Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

In my life I have been affiliated with only three colleges -- Missouri State University (then known as SMSU) for my bachelor's degree, University of Missouri Columbia (fondly known as Mizzou) for graduate school and now Missouri Southern State University for employment. Their mascots are lions (MSSU), tigers (Mizzou) and bears (MSU). Thinking about my time at each place, I realize I learned a lot about myself at each university. I went from small town living in rural Missouri where my graduating class was 65 people (mostly people I had nothing in common with) to the very large campus of Missouri State University. I went from feeling like a square peg in a round hole to finding that I wasn't the only person like me in the world. Other people liked to read books. Other people didn't drink themselves stupid every night. Other people had quirky dry senses of humor and actually understood my jokes. Suddenly I realized that I was pretty okay just the way I was and no longer had to work so hard to try to fit into that small town life from which I had come. That message became even clearer at Mizzou where my eyes were opened up to all sorts of qualities I never realized about myself. I moved to a place where I knew exactly zero other people and by the time I left I had gained friends who are still in my life today. I learned that I actually enjoy public speaking and that I can make a crowd laugh. I also learned that I actually have creative "muscles" that I enjoy flexing from time to time. Mizzou gave me an abundance of skills outside of my degree and I believe God used the very liberal Mizzou to show me how He had shaped me for ministry. I've worked a few places and lived a lot of life in between Mizzou and Missouri Southern. I haven't been at Missouri Southern long enough to learn very many lessons about myself, but I know that I am learning to trust in God's sovereignty and to wait upon the Lord. I have learned a ton from the tigers and bears, so I guess we'll see what lessons time will bring here amongst the lions.