To Lynnie

Because I know that Lynn is reading this. Because I know that Lynn is always the first one to read these. Because I know that college can be scary and being away from the comfort of home can be scary. Because I know you put on a brave face and you smile your way through it when deep down you are confused and worried. Because I love you and know that you will thrive at Point Loma, I’m telling you now that everything is going to be alright.

It would be easy for us to scoop you up and bring you back home. To run to you and pull you out of an uncomfortable, uneasy situation. So we’re not going to do it. We- your mom, dad, Maci, and I- are going to let go. No matter how hard it may be for us, no matter the tears we might have as we say goodbye, we are going to let you go. Because you’re never going to grow if you don’t leave your comfort zone.

Some things take time.

You have amazing, extremely rare friendships back home. Not many people can say they’ve been friends with the same group of girls since preschool 3’s, but you can. And I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re not going to have those kinds of friendships at Point Loma. Instead, you’re going to have completely new and different friendships. Friends who will go on burrito runs with you at midnight. Friends who you will worship alongside in chapel- and occasionally sleep next to in chapel… Friends who will pray over you in the middle of the cafeteria because that’s just what people do at Loma. But those friends and the meaningful relationships you’re looking for are going to take time. They’re not going to happen overnight, so don’t give up after just one day.

It becomes home when you treat it like home.

Please leave your room! Please. Join a club. Quit a club. Go to chapel- especially the worship chapels those are my favorite. Go to timeout. Go to Mussoffee. Go to Target just for funs. Go on a G.Y.R.A.D and let your roommate pick out a random boy walking down caf lane to be your date! It might not feel like it now, but one day Loma is going to be home to you. It takes a while, there’s really no exact timeline, but somewhere down the road it will become your place. But that’s only if you let it, and that’s only if you take ownership of it. You will get as much out of it as you put into it. So if you never leave your room, never join a club, never go to chapel, it won’t be your place. You won’t meet new people, you won’t see familiar faces, and you won’t establish your own community. And that would be such a waste, because Loma is quite possibly the best bubble I’ve ever been lucky enough to experience.

You’re going to be just fine.

Never in your life will you have a place like Loma. There are professors who not only pray over your academic success but pray over your walk with God. There are friends who walk alongside you in the deepest of valleys and carry you along until you get to the mountaintops. There are opportunities to see the world, and there’s also an ocean literally outside your door. The possibilities are endless, but the absolute best part of Loma is that God is in it all. So I know, without a doubt, that you are going to be fine because God is right there with you. He is knocking at your door waiting for you to enter into the best journey of your life.

So don’t let it pass you by.

College will be over in the blink of an eye. Four years will turn into four months and before you know it graduation will be right around the corner. So don’t put it off. Don’t wait too long or you’ll miss your chance. Study, get good grades, but remember that your report card isn’t going to follow you much long after you graduate. Make friends, make new friends, there’s no limit to how many people you can let into your life just make sure they’re the ones worth letting in. Have fun, laugh, cry, feel every emotion possible because there’s no safer space to be vulnerable than Loma. Call your mom and dad, call Maci, call me because we love you and we’re going to miss you.

You are going to thrive, and you are going to be just fine! And who knows, maybe one day you’ll get the opportunity to intern somewhere, and you’ll meet a young girl. She’ll get you a slice of cake even though she doesn’t know you. You’ll spend the entire summer doing ministry together, and she’ll change your life. College might do that to you. At least that’s what it did for me.