This week I (Jason) am spending time at the Library at Corban College (formerly Western Baptist College) in Salem, OR. Corban is a private Christian liberal arts college. This is where I attended and graduated from in 1991.
Spending time on campus has reminded me of the importance of "place" in our life. There are many important places on campus that I want to share with you (I'm hoping in a day or two to post pictures along with these descriptions).
Van Gilder Hall
This was the resident hall for the guys. When I attended (1987-1991) there were only about 300 students. Outside of the resident hall is the "TREE". This large fir tree was famous as a place of punishment for those guys that had broken the "brotherhood" of the bachelors. If a guy got engaged during his college experience, his dorm brothers, late one night, would capture him, drag him to the chapel for a mock trial, speedily judge him as guilty, and then bring him to the TREE. At the TREE we would strip him down to his underwear, tie him to the tree, and proceed to pour yucky food that had been stored for a couple of weeks from the kitchen, flour, honey, eggs, etc. The final punishment was a gallon of ice-cream put into his underwear. This would probably be characterized as "hazing" in this more sophisticated age, but for us it was just good Christian fun.
The Staircase
This is the staircase where I first kissed Jenny, and then, years later, where I asked her to marry me. The story of our first kiss: I had invited Jenny to come meet my family on Camano Island on Valentines day, 1988. Saturday, February 14th, Jenny and I walked with my sister down to the beach. We were wearing big heavy coats. I asked if I could put my hand in the pocket of her coat; suddenly we were holding hands. So that's how we began to "go out." We drove back to Western Baptist on Sunday, 15th. We held hands and snuggled in the car trip back. When we got to Western we walked around till dorm time in (I think 10 or 11pm). Right before we had to part, at the top of these stairs, I kissed Jenny. For her, it was one of her first "real" kisses; for me, I was an old pro. So I said, after we had kissed, "let me rank that kiss on a scale of 1-10." I proceeded to say it was a #2. Jenny, of course, was mortified. I proceeded to say that #1 was "the best" and so #2 was pretty good; and that it gave us room to practice and get better :). The staircase was also the place where on my birthday, May 23rd, 1991 I asked Jenny to marry me. We had just come from Van Gilder Hall's lounge where I had quoted a few Shakespeare love sonnets to her. I told her to look up into the sky (so whe would remember all the details of that night), then, at the top of the stairs I asked her to marry me.
Farrar Hall
This is the dorm where Jenny lived her Freshman year with her roommate Melissa. After we began "going out", early on Saturday mornings (I've always been an early riser), I would walk down to Farrar, ring Jenny's room bell, and we would go for a walk. Walking along the road near Western was where I learned that Jenny loved red-wing blackbirds; she loved to listen to them sing as we walked.
Top of the Gym Hill
Western's Gym is at the top of a hill that overlooks the campus as well as Salem. There is a corner of this hill that has a lot of spiritual significance to me. When I was dropped off by my parents my freshman year, that first day when I was finally alone, I made my way to the top of the hill. My heart was bursting with loneliness from being parted from my family and a sense of being on my own in the world. I looked up into the sky and saw the big dipper and I burst into tears and prayer because I realized that the same God who had created the big dipper that I had gazed at at my home on Camano Island, was also my Father God in Salem. He had not left me. It was also in this corner of the gym hill that I began to lead a time of prayer for the students. We met at the top of the hill every weeknight and prayed. At first there were only a few students, but soon it grew and grew until we often had 30 to 40 students gathering there for prayer. In the winter months it died down; we had to move indoors; and there were only a few stragglers in the spring. This was my first real experience of spiritual leadership.
Field near the gym
There was a field near the gym where no one went, where I would go alone and pray. I would lay on my face in the grass (I remember rainy days when the rain would be falling around me and the grass would be soaked). These were precious hours of intimacy with my heavenly Father that I would not trade for all the riches of the world.
Library
By far the most important building in my college career was the library. I spent hours in the library: talking to Jenny, but, mainly reading. It was at Western's library that I first discovered the doctrines of grace (Calvinism) by reading Charles Spurgeon's autobiography, and Augustine's writings. To this day, the quiet rooms of the library, filled with theology, biographies, English literature, etc. is one of my favorite places. It is where the life of the mind came alive to me; it is where I discovered that I loved philosophy and english lit and most of all theology. I can still find books in the library where my name appears on the libary card 3 to 4 times. On Fridays I would carry an armful of library books to my room for weekend reading. Here I also discovered by passion for books.
Chapel
Chapel attendance was required. I heard many sermons during my four years of college. I can't remember much of what was said, though I'm sure that there were many great sermons preached. But the chapel is special to me for another reason. My best friends at college - Scott Miller and Mike Mellison (I need to include in this Kyle Liedtke, though he wasn't part of the preaching band) - and I began a preaching forum. Each Wednesday night we would gather together and one of us preached a sermon. Than, after the sermon we would all go down to the "Manna Shop" (a little coffee, food shop on campus) and purchase milkshakes, and tear each other's sermons apart. We always critiqued each other with gentleness and always over milkshakes. Eventually others began to attend the Wednesday gatherings until we had a small congregation of some 15 folks on Wednesday nights. Mike now serves as the Administrator at Redeemer Indy and Scott pastors Willamette Community Church in Albany, OR.
Baseball Field
Part of the reason I came to Western was to play baseball for Coach "Raz" (Rasmussen). He was a gentle, spiritually minded man, who is one of the most godly, faithful men I've known. Western revived its baseball program (NAIA) in the year that I began (1987). So that year we had all freshman and two sophmore players. We didn't have a baseball field either. So it was a tough couple of years. We lost all our games, but three, our Freshman year. My best friend in college, Scott Miller, played second base. I was a utility player. One game against Willamette my Freshman year I played 1st, 3rd, LF, CF and RF (to allow our outfielders to pitch). Eventually, though, Western built a beautiful field on campus. It was completed my brother Jed's Senior Year (his team played their last doubleheader on the field). I had the privilege in helping build the field (I operated a backhoe). One of my great distinctions in life is that I was operating the backhoe when I somehow managed to tip it over; as it slowly fell (it felt like slow motion) I grabbed the steel roll bars and managed to keep from getting crushed.
What are the significance of places?
I don't believe that their are "sacred places" that somehow lock God's presence in. But I do believe that the Holy, Personal God meets us, specially, uniquely, in places. They are "thin places" where we experience God's glory, love, power in special ways.
God is not "in" the place. But God meets us there. I thank God for the "thin place" that was Western Baptist College from 1987-1991 in my life.
