I will never forget “Susan” poking her head into my office with a huge smile on her face. She said, “I wanted to tell you that I love Jesus too!” This caught me a little off-guard.
In fact, in over twenty years teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever had a student lead with that.
I asked her to come in and tell me a little more – thankfully, she had time and stepped in. Susan had an incredible story. She had struggled with drug addiction, and as a result had a criminal record. Remarkably, she was in my department – Criminal Justice. I was intrigued. I asked her how she had overcome her addiction. She shared about her encounter with Jesus, His love for her had changed her life. She had completed a 12-step program and enrolled in Project Rebound, a program designed to help formerly incarcerated people earn a college degree. What a story!
We shared this moment because I had changed.
If I had encountered Susan just a semester earlier, I would have missed it. For years, I thought I had a professorial obligation to complete neutrality. I blame my background as an attorney at least in part. The law places great value on objectivity, and in teaching the law, I never revealed ‘my hand’ to my students. When pressed in class about the outcome of a difficult legal case I didn’t want to sway their opinions. I took great pride in making sure I was as neutral and objective as possible in everything I shared with them.
I didn’t ever share my own personal story, and I carefully stepped around sharing about my faith with colleagues or students unless there was a very explicit and welcome opportunity to do so.
This very careful approach to sharing my faith on campus was challenged just before I met Susan.
God brought together a community of Christian faculty and staff here at Sacramento State University. Our group began meeting for prayer monthly and then decided to plan a Northern California conference for Christian Faculty & Staff to encourage others to live out the gospel with boldness on their campuses. Our first conference focused on the integration of faith and vocation. It was a game-changer for me!
Immediately after hearing the speaker, Dr. Charles Lee from Stanford, I changed my “welcome” lecture. I added information about my family, our church, and my children’s local Christian school. It was that easy! By simply changing what I shared when I introduced myself to my students that semester, God had opened the door to Susan. I am so grateful!
I am continuing to learn what it looks like to live out my faith at work. I want more than anything for people to see God’s love lived out in me – and the first step was being brave enough to tell my students a little more about myself.
God took it from there.
Laurie Kubicek
Criminal Justice
Sacramento State University