Columbia Street Thinking Express Volume 060

Exams are complete. No more paying UW tuition. No more moving a bunch of furniture around every four months. So this is what it feels like to finally be a UW alumni. Four years and four months living in the City of Waterloo and at one point living here for two years straight. I come back to the Greater Toronto Area and so much has changed to the point that I ask of places and restaurants and people look at me with a strange expression and say those places closed for a while. I have to reacquaint myself with the city again.

When I look back at all my years at the University of Waterloo, I deeply analyze how much I have changed since my frosh year. There are the obvious answers of age, family, and personal wisdom. But I have to include all the things I count as lost and what I have gained in its place. If I was given the chance to travel back to my frosh year and redo the next few years again, it would be very tempting but I would lose all the valuable lessons I picked up along the journey with some learned the very hard way.

I shared at the CCF end of term sharing night about how all sisters of the fellowship are of value to the Kingdom and to their heavenly Father above. I explicitly shared Matthew 6:26 (NIV) to accentuate my point. Over the many terms attending UWCCF, I have heard countless heartbreaking stories from several sisters of how they battle with self-worth, low self-esteem, unresolved resentment towards parental figures, or being used by relatives and boyfriends. To all the ladies out there, if only you knew how much self-respect all of you should really have and not tolerate with mistreatment, the world would be a very different place.

To my fellow brothers fighting the good fight, we have got to step up and be men rather than remaining as indecisive boys. The reason why so many of our sisters give us heck for not taking up leadership roles or serving in ministry is that they are frustrated at the lack of a masculine influence. They want to see their brothers be warriors who will lead and because they are waiting for us to make the move to court them. Some of you won’t like this part: I believe most sisters want to date real men, not boys. When we as brothers seize the reigns, then maybe the criticism from our sisters will lessen and will desire that we pursue.  Our sisters should be comfortable and safe at CCF because they know they are in the company of 50-60 brothers who will protect them from any psychotic man looking to cause trouble.

To the younger generation of CCFers everywhere, this is now your fellowship and your turn to rise up and become the salt and light on campuses everywhere. In particular for UW, last year will be the last graduating class to be born in the 1980s. From then on it will be a pure 1990s fellowship. Take everything we have shared with you and let that become your base. So that you can rise higher in leaps and bounds beyond what we could have hoped to accomplish.

Now to everyone else, I will share in point form the accumulation of what I learned and what I wish people can take away from this to enrich their own personal growth and journey.

• Explore the campus, you will be surprised to find many interesting places, a cool spot to study, or the people you will meet
• Do not be picky of jobs that sound below you for co-op. I could not find a placement in my first work term and so I did a sales rep job selling kitchen cutlery (Cutco!). The experiences I obtained there helped me to land future co-op opportunities including one manager hiring me because I did something most students are too proud to try.
• Join campus clubs, job information sessions, and attend distinguished lectures to enrich your university experience
• When people suggest Arts courses when some amazing lecturers, take it! Some of the most fulfilling academic learning I have ever
• Take ECON with Larry Smith, Geoff Malleck, Kevin Hood, and Anindya Sen
• MUSIC with Simon Wood, PSCI with Kathleen Nolan
• Please join a fellowship as soon as possible in your frosh and get involved. I did not got until my 3A term and I wished I had found this second family sooner
• Be open to other viewpoints but stand for what you truly believe is right, even if it might alienate you from classmates
• Do not be afraid to say NO to your roommates or colleagues plan to do something that you know is wrong
• I believe university, not high school, is a stage of life where you define and shape yourself for the future. Continue to growth and be not afraid of mistakes. If you fall, the LORD will help pick you up and get you on your way again.
• Be accountable away from home. We think we have so much freedom away from parents, but the temptation to mess up is so great, hence why you need brothers and sisters to keep you sane and out of trouble.
• Eat, sleep, pray, and do everything in moderation. You are less effective writing an exam on a very empty stomach and no sleep in the past 48 hours.
• Appreciate every moment of university/college. For the first few years I so wanted to get out of UW. But the closer it got to my last term, I started to feel like time flew by and I will miss the campus, the city, and the people.

Some of my worst and best memories are here at UW and I would not trade them for anything else anywhere else. I think 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) sums that up quite nicely. Congratulations to my fellow graduating brothers, sisters, and colleagues. And to everyone else still in university/college, the best is yet to come!

Do not punch the cow.

Huntz

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