Retirement from the BCM

The school year has started out great. We admitted about nearly 4700 freshmen for the fall to ECU and it was an awful summer of busyness. AWFUL! The slow summer I was used to are gone. Things are finally calming down and I am looking foward to getting back on the road to NJ, PA, VA, and of course NC. Seeing all of the students returning to the BCM has been awesome and well as meeting new students. I have been given a proposal by a student group to be their orgaization advisor. Chi Alpha Omega, a christian fraternity on campus. Small group a guys I have met at the BCM and they are some really great solid students. It will be interesting to be their advisor so we will see if it comes through this year. I have already met some interesting freshmen this fall. Making friends with freshmen again I supposed. I have already selected some of my favorites but I will never mentioned their names. I truly love everyone. I love watching myself and how I have come such a long way from the Great Depression Era to seeing what times would have been like if I was different in the New Era with BCM. The fresh friendships I have made through this time has been rewarding and will continue no doubt to be even more rewarding as I continue to grow. However, I know myself well and I know the immediate plans of the life God has set out for me. I am truly welcomed in the BCM and the roll that I play there is different and mature. But I know when it is time to move forward and press on. There is nothing wrong with making friends with younger people. When I was a freshmen, my first close friend in college was Carolyn. A non-traditional student who was over forty years old. We are still friends to this day. In fact I bought my car from her this past summer like I said I always would in my undergrad. I have used the BCM for the growth necessary that I have missed out in my past due to depression and to be given a second chance at experiences that I have missed out in my undergrad due to depression. I have come a long, long, way. But I know when the clock in winding down in a phase in my life. Just like it did with Intervarsity. The BCM was too special to past up for the past year and a half. And this new academic year I will still enjoy my time. But this will be the last year I am a part of the BCM in this capacity. No this does not mean I will not be involved in student activities or that I will not allow myself to build solid relationships with new students. This means that I have claimed VICTORY!!! True victory over the sins that Depression has caused in my past due to fellowship and social situations. It is time to move on. Where? I am not certain. It is easy to say, well of course the next step is to get more involved in the church. But ECU and the students are still a big part of my life. I have a wealth of knowledge to give back to the students about college success. I also still have a lot of personal plans and goals that I must refocus on again. The next level is up to God. But I announce this to you now. This will be my last academic year with the BCM in the roll I am currently serving. I am retiring and moving forward to the next level. Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008!!!

A New School Year Approaches

Well it has been a summer since we spoke journal. I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with you. But I intend to do better. I hearby write this journal before me and my friend Jared Webb go out jogging in a little bit of rain and I just got through eating out with white Marcus and his family. I have been accepted to Graduate School for English this summer but that was the hard part. Taking that useless GRE. I am already halfway through the program because of all the Non-Degree credits I have taken. I have decided to push my acceptance date back to this spring for convienence purposes. I have travel season coming up for work and it would be best if I postpone for just one more semester. I am looking forward to the new academic year. I must admit that I have missed the students on campus. It is a little dead during the summer but I have had a great summer no doubt. There are still a lot of good friends in town. I especially missed the Baptist Campus Ministry crew. Don't tell them I said that though. I won't stretch this journal but I do plan on not neglecting you from this point on. But don't really hold to that committment. Still Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008! Bowen Out!