Stepping it up a level

Wednesday: I don’t have classes till 1:45, but I got up early to go to chapel with Robynne, Sam, and Caress. After chapel I went back to my dorm. I had lunch with my Torrey group, as we usually do before session, and afterwards Landen and I tried to give blood, but we didn’t have time. We got to our usual classroom where two of our Seers, Kelsey and Jerod, brought us Krispy Creams. We waited for awhile, but no professor came. After a few minutes a guy came in and told us, “Today you’re having a Reynolds session, so he’s probably waiting for you in his office.” This was the day we all had been waiting for. We had heard rumors of these legendary sessions led by the head of Torrey, but we had no idea when we would have one. Today was our day to meet and be blessed by a very wise and caring man. We all moved in a caravan with all of our backpacks, laptops, and notebooks up the stairs and into his office. He came up behind us and said hi and filed into his office with us.

He only had two hours to talk to us (our normal session is three hours), but it was so full of wisdom and helpful insights. The first twenty minutes he talked about being a new student and how moving is one of the biggest mental crises in someone’s life. He presented it in a way that wasn’t like all the other orientation stuff we’ve been hearing. Somewhere in the middle he sensed that something was wrong and he was able to comfort them with a verse from Ester that would have seemed discouraging. At first I thought he was being insensitive, but then I saw how the scripture was really being used and how often it is only used to make one point when that isn’t the only point it makes. Eventually we got to the text, but he made our talk end up back in the crisis. He showed us the brilliancy and the wickedness of Homer, and we know we’ve only scratched the surface. I never knew that Homer had so much to say and that we can hardly understand it. God used that time to bring us together and showed us how he uses dire circumstances to bring forth His glory. I don’t think I have ever been in a class that has made me think so hard and learn so much. Yet even at the end, Dr. Reynolds said that he didn’t want us going away changing our lives because of the session, but he wanted us to think about the things we talked about and if we should change our lives. We were talking about Homer for a good portion of the time and how civilization is better than savageness in Homer’s world. After class he had to catch a flight, but our group went onto the lawn and prayed for our friend in a crisis. That was an amazing day and I’m still blown away by it a few days later.
Thursday: The final day of classes for the week. Normal day for that. The real fun started at night with one of Biola’s great traditions: NATION BALL! Nation ball is an all campus dodge ball tournament between dorms. Two dorms go down at a time and duke it out. Once you’re out you go behind enemy lines and get dodge balls there and throw them at the other team.
Emerson’s tradition started in the lobby. All of us were decked out in green and our RA’s gave us inspiring speeches the like that have never been heard before. We snook around the gym because we were going to have a grand entrance since we were the smallest dorm. We went into camouflage on the field and would run back and forth on it to shift up the location. All the other dorms went in and the prayer was said for nationball. As soon as we heard “Amen” we came in and circled the middle chanting, “Home of Men!” and then we took our spots. The rules were explained and then the first two dorms were called: Emerson vs Sigma It seemed as if we were done for then night, but next up Alpha was called into the fray against Stewart. Many of us men wore blue under our green to rescue our sisters in the all girl dorm once they were losing. They were almost out and we charged in. The other side were babies and sat down, and so did we. Then they had the audacity to throw balls at us. Eventually the ref made us leave the court. We went back to our seats and started chanting, “Chivalry’s not dead!” and then turned our backs to the game in protest of letting our sisters be beaten down by the other dorm.
In between rounds, like the semi finals and the finals, we had little competitions, like a dance off (which we should have placed in) and a peanut butter liking contest that Nick won for us.
The biggest and baddest of the dorms was for sure Horton. The dorm of black and darkness. Although I have friends in Horton, there were some jerks and really bad sports in their group (One of the guys started yelling at the ref in his face and got really upset. It was very childish and later he was throwing people to the ground). When they went up they always crushed their opponents. Emerson, not being a dorm to lose spirit, all got news papers and sat and read them as Horton battled on the court. It seemed like nothing could stop this dorm.
One of the hopes of Emerson and Alpha was another small community, the OCC (on/off campus commuters). There team was purple and, although bigger than Emerson, was on the small side as dorms count. However, in every game both sides would get down to only a few people and the OCC would win. they became the underdogs of the night. however, would that be enough to beat Horton? This is real life and not a script. Horton was about three times their size and extremely intimidating.
In the final round these two dorms faced off in an epic battle. Nearly everyone was cheering for the OCC, but there was no way they were going to win. As we watched we saw the OCC get smaller and smaller… but Horton was getting smaller and faster. Both sides were about the same size with only twenty people left per side. The remaining people were surrounded by people from the other team and survival seemed impossible. There was a dash of purple in the sea of black darkness. Slowly people were hit and eliminated. The excitement in the room was thick. Which team would win? This was like a state championship in the last minute where the lead would change ever second! It was so intense. By all hopes and dreams, prayers (Christian University) and wishes, somehow the underdog won! The sea of black dispersed as all the colors of the rainbow ran down to cheer the winning team. It was an epic battle, but the OCC proved to be the winners! What a glorious night.
Friday and Saturday: The weekend was well on it’s way and I got to sleep in…well, until I went to the Journey (a men’s Bible study on campus) at 9:30. The day was fairly uneventful. I went to an Ultimate practice and I looked for the movies in the library with Greg and Sam. I waited in a line for icecream in the caf for half an hour with Kaleigh and then I rushed to the Billy Graham Rapid Response Training seminar. I sat with three of the Emerson RA’s and our RD. It was a good event and we learned how to deal with people in the midst of crisis and stress. The night I watched two movies, West side Story and a silent vampire movie from the twenties, and went to bed at 3 so I could get up in time for the meeting at 8:30. That was fun. We had a lot more teaching today and the five of us were exhausted by the end of it, but it was cool hanging out with the RA’s all day. After it was over I took a nap, did some other stuff, and went to the second Ultimate Frisbee practice. I’ve pretty much been doing nothing since then, but the day, and this week, has been amazing! God is an amazing God and blessed me so much by sending me to Biola and giving me two parents who went here and are sending me here now by the power of God!