A Dwelling Place
Hi, welcome to Fuller's blog site. I hope that you will find this information and our reflections helpful as you discern the next step for your life. I'm looking forward to sharing various aspects of my journey through Fuller and as I now navigate the waters of life after Fuller.
I moved out to California two years ago to embark on an adventure called Master's of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy. I traveled over 1300 miles to get here and moved into the apartment that became my home for the last two years. I lived in Fuller's Trinity Community and experienced some amazingly rich blessings that come from people who have decided not to merely live next door to one another, but to dwell with one another.
I experienced countless non-academic lessons thorughout my time at Fuller, and "doing" community is one of them. I learned that community takes an intentional commitment to meet together regularly and invest in each other's lives. During the first few months, as we got to know each other as neighbors friendships were cultivated, and over the years, they deepened. We started watching various TV shows together as a way to stay connected amidst our busy school-work-life schedules. Invariably food was involved; we'd bring our own snacks or a bag of chips to share.
One evening, a few of us were sitting around talking and we decided it would be really cool if we created a more organized time and place for the sharing of food and fellowship. So we began our tradition of Sunday night pot-luck dinners which included about 15-20 neighbors and friends on any given Sunday. This became one of the favorite moments in the week for most of us as it was a time to kick back, soak up conversation, play games, laugh together, pray for one another and eat really amazing home-cooked meals!
Many of us from that group graduated this past June and had to move out of Fuller housing. As a way to commemorate our precious time together, we put together a "yearbook" of photos from our dinners and activities together and made a "soundtrack" of each of our favorite songs. These tangible tokens are a sweet reminder of what it meant for us to invest in each other's lives over the last two years. Furthermore, these reminders serve to challenge me as I think about how to do community now that I live in a new place not surrounded by fellow students.
As I reflect on my experience with Fuller's residential community, I see how God placed me in rich and fertile soil so that I could take root, grow and be nourished by life-giving relationships. We had wonderful, loving, and servant-hearted community coordinators who set the tone for how we dwelled together. I enjoyed such a wonderful sense of security knowing who my neighbors were, knowing that there were people around looking out for me, knowing people who were available for conversations, and knowing who had a blender to borrow! We had something rare, something precious. And I know that none of it just happened. We basked in that glorious gift because we made it a priority in our lives to invest in one another.
For me, coming to Fuller was not only daunting academically but was with respect to community as well. I knew I would be leaving a church and a group of friends that I had loved and served for several years. I had moved to new places on my own before and knew it would take some time and effort to feel connected here in a fulfilling way. And it did; it wasn't easy at first, but just as a farmer is faithful to sow seeds without knowing how much he will harvest, so too I strived to be faithful in investing in relationships and in my community...and what a sweet harvest we reaped!
I encourage you, as you consider Fuller, to be courageous in trusting in God's faithfulness to provide--not just for the finances to pay tuition, or for strength to endure the rigors of your program, or for good schools for your children, or for a job for your self or a spouse, but that you would also entrust your need for meaningful and fulfilling friendships and community to him. He is not only faithful to provide, but abundant in his giving!