and-coming fields. As a result, our graduates move across various spheres of influence throughout our community, country and around the world ultimately carrying their faith into more places that sorely need the light.
As the university continues to change and grow, perhaps the saddest change of all is when I look around and note the faces that are missing. Tere are many, many faithful souls who have given sweat, tears, and blood, sometimes literal as well as metaphorical, to keep the institution going. Tere are others who worked just as hard and sacrificed just as much, whose partings from the institution were painful and difficult. Sometimes all we can do is mourn, and remember, and keep on working to honor the legacy left by these faithful ones.
Te cost of all this change has not been borne by just a few individuals, but by everyone involved in the institution during the transition years. Anyone
pains of growing, moving, and changing are cast in a golden light. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was worth it.
For me, and I suspect for all of us who have given of our lives, there is one single thing that has made it worthwhile: not the impressive new campus, not the increased prestige, not the growth in size. Te task of this institution is now, and always has been, to transform the lives of students for Jesus Christ. Much as it was in the days when Bryce was a student, later when I was a student, and today, the experience of an education at this institution leaves us forever different. I am sure that from the first years of the school, up until this very day, members of the student body still experience some of the most difficult moments of their lives while in college. For example, the death of loved ones, the heartbreak of a romantic relationship expected to last forever or challenges to faith as they grow and develop.
The task of this institution is now, and always has been, to transform the lives of students for Jesus Christ.
who was at Bryce’s “come to Jesus” meeting where students vented about the frustrations of the move, or who were part of the remnant left behind with me in San Jose, or who feared the “slippery slope” of the college losing its Christian mission, will know that those days were not easy.
Te sacrifices go back many years before. If you don’t know Bryce Jessup’s childhood story about his family eating baby food to make ends meet while his father established the college, then ask him sometime. One of the graces that our Father grants to us is to be able to see the past from a different perspective than the one we had when we were going through hard times. And from the “city on a hill” that is the beautiful new Jessup campus, the
However, I also know that students at Jessup still experience some of the best moments of their lives. Renewing their faith, or even coming to faith for the first time; learning to live in community; being mentored by a faculty or staff member or older student; developing a faith of their own instead of depending on the faith of their parents; finding life purpose, lifelong relationships, and sometimes a life partner. All of the late nights and intellectual stretching and interpersonal conflicts and life lessons and deep questions—all are worth it as part of the journey to become who we are supposed to be. SJBC/SJCC/WJU has been and continues to be an essential part of that journey for countless students.
26 | JESSUP MAGAZINE
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