NATHANAEL Houghton, New York

Sometimes it is weird to think about why I came to Houghton. Houghton was an enigma when I came here.

Halfway through my last year of college I was unsure of what to do with myself. I had a few options that I was pursuing: I applied to some undergraduate theology programs, some biology programs, and one school in the United States, Houghton College. Houghton was the odd one out; I am from Canada and the rest of the schools I applied to are in Canada.

I heard about Houghton College through a serendipitous series of events. One of my father’s best friends in a dentist and lives in a well-to-do suburb, across from him lives a doctor. This doctor, Timothy Hutton, was born and raised …

And the beginning of March. I’m having a little trouble remembering where the semester’s gone. It has been a relatively quick semester. Spring semesters always seem to be like that to be like that for me, unrighteously quick. Yet, at the same time surprisingly slow.

I’ve had a good semester though. Taking a little less credits than last semester. Spending more time with friends and getting a little more sleep. Cannot complain about that.

Yet, there has still be a lot going on. Not too long ago we had Purple and Gold Week, a traditional week of rivalry that split the campus into two campus, Gold and Purple. There were quite a few events going on for the week, notably a dodgeball tournament and SPOT, everyone’s favourite.

For …

One of my favourite traditions at Houghton is Koinoina. Koiniona, which we simply call “Koin”, is Sunday night worship service that is sponsored by Houghton Wesleyan and takes places in Wesley Chapel. It is a well-planned and Spirit-led event. It addresses, through the use of scripture and songs, theological issues that are usually not addressed in contemporary worship.

This week’s service was fine. It didn’t really strike me one way or another. Last week’s, now that was an interesting service. The leadership of Koin had decided to address the issue of reaching out to the broken around us. It was well put together and very insightful. It talked extensively about how we need to show God’s love and grace to the broken. All good things.

Yet, I think it glossed …

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. . . As it was in the beginning it is now and ever shall be, a world without end. . .

Some things just won’t leave me. I’ve been trying to write a blog post about hope for the last two weeks. Trying to write a blog post about how the beginning of the semester is always so hopeful. About how I cannot help but be excited with how interesting this semester is going to be. But, I find that blog post was very hard for me to write. Because, it wasn’t true.

I look towards this semester very aware of the areas in which I am failing. The areas in which I am not …

“Yes” is so short and so easy for people to day, that people often rush through the word without considering exactly what they are agreeing to. Not so with Jesus.