Student follows God's leading

            Imagine being settled in to three years at one high school, content and happy with friends, activities, and classes. Now imagine God shaking this whole comfortable world up, asking you to transfer to a brand new school for senior year. Sound daunting? Senior Stephen Becker can testify to the fact.

            When Stephen’s family was planning to send his two younger siblings to WC beginning this past year, Stephen never thought that God would call him here as well. Having gone to Westerville Central High School for three years, he had close friends and participated in a beloved extracurricular activity, marching band. Then Stephen’s mom, upon returning from a missions trip to Peru mere days before his first day of senior year, asked him if he would also like to attend WC along with his siblings.

            Due to God’s provident hand, finances were not an issue, but initially, Stephen was not enthusiastic about the new path that had unfolded before him. God, however, quickly and evidently spoke to him. “...over the next couple of days, God really worked on my heart and showed me that His plan for me was to go to WC,” Stephen says. “It wasn’t an easy decision but I knew that God had big things in store for my life at WC.”

            Much like Abraham, who listened to God’s voice and left everything that was comforting and familiar to him, Stephen embarked on his journey to WC as a senior. Things were obviously difficult at first, as he experienced significant changes both externally and internally. Namely, his faith was heavily involved. “I realized that I had gotten comfortable in my easy, unchanging public school life,” Stephen admits. “God used switching schools to grow my faith in Him and to challenge my ability to communicate my faith to others.”

            Specifically, Stephen says that the WCHS class “Reading in Worldviews” and the senior trip to the Dominican Republic were instrumental in his spiritual growth and development. “Through that class [Worldviews] I was able to fix and prepare my answers to some of the questions that the secular world throws at Christians,” Stephen elaborates. And referring to the senior trip to the DR, he says, “Through that trip I learned to give my doubts to God and let Him work through those doubts for His purpose.”

            If anyone knows anything about doubt, it would be Stephen. But doubt quickly dissipated in the face of faith. Having left Westerville Central after three years of high school, he chose to allow God to speak to him, and in turn, chose to obey Him. As his senior year comes to an end, there is no doubt that God will continue to work in his life after he graduates. Stephen looks forward to his time at Grace College as he pursues environmental science with a history-related minor. Stephen truly embodies the essence of faith; we are so thankful to have gotten to know him as a classmate this year, and wish him only the best as he embarks on yet another journey this fall.

 

by Joy Cho