Confuse a Freshman= Priceless

I don't know what I expected when Kaben waltzed into my freshman dorm room.   

It was my first week of college, and my roommate and I were sitting in our dorm room doing nothing in particular. Kaben and his friend TJ were saying hi to their sophomore friends who lived down the hall from us.

Our door was open, so they knocked, introduced themselves, and started a conversation. We talked about the pictures on my wall and the sticker I had from a Christian conference I attended with my youth group.

Kaben was a junior and already had a solid group of friends. Yet he was walking around the dorms talking to freshmen like me. Why?

He could have passed our door to the next room with friends he knew. He could have spent all his time with friends closer to his age. He could have invested only in people who were as mature as he was. But he didn't, and I am entirely grateful for that. 

Being invited into an upperclassmen's life is invaluable.

There was so much that I learned just from watching Kaben's life: the initiative required for community as he opened his home and constantly invited people over, the value of discipleship as he met with numerous young men in the fellowship year after year, and his commitment to resolving conflict.

These are things that a college freshman can eventually learn from his or her peers. But there is something different about watching and learning from someone a few years older than you, who has been where you are, and whose choices can serve as examples to you.

Kaben showed me what Christian community could be.

The start of every academic year fills up very quickly, and you're probably eager to catch up with all your friends. But as the campus and your fellowship is filled with new students, don't dismiss the possibility of inviting a freshman into your life.

Chances are, you are ready to walk alongside someone as she or he figures out what faith in college looks like.

Confuse a freshman this year and invite them into your life. Let them learn from you as you seek to follow Jesus, and God will teach them in ways that you could have never planned for.

Audrey Puah is a campus staff with InterVarsity at Sacramento State in California. She graduated from University of the Pacific in Stockton in Civil Engineering. Her top 'likes' (amongst many) include people, problem solving, and photography.