Hey guys!
My name is Thomas Dean, from the beautiful state of Colorado, and I’ve been given one of the greatest opportunities. In September of 2015, I get the chance, along with many other guys and gals my age, to go and spread God’s love to three different regions of the world.
I’m going to start with what brought me here and that’ll take me back to about the beginning of high school. As a freshmen, I, like many, did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. One thing that was for certain though, whatever I chose to study, it would be at the University of Wisconsin. I couldn’t quite explain why I had such a strong desire to go there, but it was certainly something I would’ve never said no to. There was something about that beautiful Madison town, with that raw college atmosphere. My friends joked along with me, as they too were clueless as to why I loved that school so much, but still, I knew that I had to go there. As the years went on, I began to take school more and more serious, with one goal in mind, and I got to the point where anything less than an A simply would not suffice.
Spiritually, it wasn’t until my Junior year that I really began to explore what my faith meant to me. That wasn’t to say that I had laid my life down for Christ, but there was a little spark in me that got the fire going. None the less, when senior year rolled around and it was time to apply for school, there was only one place on my mind, and that was Wisconsin. I had gotten my GPA to a point where I was confident enough, and my ACT score was higher than their average, so I thought I’d be a shoe in.
Come December, the 23rd to be specific, I finally got that email. The University had emailed me saying that my admission decision was available online and within two minutes I was ready to look at my fate. Postponed. What? Why would they postpone my decision? There’s no way I wouldn’t get accepted. That single email rocked my world just enough to get me thinking about other possibilities. I still thought I’d get accepted, but it was time to look into other options. Previously that week, I was accepted into Baylor University, a school that I had no business in applying to in the first place. So I looked into that a little more, but my heart still remained in Madison, Wisconsin.
It’s hard for me to put into words my feelings on an average night in March, when I was out eating dinner with my family, and I got that final email with the last decision on my admission. I stepped out of the restaurant to read the email, and what I saw was nowhere near what I hoped for. The school I had dreamed of, the life I had planned, was no longer an option. I was a little too upset to bring it up with my family that night, and I took some time to decide what was next. What I didn’t recognize at the time was that God had closed that door on me, knowing that if it were open, I would’ve gone through it without hesitation. Had I chosen that path, I would’ve found myself with an empty lifestyle, and with my back turned to God.
Over spring break, I felt a hefty amount of pressure. All my friends had already destined a plan for themselves, they all had chosen their schools and taken the necessary steps towards leaving, but I was still in a bubble of uncertainty. So, on a whim, I decided to go to Baylor. My lukewarm faith at the time had me thinking something like this “well it’s a Christian school which will give me good fellowship and the scholarships they offer are competitive with an in-state school.”
Finally, I had made a decision and I had some direction, something I felt was so lacking. The closer it came to my move-out, the more comfortable I came with that decision. Why? Because Baylor resembled Wisconsin in so many ways; sure it was a Christian school, but with a student body over 16,000, that label doesn’t speak as much as you’d think.
It wasn’t until exactly one month prior to my move-out date that I was left at home in my thought. I had been terribly sick for a week or two and I took that time as a great opportunity to communicate with God. It has never been clearer to me that there was something a little better that He had planned for me, and that it was time for me to allow for Him to make those decisions, not me.
I never paid my first semester dues and ended up staying at home; pursuing a life that God had chosen for me. Still, I had no clue what that looked like and the unknown had me nervous as always, I was in constant prayer that the Lord would reveal his plan for me and that I would follow, no matter where He called. One thing kept on popping up, since November of 2015. The World Race. Of course, I had read about that months ago, I should’ve answered the call then.
Instantly, I knew. I patiently waited and will continue to do so, knowing that there is reason and purpose in these coming months as I wait to depart, but I finally have that direction I had craved, and it’s his direction.
