Open doors ...

So, it has been a little while.  I have been busy, busy, busy!  

I wanted to tell of my latest adventure.  It all started when I went to Sacramento with my husband Casey, my brother Jake, and my sister (in-law) Megan.  We went to the zoo, to old Sacramento, and finished our day at the Rock and Worship Roadshow.  

Now, a little background, I have been praying for a little time now that God would open doors for me if it is His will for me to go back to school, and if it is not His will, then to take the desire away.  The desire has been growing and not going away.

So, back to the story.  While we are at the show/concert in Sacramento, between bands they are advertising Grand Canyon University (GCU).  They have a campus in Phoenix, and they do a lot of online stuff.  I didn’t think much about it, except, maybe I should grab their info on the way out.  Jake wanted to get some Hawk Nelson concert paraphernalia, and suggested I go with him to check out the GCU table. 

Now, I only intended to grab some information, and check out prices and degree programs offered.  They asked me to fill out a little information card.  I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I had a representative call me.  So, I filled it out.  

A week and a half to two weeks later, a very nice enrollment counselor from GCU called me.  She was calling to arrange a trip to Phoenix to visit the campus.  Now, if you are anything like me, you just did a double take.  Yes, they didn’t want to talk to me about their school on the phone, they wanted to talk in person.  They were offering to fly me (and 200 ish other students) to Phoenix, pick me up from the airport, feed me, and give me a tour of the campus.  Amazing, right!?!  I kept asking this poor girl over and over again, “Are you sure there aren’t ANY fees that I need to pay?”  Every time she reassured me that they were footing the entire bill.

I know I wasn’t alone when I entered this whole thing with extreme caution.  What is the catch?  None, there was no catch.  This is a privately owned Christian University.  They believe in the Truth.  They believe in the Gospel.  They help the community it tremendous ways, and they wanted to reach out to Christians across the country and show them that there is a legitimate University that teaches not from a secular worldview, but from a Christian view.  They are accredited, and they offer degree programs that are useful, and will put more Christians into high demand fields.  

I didn’t know any of this as I boarded the plane on March 28th to go to Phoenix though. I had a girlfriend ask me if I was positive I wasn’t walking into a sex slavery kidnapping plot.  To be honest I didn’t know.  I made sure my husband got forwarded every email and knew my whereabouts, just in case …  When I got to Phoenix they rounded us up and took us in small groups to campus.  My small group climbed in an Escalade and traversed the terrifying Phoenix traffic.  On the way we learned that GCU only has 4,500 students on campus, but 40,000 students online.  I also learned that it is considered one of the top online Christian schools (http://www.christian-universities.net/top-christian-universities/).  So far, I’m really impressed. 

 

Once we got onto campus we checked in and got to our assigned seats, we learned that every potential student was assigned an individual mentor, of whom we could ask our questions.  This was just getting better and better.  The campus tour (given by the dean of the college you were planning on going into) showed us a small but beautiful campus.  We also were able to meet the head of the master’s degree counseling program.  She went over the practicum portion of the degree, and talked about different fields we could use our degrees in. And they were very, very encouraging.  Which was super helpful. 

Now, I don’t want to get too bogged down in the details of the day.  But suffice it to say that everywhere I turned there was someone available and willing to answer any question I had.  Everyone was friendly.  So friendly in fact, that I thought that maybe they were planning on harming us somehow after all.  (Side note: I find it really sad that I was so suspicious of people just because they smiled a lot and were nice.)  

I learned that I don’t need to take my GRE or anything of that sort to get in.  They only do one class at a time, but the classes are accelerated.  What that means: one class goes from 4-8 weeks.  They gave me an estimated total of $30K, which includes their eBooks – did I mention everything is paperless?  Now, that is a lot of money, but really you would pay that for a master’s degree anywhere.  And I can do all of this online, at my leisure. 

All of this is leading up to me thinking that this is very impressive.  I went into the adventure thinking, I’ll have an open mind, but I don’t know if ultimately this will be the place for me, but hey I get a free trip.  However, now … I’m thinking this is God answering that prayer for open doors.  The only thing to figure out is if we can financially afford to go down this road.  I know God will provide, but I still can’t approach this like a dummy.  

I’m really excited, and scared.  This would be a HUGE step, and I don’t know if I can do this.  But I feel so led, like this is what is supposed to happen.  Casey is still taking this matter under consideration.  This would be a huge change for not only me, but for him as well.  He would give up a lot of time with me, and it is a huge financial undertaking.  And what I want to do … there probably won’t be a lot of financial returns on it.  So, I understand why Casey needs to carefully go over what he thinks should happen.  And I think it goes without saying, that whatever he decides, I will be okay with.  If he says no, that isn’t a “no” forever, he might just feel that this may not be the right time for our family to take on this endeavor.  If he says yes, then I would be the only one standing in the way.

Whatever decision is made, it was still an exciting little adventure, wherein I met a lot of incredibly nice people, the prospect of going back to school turned into a reality, and I know what kind of options I have.  Hooray for the terrifying/exciting reality of school!