Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 31 text:

Father, we praise you for Bethel: for the knowledge, friendship, beauty and love we find in abundance here. We confess. Father, that wc are often petty and ungrateful. We put ourselves and our goals ahead of you. Father, forgive us. Thank you for offering forgiveness in our failings and giving us power to overcome them. Thanks too, for the countless people who work to make Bethel a house of God. Thank you for hope; we know you arc faithful. Now we ask, Father, that you will keep your hand on Bethel and on each one of us. Amen. CARLA HAGE

Page 30 text:

A college choir tenor paces the floor; a women’s choir alto tugs a comb through her hair; a male chorus bass adjusts his bowtie “just one more time.” These scenes precede a Festival performance. At the Bethel Band Concert, the members excitedly go about their pre-concert tune-up, checking to make certain that their B flat is in tune just the way Dr. Whitinger likes it. A Bethel Drama production is preceded by primping of hair, checking of make-up, and adjusting of costumes. Everything is set to make the audience live the play with the actors. The basketball team watches intently as Coach Davis diagrams a play moments before gametime. Then the players climb the steps to the gym and a cheering crowd. These settings have one moment in common: that moment just before the event is underway when the excitement builds, the adrenalin flows, and butterflies unite. Then something happens that is rare in any other setting: “Dear Lord, thank you for this opportunity to glorify and praise you...” DANA OLSON 1

Page 32 text:

Never before have I been so tied to or affected by a place and the people that have lived, worked, grown, learned and hurt within it. Looking back, I’m flooded with memories of days when the things I was learning were so exciting that I could hardly keep silent, of chats with friends sprawled on dorm floors amidst popcorn and cocoa, of days in choir when I felt like a member of God’s angel chorus. But times like these cannot erase the hurl and pain of the very hard moments: countless nights of reading pages and pages of history, writing papers, struggling to stay awake after three hours of sleep the night before, being angry at having to study longer than others to receive the same grade, jealous of the time they could spend with friends, times of not understanding relationships with people, of feeling I was never quite doing my best, of praying that God would end it all because I just could not take any more. Yet, before I came to Bethel, I asked God to teach me what I needed to learn about being his child. So I should not have been surprised at being faced by pressures and problems, for it was through them that I came—in pure exhaustion— to Jesus, knowing full well that I could not live one iota of a day without dependence on Him for strength, guidance and wisdom. God could not have picked a better place for me to begin learning such things. Although I am quite willing to move on, Bethel will always be very special to me. EARLEEN PETERSEN Bethel: What does it mean to me? I am thankful for the opportunity to have studied here. As a freshman, I was not mature enough academically, emotionally and spiritually to have gone to a school where I would have been totally on my own. Bethel was a good place to grow and become independent. In that respect I am profoundly grateful to have had professors who worked with me and friends who cared enough to listen to my thoughts, hopes and dreams as I struggled to become a whole person. And yet, there have also been countless frustations with Bethel. Bethel College is not perfect and neither is anyone who works or studies here. I become frustrated with those who feel it is a piece of heaven. Bethel could be more effective if it could get away from the image of being an isolated warm cocoon for Christians. Christian colleges fill a definite need and Bethel has affected my life tremendously. But 1 do think that Bethel fosters a dangerous dependency on itself as an institution. As a senior, I see Bethel’s greatest asset in the professors. Many of them could be making twice the amount of money at a state university, but because of their dedication to the Lord and their concern for people, they arc at Bethel to help us become mature Christians and thinkers. Their effect on my life is beyond value. While I am thankful for the opportunity of having attended Bethel, I am also looking forward to graduation and new experiences. ESTHER SPERRY