coming, with a host of new experiences.

You will choose, and you will change.

Its inevitable. But its not a bad thing.

What happens over the course of the next few years will shape your life. The structure you had in high school is gone, and now you decide which road to take.

Your past context has given you a start.

Your family, friends, and high school experience has shaped you.

But what happens in this next chapter?

When no ones knocking on your door to wake you up,

Will you get out of bed?

When you collide with clashing worldviews, where will yours fall?

Whos going to know or care if you miss class or fail assignments?

How do you know right from wrong when everyone has a different opinion?

In college, youll make choices about what you do,

and when you do it.

Youll decide where to spend time,

and with whom.

Youll take a hard look at truth,

and then choose what to do with it.

All these decisions change you bit by bit.

Youll take wrong turns along the way.

I guarantee it.

Youll make decisions you regret.

But what will you do about it?

Thats yet another choice.

Another crossroad.

Im going to share with you my journey:

Crucial crossroads in my college years.

Some had huge signposts, and others were barely noticeable.

But looking back, I see that all of them were important.

As you come upon these crossroads,

I hope this book will make you think.

Your own journey will be different, but foresight is everything.

Looking out for what might trip you up will help you prepare to navigate this new experience.

If you can anticipate the crossroads that youll encounter, they wont be as overwhelming.

But I have to tell you a secret.

I didnt navigate those crossroads alone.

Birdsong woke me up to early light. I opened my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. Beds, desks, empty closets, a sink. The cool June morning came in through the open window. It was Orientation Weekend at the university that Id be attending in the fall.

So, this is what its gonna be. In a couple of months, I would return to this place not as a prospective student, but as a full-fledged freshman. This would be my dorm. My campus. My new life. Anticipation tangled with apprehension. I sensed a pivotal moment coming in my life. This was the place where I could go in any direction.

I felt terrific and terrified.

How would I choose the right way to go?

I couldnt do this on my own.

I grew up in a loving home. From an early age, my parents taught me about the big things in life, like good and evil and how to tie my shoelaces. I learned about God and people: the problem that divides us and the solution that unites us. Along the way, this knowledge started to stick to me like Velcro strips on my light-up sneakers.

But in my teenage years, I had a crisis. I wasnt sure who I was, or what I believed. I started to question concepts that I had heard all my life. Do I just believe this because my parents taught it to me? If I had been born into a Hindu family, wouldnt I be a Hindu just like my parents? What if this whole Christianity thing isnt even true?

In my search for identity, I ripped off the Velcro. I disassociated myself from the knowledge that had become a part of me. It wasnt enough that my parents said it. I wanted to find out for myself. What did I believe about these big concepts: God, myself, life, and death?

This soul-searching shook me to the core. I was seeking God, but at the same time I doubted Him. I struggled with anxiety; I would be okay for days or weeks at a time, and then out of nowhere the distressing thoughts would rage against me again. I didnt have lasting peace.

Finally, after months of struggling, I concluded that if I wanted what God offers, I had to trust what He says. I wanted life, and He offered it to me through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. He died and paid the penalty for my sin, so I could live free. No condemnation for me; only forgiveness. It sounded too easy, but I decided to trust God. In that moment, I tied myself to Christ. No more Velcro.

Dont get me wrong. The Velcro was good. I needed that knowledge that my parents gave me. It was a good foundation, and Im thankful that I heard truth since I was young. But there comes a time in everyones life where they have to make their own choice about God and what He says. Will I trust what He says and follow Him, or not? I had to struggle with my identity to decide for myself. In the end, when I tied myself to Christ, I was more confident than I could ever be with the Velcro from my childhood. My faith no longer rested on what my parents told me, but on what God told me. I could run freely because my soul was secure.

Fast forward to Orientation Weekend and that early morning in the dorm room. Still burdened with the sudden gravity of choosing my lifes path, I pulled out my green- flecked Bible from my duffel bag. I flipped it open and asked God to show me something. The book fell open to the middle, those proverbs of the ancient kings.

Does not wisdom cry out,

And understanding lift up her voice?

She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,

Beside the way, where the paths meet.

She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,

At the entrance of the doors.

Proverbs 8:1-3

I did a double take. Well, hey. Thats where I am. Im at a gate, an entrance, a door, a threshold to college. Im standing at the crossroads, where the paths meet. But apparently, Im not alone. Wisdom is there too, and shes not silent. Shes crying out, lifting up her voice telling me the right way to go.

The burden I felt to decide the course of my life began to slide off my shoulders. I didnt have to be anxious about which way to take. I could be confident while making decisions about my life because I could listen to Wisdom. I could follow Wisdoms way.

Other things I knew about Wisdom came to mind, and I flipped around the pages until I found them:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.