Monday, December 22, 2008

A leap of faith.

Corban
A Hebrew word adopted into the Greek of the New Testament and left untranslated. It occurs only once (Mar 7:11). It means a gift or offering consecrated to God. Anything over which this word was once pronounced was irrevocably dedicated to the temple.


Taylor and I went to Corban today.

Corban is a small (tiny) College in Salem; A Baptist, faith-centered liberal arts school.

Taylor wanted to go to a school where he could play baseball, where he could build some life-long relationships, set a course for his life, and be at a place where he CHOSE to be, rather than somewhere he ended up because there was nothing better.

Corban needed a catcher with a bat. One of their assistants is a crosschecker for a major league team, and has had Taylor in his radar since early high school. They have offered Taylor an opportunity in the past, but something else always came up: Florida and FIU, Oregon State, Taylor's tendency to overthink things. This time, they offered at a time when it gave him some time to think, time to mull things over, learn a little about the school, and do a little soul-searching about what he wanted out of the next few years. And learn a little bit about himself.

So the leap was taken. Sight unseen, they offered him a financial package too good to pass up (Corban is rated in College publications as one of the top-rated educations on the west coast)and sight unseen, he accepted their offer.

Today, we went to Salem to see just what it was he had received, and we are so pleased.

The school is tiny, but as with many private institutions, very well funded. State of the art technology, funky, beautiful buildings (The school actually used to be an old tuberculosis hospital from the 30's--TONS of vintage charm)mixed in with new buildings, as they slowly upgrade their facilities. Lots of social life, chapel three days a week, weekly required community service to promote humility, segregated dorms...Did I mention the beautiful old buildings? The whole thing is on a hill in the middle of a field about 4 or 5 miles outside of town. So cool. He fell instantly in love. (Yes, I know, Taylor tends to do that anyway, but this time, I think he was justified.) This place will be perfect for him, with it's structure, faith-integration, strong academic expectations, active social agenda...Did I mention he's also joining the choir? Boy-o is gonna SHINE! The coach is great; warm, approachable, committed to his success, professors have a wonderful open-door policy, (they hang out with the students in the student centers) no classroom will be more than 20 or 30 students, most more like 10-12. And since there is no football at Corban, Baseball Players are the BMOC's. I look forward to taking some photos this year, and posting some cool little blurbs about this school. I think Taylor may have found his niche. He is very excited for Christmas to be over, so he can get going on the next chapter.

His grades came out today: 4.0!! ...He needed a 3.75 to qualify for a grant so that he can get a new computer. WooT WooT!

3 comments:

  1. Awesome I hope he is able to hang in there and hopefully they treat him right!! Tell him congrats and good luck!!

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  2. So proud of you Taylor. I know you are going to do great
    LOve you Gma

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