“You can stay the night at my place or I will walk back home with you, but you are not walking home alone tonight.” My house president made this declaration as she caught me leaving the first house event of my freshman year. It was late and it was dark. I was scared and I didn’t really know the way back home yet. But I was eager to prove to myself that I would be fine on my own, and didn’t need people to help me find my footing in the world. I did not know that the education I’d signed up for would be a journey into a community that loves sacrificially, that puts obedience to God before ambition and comfort, and that carves out the space for people to discover a life of true abundance in the Lord. Not wanting my house president to walk me home, I stayed the night at her apartment. It was a simple and brief moment, but I felt loved, seen, and protected in a way that I never had known before. So began my own discovery of just how radically transformative the Gospel is - how human beings carry the power to give a tangible knowledge of what it’s like to be lost and found.

Throughout my years at The King’s College, every aspect of participating in community life grew my understanding of how deeply broken the world is - from every single human heart to the greatest of civilizations - and just how much deeper God’s restorative love touches every sphere of life. The education I received trained me to adopt rigorous habits of thought that have served me well in post-grad life but, more importantly, they showed me that the pursuit of truth and wisdom never ends. This pursuit is worthwhile because the source of all truth is the one in whom we are made to find rest - and “our hearts are restless until they rest in” him. The community demonstrated the love of Christ in teaching me that there is goodness in the vulnerability that comes when the people who love you see the worst of you, continue to shower you with love and care, and challenge you to grow beyond your shortcomings. The professors modelled a deep humility and care for students, knowing that their work was not meant to transform the world of academia and to foster nerds (though many a nerd has been fostered), but to help students see the eternal weight of pursuing a life of virtue.

In sum, I graduated from King's with a completely different set of values than what I came to King’s with. I came to New York City to get an education that would allow me to live comfortably for myself. However, the education I received showed me the futility of a life lived for oneself and just how powerfully that contrasts against the abundance that comes from knowing the Lord, pursuing wisdom from him, experiencing his love through his people.