Welcome home

By Zekariah McNeal

Welcome home was the phrase that many of us heard in the first week we were back on campus at Oklahoma Christian University.

For freshmen, that certainly must have been an odd phrase to hear when moving in to a brand new place. “Welcome home? I just left home.”

You’re in a new room with new roommates, new lights, new floors, new walls and a new place to eat that is not your dining room table. You’re far from home, yet a sign says to you, “Welcome Home.” You say to yourself, “There must be something about this whole leaving home thing I’m missing because apparently I’m back.”

Now, it’s been a little over a week since the semester began. You’ve became acquainted with a few students, teachers, classes, the cafeteria and your room. Things are brand new and very different, but it is my hope and prayer that you’ve found things here welcoming. I hope that somewhere along the way, you’ve been able to honestly say to yourself that you believe you’ve found a home here. If you haven’t yet, there are still many weeks in this semester for this community to be so welcoming to you that you can call this home. I hope those weeks are fulfilled in that way.

I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity to be the president of this incredible student body this year, and I have great hope for this community to thrive throughout the year. The opportunity we have on this campus to support each other emotionally, physically, relationally and spiritually is something unique. It’s truly something special and I hope we take advantage of it.

This year, the campus has pooled its efforts to put together a team to be the Student Government Association. That team is full of passionate leaders who truly hope to make this place somewhere each and every student can grow. We have hopes to improve the campus facilities, offer opportunities for students to delve into spiritual matters, initiate fun activities the entire campus can participate in, and be supporters and enablers of every effort by which students seek to grow. So if you have an idea, approach us about it. We want you to make it happen.

This student body has world-changers in it. And, yes, changing the world can start right here on this campus. Also, let me correct a lie for you. These world-changers are probably not the people who stand in front of podiums or wear suits. World-changers are often not the popular, the well-known, or the most liked. These world-changers are the sidewalk smilers, the book sharers, the invite-a-friend-over-for-a-movie-ers, the friends; the kind words on rainy days, the warm hugs in the bitter wind.

These world-changers are ordinary because they aren’t the source of changing the world. It’s God. And He’s proven himself over and over again to do extraordinary things through ordinary people living their ordinary lives quite ordinarily for Him.

So however ordinary today or tomorrow is for you, know that something extraordinary is happening when you partake in the community that allows people to preposterously and audaciously say something like, “welcome home” to someone who just left home. Something’s changed when someone says something like that. Something is odd. Something is different. That difference is often you, you little world-changer. So keep it up.

Let’s make Oklahoma Christian campus an amazing place for every person who sets foot on it. Happy Fall 2014!

Zekariah McNeal is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University and president of the Student Government Association