Young

  I was driving through State College today, actually the PSU campus, and I couldn't help but notice how much older all the students look compared to me. I felt the same thing last weekend at Pitt. Grant it, yes, some of them are graduate students, but not all of them. And their apparent maturity in age made me feel inferior. 

  However, as I continued to drive, 1 Timothy 4:12 came to mind "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity". 

  I guess I've always have had to deal with being the youngest. I was one of the youngest in my graduating class thanks to a combination of where my birth date fell and being told not to come for a second year of pre-school. I was by far the youngest person walking across stage last year to receive my fake diploma roll. And it's funny, because as much as it makes me feel inferior to be the youngest, I keep working towards making life happen at a quicker pace. By my sophomore year of high school I was ready to be done with secondary education and started looking at colleges intensely. I worked hard to graduate a semester early from college, the best worst decision I've ever made, but that should be an entry on its own.

   As I was walking around Pitt last weekend I couldn't help but think that I was glad that I left all of that. Yes, from sitting in my dorm room at Houghton I missed the freedom of the city, but walking down the streets I equally missed Melbourne. We always think that if we hurry through life or get to the next step it will be better only to look back when we are there and wonder if it really was all that bad. 

   From where I sit now as a graduate, I can tell you that I have no regrets about transferring. It was like this last trip to Pitt, as all of my friends graduate at the end of the month, gave me closure. Yes I miss certain elements of the city, but more then anything I miss the people. And now as they all scatter to various jobs and grad schools across the US (and internationally) I can realize that Houghton offered me just as much as Pitt, it just looked different. And maybe different isn't as bad as what we think it is. 

   As I was thinking about all of this while driving home from SC today, I realized just what I've done in life. And I was floored. Andrew used to joke that I will be dead by the time I'm 30, and I understand now why he said that. The places I've went. The experiences I've had. The opportunities that have just fell on my lap. The relationships I've formed with all of their depths and intimacy. Wow. Yes, I'm young, 21, graduated from college, and it just hit me today what that means. I've felt like I've been living in this transitional phase where I'm a pseudo-student, since I'll be going back to school. But really, I have two awesome jobs that I could have never dreamed of. As Ellen put it on Sunday, "Look at us. I'm going to teach and your freakin' planting a church". 

   So while I'll continue to (probably) be the youngest in my class, that doesn't dis-credit who I am or how God has and will use me. Age isn't the true sign of maturity or potential.