My Worlds Have Converged

So my worlds have officially converged. I've been one of these rare "one-career" people who has managed to survive 20+ years serving with the same non-profit organization. But, this past year it got real strange. The life of a campus minister is strange to begin with, ...you're not a pastor because you don't have a church building, you're not a missionary because you are living in your own culture, you're not a chaplain because you don't have an official relationship with academic institutions.

A year ago my oldest daughter went off to college in San Diego and all of a sudden the stock value of college students went sky high. A ton of things began to make sense, my two primary worlds of being in campus ministry and "being a good dad" converged as I sat on my one-less-egg-emptier-nest and thought to myself, "each and every one of them is someones son and daughter". All the prayers, hopes, sacrifices and dreams that one child holds in the minds eye of a parent exploded in my heart as I began to connect with who college students really are. The heart of a campus minister collides with the heart of a father of a college student, ...and become one.

I've got 4 kids and last week things got trippy. My son who is 17 isn't due to go to college until next year, ...but I found myself dropping off my 13 year old, my youngest, off at Diablo Valley College for a French class she's taking for her homeschool program. She waved at me as she hopped out of my Jeep, braids waving in the wind, pink-striped backpack in tow and said, "Thanks for the ride dad, I'm a college student now!" I kind of freaked out, but my heart lept within me for her, ...and for the stream of other sons and daughters flowing past me in that parking lot.