“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

It seems like so long ago that I first started college. As a bright and hopeful freshman, I came in with the desire to get an education, graduate and then start my life. Somewhere along the way, though, college became less of a stepping stone and instead became my life. Before I knew it, I had a family of friends, a job, a church, a favorite restaurant, a GCU mug and a never-ending schedule of assignments to keep me busy. Soon patterns became routines and Grand Canyon University morphed from just another university into my home.

As an out-of-state student, campus was the best and most exciting place to live, so I moved in with my three roommates and we started this incredible journey together. It is strange how fast the little dorm became home. I still remember the first time I was with my family over Thanksgiving and said I was excited to go home – meaning back to GCU. It felt foreign and strange for I was home, the home of my childhood, but suddenly I had another home that felt equally as grounded.

With each semester, my home at GCU became more and more real as my community grew wider and deeper, and we adventured over every inch of campus and then set our sights on the greater Phoenix area. Before I knew it, San Diego, Flagstaff, Tucson and Sedona became familiar stomping grounds. Now, when I look out from the top of Camelback Mountain, I know the landscape well and a rush of memories flood to mind – different faces, different events, but the same warmth. In just three and a half years, a city that I didn’t know at all became my home, filled a new family that I love so dearly.

Now it must come to an end. As a freshman, the goal was to graduate and leave. Now, as a senior, that seems like such a foreign concept. You see, GCU has always been my temporary home. I knew I would have to leave someday, but I could have never anticipated how much of a home I would eventually have to give up. I can smile and remind myself, “That’s just life.” Our lives are just pictures of constantly changing seasons and backdrops, pieced together in a beautiful mosaic of growing older.

In a deeper sense, I have also come to realize more and more through these years that not only is GCU my temporary home, but earth is as well. As a follower of Christ, I am merely a guest here and long to finally be home with the one who has won my heart over and over again.

Thank you, GCU, for being my home for the past few years. Thank you for providing me with four walls to grow up in: to stumble, to walk, to laugh, to love, to learn and eventually to leave.

Grand Canyon University is a thriving private Christian university in the heart of Phoenix. To learn more about the campus experience or see how its foundation of faith makes GCU different, visit our website or use the Request More Information button on this page.