In response to Ginny’s June 9th question, I definitely have. And I believe that things would be very different had I not gone to Alabama.

First, the decision I made to come to Alabama as an undergraduate had not only an effect on me, but I believe my sister as well. I could be wrong, but I believe that Brianna decided to attend Alabama in part because I had decided to go there. Among other life-changing events, she met her future husband there. Had I not gone, she might never have. Of course, that’s all speculation.

It’s possible that I wouldn’t have become a Baptist if I had not gone to Alabama, simply because if I had never gone to Alabama, I would have never met the people who asked me one cold January night in a Baptist church that I was attending for the first time if I was interested in coming to the Baptist Campus Ministries. Based upon that, I might never have started attending Ozark Baptist Church back home.

I certainly wouldn’t have met many of the friends that I came to know through the BCM, including, of course, my best friend. I wouldn’t have had my heart broken in some relationships, because those relationships would never have existed. One would expect that to happen no matter what college I had attended. Specifics are the key here. The lessons learned are slightly different as a result of the situation that I was in.

As a graduate student going to Alabama, I had the pleasure of making more BCM and MBA-related friends and strengthening the bonds with those I already had for a couple more years. I met people that I looked up to while looking down at them. (Cryptic enough for you? It’s really not, if you think about it.)

How would things be different if I had gone somewhere else? There’s no good way to know, of course. I’d surely have a completely different set of friends, but I’d like to believe that I’d be as loyal to them as I believe that I am to the ones that I have now. I might be married right now, and working somewhere instead of preparing for one more round of grad school.

And on that line of thought, one could extrapolate this question easily. If I had made the choice to say, go to Texas A&M or Oklahoma instead of Florida, what would be different? There’s no way to know, for I don’t know yet what’s going to happen to me in my four years in Gainesville. I certainly hope to make friends there. I may meet my future wife. I may decide that Gainesville’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and stay down there. Everything I type is accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders.

I will say this much: I believe that if God meets you where you are, that means that if you’re willing, he can use you no matter where you’ve gone. I enjoyed my six years at Alabama. The memories aren’t all good, but anyone saying otherwise about their experiences is either fooling or not challenging themselves.

I believe that I will do the best I can to do the same at Florida, and wherever I go afterward. And if I trust in God and follow Him, I believe that He will meet me where I am.