Wheaton Freshman Sarah Ruth Smith had many shocking and surprising experiences upon enrolling in Wheaton College at the end of August. What shocked her most was that half of the other young women in Wheaton had her name. She was also surprised to find that half of the young men at Wheaton were named Nathan, and many other young men had names straight out of the 1 and 2Kings, all ending in –I-A-H or –J-A-H.
“I found that if I yelled ‘Sarah’ or ‘Nathan’ into some sort of social setting at Wheaton,” Smith said, “Then at least five people would answer. It’s like everyone has a biblical name.”
Smith, after attending public school her entire life, reports that she “broke down sobbing” the first time she heard someone mention God on campus. Never before had she heard people openly talk about their religion and relationship with Christ in public. Smith also gasped loudly when one of the professors began class with a devotional and prayer, and then integrated faith into learning. She felt that she grew slightly faint when her biology professor did this. “I thought science and faith were at war,” she said.
She also could not help but stare when she noticed people praying for a very long time in the dining hall, which Smith learned students called SAGA, even though SAGA had ceased to be the caterer decades ago. Christian food apparently needed a longer time to be blessed than secular food.
With all of the mentioning of God on campus, Smith found that she could connect better with her friends if she too constantly mentioned God in conversations, and how God had been active in her life. She found that if she did so, then she would appear super spiritual, a great goal for a Wheaton student to have.
The prayer at Wheaton was additionally a huge surprise for Smith. It seemed that when people prayed, they were trying to write paragraphs or essays aloud, for every public prayer began with some sort of dramatic introduction, had the request in the middle, but made very long and drawn out, and then ended in a spectacular conclusion affirming God’s goodness. It also appeared to Smith that there was a competition on campus to see who could fit the words “Jesus” and “God” into a prayer the most times. Smith even overheard one student whose every other word of a prayer was “Jesus” or “God”.
Smith is now very eager to join this competition, but still slightly unsure of what the benefits of repeating God’s name in prayer would be. “I guess it’s just like being a regular Wheaton student,” she mused, “always trying to do more of like whatever and be as impressive as possible without actually looking at the purpose or point.”
Smith has also skipped chapel twice but is not ashamed because like everyone has already skipped more.
