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不仅仅是棒球和GPA：威尼斯人平台大学如何改变了我和我的家庭
My aspirations when going to 威尼斯人平台 were very much to play baseball and stay above a 2.5 GPA. 这就是我的目标。 However, after my first semester, the Covenant culture got a hold of me in a way I can't really explain. I realized that the people I was around enjoyed learning and the professors actually took the time to get to know their students, which was surprising because of the college stories I'd heard from friends who went to state schools where that wasn't typical. As time went on, my GPA went up significantly, but also my desire to gain and retain knowledge increased as well. A lot of that was because of the community of professors and my peers cared about me in ways I'd never experienced before.
热爱学习
我认为《威尼斯人平台》在这方面做得很好，那就是教会学生热爱学习。 In fact, senior year I was looking for an “easy” elective to take and somehow ended up taking Bioethics. Two friends of mine who were both training to be doctors convinced me it’d be fun, so I ended up being one of three non-bio majors in the class as a sports management major and double minor in business and sociology. Yet, it was in Bioethics that I saw the beauty of God in a whole new way. I got to see God's people, my peers, think so deeply and so caringly about others. Some of the terminology, never having really taken a philosophy class before, even a biology class, was lost on me, but I could still see the care in how everyone discussed really tough subjects. Now I tell people it was my most fun and interesting class. Never in a million years would high school Noah have said “I want to take bioethics.” But now I would say it was one of the most influential classes during my time there because it got me thinking about the world in a new way.
深度讨论挑战
我喜欢在威尼斯人平台上课的另一件事是讨论。 I came from a Classical Conversations background, so I was trained to learn by asking a hundred questions. I had professors actually encourage me to ask all the questions and classmates who didn't think I was weird for doing that. Of course, sometimes class discussion could be a little one-sided in the way that everyone in the room was a confessing believer. For the most part, in every classroom at Covenant you're going to have people who are authentically trying to find Jesus and love Jesus. However, even though that is the pursuit, that doesn't mean we always get it right.
For example, in the Bioethics course, Dr. Bill Davis has his students read the most used medical textbook, so what most secular universities read, but apply the biblical worldview so they can understand where the other side's coming from. This challenges the students to not be in a bubble, and I think Dr. Davis did a great job of leading our class to think outside of our familiar, comfortable Christian worldview by asking questions like, “How are we going to love those who are hard to love because they are different from us?” 的re is a lot of beauty in having a classroom conversation where the professors try to get students to think about those things and challenge us. This love of learning and of deep, challenging discussion that I was given at Covenant changed my life, not only from an academic standpoint, but it changed my life on a very personal level by changing my family.
为我父的救恩负重担
在成长过程中，我有幸拥有一个充满爱的家庭。 My parents are caring, my siblings are my best friends, and overall I had a fulfilling childhood. However, there was one big omission: my family did not go to church. My dad had walked away from the faith while my mom was still a believer. This created a quiet conflict and an ever-present awkwardness in my home surrounding topics of faith. Even though I did not attend church regularly growing up, I still considered myself a Christian and professed Jesus as my Savior, mostly due to my mom’s efforts.
When I was 17 years old and driving independently, I found a local congregation and for the first time in my life began to regularly attend church. Yet, the absence of family was ever present. I could feel this anxiety like a splinter in my chest when I thought of the chance that I may not see my dad in heaven. This pain was hard to carry so I tried my best to ignore it. Little did I know God would use a small Christian school on a mountain to change everything.
因表达我的信仰而被定罪
In my first year at Covenant, I began noticing my ability to articulate my beliefs was improving. 的 classes, chapel, and discussions regarding sanctification or the different views of creation over meals in the cafeteria all contributed to this. When I went home, I would share this excitement with my family around the dinner table, telling them about what I had learned. Time passed and I continued to share my Covenant experiences with my family. During my sophomore year, I started taking Christian Doctrine 1 and 2 with Dr. Clifton Ward. 的se classes captured my attention and wrangled my understanding of theological study. I had a newfound confidence in my theological vocabulary and the ability to explain what I believe and why I believe it.
One day, I remember getting ready to end a phone conversation with my mom when she told me that my father was saying he wanted to try a local church and they were planning to go together as a family. 在我的困惑中，我记得我突然挂断了电话。 But, as I learned later, the Lord had deeply used all those phone calls, dinner conversations, papers I may have had my mom check over, and the recounting of my day-to-day activities to reach my dad and encourage my family.
的 next time I visited, I did what I often do when home: I sat with my dad and talked—but this time we talked about God. My dad told me he was impressed by how seriously I took my faith during college and that my excitement had rubbed off on him. In between ESPN highlights on TV, my dad and I really for the first time had a serious conversation about faith. It was wonderful to hear my dad talk about the church they had visited and—because of the Covenant community—I was able to answer questions I could have never answered before. Looking back now, I can see all the little steps the Lord led me on as well as my dad. 看到神的计划展开是令人惊奇和谦卑的。 I am thankful to God for His ever-flowing mercy and that he was able to use me and what I learned at Covenant to bring my dad to a saving faith. I remember watching my dad get baptized, in awe of what the Lord accomplished. 的 hug my dad and I shared after that is something I will never forget because the anxiety I previously had melted away, replaced by a reassurance that I will see my dad in heaven.
对好牧人充满感激
我感谢上帝，因为他做了一些小事，使我的家人归向他。 I am thankful to the Covenant community for provoking my interests and supplying students and professors who helped and are continuing to help me dive deeper into my faith. I now enjoy going to church with my family when I am home and hearing about how they are serving as active members. 上帝的确是一位好上帝！
当我从威尼斯人平台毕业的时候，我已经不是刚开始的那个学生了。 Covenant College fostered that love of learning and gave me a true appreciation for a Christ-centered education, an appreciation that truly has eternal significance to me and my family. 我希望我们家的故事表明上帝是主角。 He used phone calls, dinner conversations, and a school on top of a mountain in Georgia to bring His children back to Himself. 他真是个好牧人！
作者简介:
Noah Sweatman毕业于古典对话学院和威尼斯人平台。 He is now an admissions counselor at 威尼斯人平台, equipping high school students to navigate the college decision process, and he considers it a privilege to walk alongside high schoolers as they make the big decision and find what the Lord is calling them to pursue.