Yesterday was a big day! Abby and Nate both graduated from Boyce College—each with a Bachelor of Science (with Abby focusing on biblical counseling and Nate focusing on business). Years ago I began the tradition of interviewing my children when they finish high school and, with Abby now finishing up college, I thought I’d extend the tradition. So here are her thoughts on her college choices and experiences.
Four years ago you chose to go to Boyce College. Why did you choose Boyce? And four years later, how do you feel about that decision?
I chose to attend Boyce College after visiting Nick at a Preview Day. It was the first and only college I ended up visiting. The Preview Day was fun and informative, but spending time with my brother and his friends is what pushed me to choose Boyce. Seeing the friendships he had made and meeting other students showed me that Boyce was where I wanted to be. Attending public school up until college meant that I didn’t have many Christian friends, and I was really drawn to the kind of community that Boyce offered. Four years later I wouldn’t change a thing about my decision. I have loved my time at Boyce and I have made friendships that I know will last for years to come (not to mention I met Nate). I have grown in my faith and my knowledge of the Lord and have loved the last four years.
You originally enrolled in the communications program at Boyce but then switched to biblical counseling. Why did you eventually settle on counseling?
Honestly, I started at Boyce not really knowing what I wanted to do or major in. I went into my freshman year with an “undecided major” but working toward the communications program. I took my first communications class and knew right away that it wasn’t for me. At the same time, I had received some counseling after Nick passed away and I decided that I wanted to help people the way that I had been helped by the counselors the Lord placed in my life. I have now graduated with my degree in biblical counseling and hope that the Lord will use me to help point others to Him.
You chose to go to a Christian college after attending a public high school (and having a fairly good experience there). What was that contrast like?
The high school I attended did not have any other Christians that I knew of. Because of that, moving to a place where everyone professes to be a believer was a pretty crazy difference. It felt as though I could relax. I have made my closest friends in the last four years. Having friends who will pray with you, will ask you about your walk with the Lord, and that you sit next to in church, was life-changing and it showed me just how important Christian community is.
It was also such a change to have professors who sang hymns before class began or prayed with their students before a test. Instead of going into class knowing I was going to have to filter everything I was taught as I did in high school, I could go into class trusting the professors, knowing they ultimately wanted me to grow in my walk with the Lord.
What were some of the highlights of your college experience? Were there any negatives (and, if so, what)?
I think in some ways my college experience was a bit unusual. I entered into my freshman year during the height of COVID, which meant lots of adaptations and regulations that would not have been in place otherwise. It made settling into college life (and life in a new country) difficult and brought its own challenges. However, it also led me to become fast friends with the girls on my hall who are still my closest friends four years later. The friends I have made and all the different people I have met over these four years are definitely one of my top highlights. The professors who teach here love their students so much and really want the best for everyone they teach. Learning from them has truly been a blessing. College is a unique, fun, and short season of life and I loved my experience. But, the biggest highlight is Nate who I met during our time at Boyce!
I chose to go back to school the next semester after Nick died. That was a tough challenge. It was hard to leave my family and head back south. But, the Lord was so kind to sustain me through that time and I can see the evidences of his grace in the people he placed in my life.
What kind of person should consider attending Boyce College in the future?
I think any believer who is thinking about college should consider attending Boyce. Often, people think that schools like Boyce are only for people who feel called to pursue active ministry, but I don’t think that that’s the case. Anyone who wants to be surrounded by fellow believers for their college years, and learn from some of the best of the best professors should think about attending Boyce! You’ll love it—trust me.
Now that you have completed your degree, what’s next?
Next, Nate and I are moving back to the Toronto area and he will begin a new job in June. I am hoping to continue toward my ACBC certification once we arrive back in Ontario. I think for the most part we are going to enjoy being graduates and settling into our new home! It will be a change of pace and a new environment for us, but we are looking forward to it. We are also sad to leave Louisville behind, but thank the Lord for our time here and the blessings we have been given. It is a blessing to have things that we are sad to leave behind!

The five friends

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

Westminster Books has a discount on a new book that looks excellent.
There are a few new Kindle deals today.
The World that Money Makes Go Round
“The economically inactive, we are told, are a hazard to the economy—although no one can quite bring themselves to say they’re doing anything wrong. They’re perhaps just a bit thoughtless as to how their leisure impacts others around them, like an old man in a speedo or an aloof housecat refusing to come inside when you want to lock up for the night.” Rhys Laverty considers the phrase “economically inactive.”
Fortnite Creative 2.0 Might Change Everything
“It is closest thing we’ve seen to a metaverse, and it arrives Wednesday.” Chris Martin explains why it’s such a big deal.
Do we have free will? (Video)
Do we have free will? Michael Reeves answers.
March
“March is that in-between month, when winter struggles to make space for spring. When too-early buds appear only to freeze. When snowstorms out of the north give way to thunderstorms rising from the south. Coats are exchanged for jackets and then sweaters, only to be replaced by coats again. And our spirits, still living in February’s Lent, lean forward to glimpse April’s Easter through the unremarkable month of March.”
The Gift of Friends Who Know Their Bible
I very much agree with this! “What a gift it is to have friends who know their Bible—friends who can gently correct us when we err, remind us of great truths when we live lies, encourage us to greater depths when we plateau, and model life under the authority of God’s word.”
I Always Feel the Worst Sunday Night, or How to Pray for Your Pastor
“I believe that preaching is more than just a man standing on a stage presenting truth. I have taught classes, done presentations in classes, even defended my master’s thesis and did not feel this exhausted and depressed. I believe that preaching is war. Preaching is exhausting on a spiritual level, not just physical and emotional.”
Flashback: 8 Ways God Turns Temptations to Blessings
Just as a tree which is blown by the wind is settled and rooted deeper into the ground, the coming of a temptation simply settles the Christian deeper into divine grace. Here are eight ways God brings good from temptation.

The universe is big. Why? To say something to us about the God who made it—He is bigger. —Steve DeWitt

Imagine that you are sitting in a prison cell. This is not some posh or even stark 21st-century prison cell, but a primitive Roman one. Your back is pressed against cold stones. Your stomach is aching with hunger. Your nose is assaulted by terrible smells. Your heart is filled with despair. You know your death must be fast approaching.

And then, somewhere off in the distance you begin to hear the sound of singing. You realize this song is not coming from outside the walls but from within, not from visitors but from inmates. As you listen you realize these were the men who were dragged in the previous evening, men who were arrested, beaten, and jailed for freeing a woman from oppression and professing the name of Jesus Christ. You realize that their song is a kind of dirge, a complaint against man and God alike. In a minor key it expresses frustration with God for these circumstances and pronounces curses on their enemies. It blames God for failing to prevent this expression of his providence and tiptoes perilously close to cursing his name. Though you had heard of this God and been intrigued by some of what you had learned, you can now feel your interest waning and your heart turning.

But we should stop and rewrite our story a little bit because this is not what happened in Acts 16 where we read of Paul and Silas being accosted and assaulted and imprisoned. Though they had done nothing worse than free a woman from oppression, they were severely flogged and confined to the darkest of dungeons—the very place I’ve told you to imagine yourself. And in that dungeon they began to pray and sing—to sing songs that flowed out of their love for their God, their confidence in his gospel, and their hope in his purposes. Let’s pick up our corrected version of this story.

Somewhere off in the distance you begin to hear the sound of singing. You realize that this song is not a dirge, not a complaint, not an imprecation, but a song of praise, a song of joy, a song of triumph. It is not in a minor key but a major key and tells not of defeat but of victory. Along with the other prisoners you listen, some perhaps out of mere curiosity but surely others because they are intrigued. When so many inmates have turned their back on their god, why do these men continue to express their love for theirs? And what is it in these dark circumstances that compels them to continue to trust him and continue to sing his praises? As you listen, you feel your heart stirring, your sorrows lifting, your hope rising.

There is something holy, something attractive, something magnetic about those who praise God in their sorrows Share

There is something holy, something attractive, something magnetic about those who praise God in their sorrows, about those who sing songs in the night and praise God in the darkest of valleys. In fact, I believe eternity will prove that often the reason God has seen fit to permit such sorrows is that he means for his people to prove to a skeptical world and to wavering saints alike that faith can survive the greatest of shocks, that love for God will endure even the greatest of losses, that God’s people ultimately love him for who he is, not for what he has given them. God means for his people to prove that they will love him whatever his providence dictates and however it directs.

So this is the sacred calling given to those who suffer—to lift trembling hands, to raise tear-stained eyes, to sing with wavering voice, to praise God as much in taking as in the giving. This is the sacred calling that proclaims that love for God will survive any trial. This is the sacred calling that brings great glory to his name.