Residential

When I was a university student at Tyndale I lived in residence. For two years I was fortunate enough to be involved in Student Leadership as an RA or Residence adviser. It has been about two more years since I was last serving in this position. However, today I had the opportunity to sit down with the current guy RAs and discuss what my experience was like and what theirs has been like as well.

I have to admit I was a little nervous at first because I didn't really know who was going to be there, I remember what it was like to have to go to various meetings and I thought that I had very little to say. But as we began I found myself reminiscing the good old days and even missing the job.

I was most fortunate to be asked a question about the challenges of working in a diverse team that deals with intimate details of male and female life. It was presented that sometimes its hard because some of the things that we may experience as guys are hard to share with our female teamates. I agreed that the challenges were there and it is difficult sometimes to balance both the desire to be transparent with the importantance of boundaries. I was reminded of one of my favorite stories as an RA so I thought I would share it with you, dear reader.

It came to pass in my early days as an RA that events transpired that caused hurt amidst our community. This hurt happened within the male dorm and it was decided that it was appropriate to discuss the event without the female RAs being a part of that discussion. They knew something had happened but were asked to leave for our conversation. They left and we began discussing the issue. When we had finished our conversation we left to go our separate ways and as we looked out the window, into the courtyard, we saw our dear females RAs praying for our community, for us and for the event that transpired. It was beautiful and so we joined in.

That was a special event in my Tyndale experience. One which will likely form my understanding of community, prayer and compassion for much of my life.

It was a pleasure to talk with the RA guys today. It was neat to see people, much like myself four years ago, passionate for serving Tyndale and working their way through what that means. Tyndale is certainly blessed by them.