So Conroy arrives in the United States to attend (then) Practical Bible College in the fall of 2000. I return from China and begin teaching at a small Christian school in Cortland, NY. Perhaps we saw each other at times when I drove down to college to visit my brother and sister who attended Practical at that time. I have no real recollection of Conroy at that time. Now in the same general location, still we ran in parallel circles, barely overlapping, fighting our individual battles, growing through the challenges God placed in each of our lives.
For me, the next few years involved a lot of moving and continued soul-searching, battling it out with God about where my niche in life was as a young single woman with a desire to be used of God. I moved to California and back, settling briefly in Scranton, PA before being asked to come back to Practical Bible as the women's residential director in the fall of 2003. I believed this move was a direct answer to prayer for me to find fulfillment and purpose in ministry, using my singleness for God's glory. So with a full, expectant heart, I gladly accepted the call.
My first year as RD was Conroy's senior year of college. During this year, I still did not really know him well, but saw him from a distance and knew him by reputation. At the end of the school year in the spring of 2004, the Department Head asked me for my professional opinion of Conroy in regard to hiring him as the new resident director of the men's dorm upon Conroy's graduation. I remember replying that, though I didn't know Conroy well, he seemed to have good character and to be well-respected by the other students so I had no objections.
In the summer of 2004, Conroy was hired as RD at (now) Davis College, and the parallel lines of our lives converged irrevocably.
No comments:
Post a Comment