Houghton Story Project
Submit your writing for the Houghton Story Project.
Please consider submitting a short reflection on your time at Houghton for inclusion in a devotional style compilation by Houghton College alumni. Linda Chaffee Taylor, class of 1980 is working with the alumni office to assemble and edit entries for this volume.
If you are interested, take a look at a few of the samples below and submit your works before 03/31/09. Your entry can reference a pleasant time or a trial, and can contain a clear lesson or can leave things unsettled. We would love to hear about your "mountain top" experiences as well as those times of struggle.
Submit entries and questions to alumni@houghton.edu, or by snail mail to:
Alumni Relations
Houghton College
1 Willard Ave
Houghton, NY 14744
Samples
Repentance and Rest
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee!” (Isaiah 30:15-16, NIV)
I came to Houghton because of the snow, the eagle statue, and Highlander. I came unsettled and insecure. I came restless and unprepared for God’s plans and purposes. From the minute I arrived at the gym for Highlander, I spent the next four years of my life running: hiking, biking, swimming, dating, learning, trying, failing, building, and bonding. I rarely stopped to listen.
Many times I was pushed to new limits that challenged my sense of
self, my understanding of God, and my willingness to yield. I
discovered I was stubborn, scared, and proud. The Lord challenged me
to get beyond myself and to allow Him to do His perfect work in me.
In fact, during a mission trip to NYSUM (New York School of Urban
Ministries) as a freshman, a Spanish pastor spoke to me saying if I
yielded everything to the Lord—my art, my plans, my relationships,
and my heart—He could use me for great works. This was the third
time a pastor I had never met gave me this same admonition.
What was God trying to say? Did I really want to know? Was I going to stop long enough to listen? If I kept running what would happen?
Well I did keep running, and God kept pursuing. At all turns, in all circumstances, He faithfully, gently, and lovingly pursued me. Finally, on a mountaintop in Kenya in 1998 I repented and returned in order to begin seeking His plans for my life and not my own. Ten years later I am beginning to see His work through me and find myself constantly returning and resting in Him.
O Sovereign Lord, You are faithful to give us salvation and strength. I thank You for preparing me for Your work and pursuing me even when I flee from You.
Callie Snyder Neff (Class of 1996)
Housemom (and mother of three children) at House of His Creation,
Lititz, Pennsylvania (a non-profit, Christ-centered home for teen
mothers and their children)
Awesomely Orchestrated
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! (Psalm 107:8, ESV)
Autumn 1943. I was eighteen and accepted at Houghton College. I’d never been there but knew God wanted me at Houghton. It was wartime, and those who would have taken me on the two-hundred-mile trip to Houghton had to work, so I went by train to Wellsville then by bus to Houghton.
Arriving in Wellsville, I learned that the bus through Houghton would stop at the station at 7:30 a.m. It was already past midnight, so I decided to wait there. But soon the stationmaster came to say, “You’ll have to leave; this station closes at one o’clock.” I panicked. “Where can I go?” I asked. “I’ve never been to Wellsville!”
“There’s a hotel up the street,” he waved casually.
I gathered my two bulging suitcases, my overstuffed handbag, a bed pillow, and my sizeable lunchbox, and started for the hotel. As I staggered under my load, a car pulled up offering me a ride. I refused, but since there was no one else around, I asked the driver for directions to the hotel. “Get in. I’ll take you,” he invited, pointing back up the street.
“No thanks, I’ll walk,” I said, turning and starting in the opposite direction. He made a U-turn and drove slowly beside me all the way to the hotel. I was praying all the way.
Whatever the man’s intentions might have been, I think the Lord used him to protect me on that dark and lonely street in the wee hours of the night.
I’d never been in a hotel but near the door was a sofa, so I asked, “May I sit here to wait for the bus to Houghton?”
“Sure,” the man at the desk answered. “It’ll stop here at 7 a.m.”
But I was soon surrounded by men from the bar making loud, silly remarks. Grabbing my things, I woke the man at the desk and ordered a room. I didn’t know I could ask for a wake-up call, and fearful of missing my bus, I sat up the rest of the night.
Next morning at the train station, three young women got on the bus. One looked so nice I thought, I’d surely like to know her. To my astonishment, she got off at Houghton too. She was Jane Canfield (Clark) who’s been a special friend for sixty-four years now!
Whenever I think of the unpleasant experiences of that first lonely trip to Houghton and the awesome way God was with me and brought it to such a happy conclusion, I give thanks for His steadfast love and His wondrous works to us mere humans.
Father, let the grace of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and Your unfathomable, eternal love, and the fellowship of your Holy Spirit continue and increase in me all my days.
Leatha Humes (Class of 1947)
Missionary to Indonesia from 1957 to 2005. Currently living in Guys
Mills, Pennsylvania
Autumnal Stillness
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10, TNIV)
Beginning the fall semester at Houghton always brought newness—new people to meet and old friends I hadn’t seen all summer, ministries or jobs to fill up my open schedule, a different place of residence, as well as the freshness (or fright) of a new syllabus. Before too long I was consumed and unaware of the seasonal change to autumn in which God’s earth was taking part. When I did take my eyes away from my computer screen long enough to acknowledge the beauty of this season at Houghton, three memories among many stand out: (1) running or hiking the cross country trails and stopping at the point that looks over the Genesee’s surrounding hills, (2) allowing the stillness of the creek beyond the “Field of Dreams” to rest my over-stimulated intellect, and (3) driving to Letchworth to find the spot with the least amount of people and the best view of the canyon and the multi-colored trees.
Taking time to do this is countercultural in our society. It didn’t and still doesn’t help me to spend all of my time trying to become the most knowledgeable, productive, efficient, or busy student at Houghton, which seem to be the standards of success in our culture. In those autumn days at Houghton, the One who made the seasons and created us as image bearers used these times and places to quiet my mind, heart, and soul. He weaved my being into the contours of His creation: hills and leaves and water—the handiwork that brings exaltation to Him. Through this I faintly heard whispers that reminded me that we are primarily created to be, not to do.
In the novel Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, the narrator writes, “The surface of the river is like a living soul, which is easy to disturb, is often disturbed, but, growing calm, shows what it was, is, and will be.” This thought, combined with the above words from Yahweh in Psalm 46:10, reminds us that being in relationship with God requires stillness. Stillness is the only way to hear from God the truth of who we are and who we are becoming.
Go somewhere outside. Silence the noise. Experience autumn and listen to its quietness. Look out across the valley at the palette of color. Return with this still posture as you continue in relationship with God and His people.
Creator, still me in the midst of constant movement. Jesus, heal me of the pressure to do since through You it’s already done. Spirit, instill in me the breath that brings my dry bones to life.
Daniel Fuller (Class of 2006)
Latino Advocate/Spanish Interpreter at legal provider for the low
income folks in Indianapolis, Indiana
