Schaumburg, Ill. That was my dream as I started college back in 1997. I came in as a freshmen to UofM with lofty dreams of cruising through computer engineering, gradating early, getting a job at Motorola in Schaumburg and enjoying life by making a lot of money. This was my dream. Little did I know that God always has different plans and those plans began to take shape as soon as I arrived in Ann Arbor.
To keep a long story short; my first three years of college were a struggle. I did poorly in school: repeated 3 classes and my GPA by the end of my junior year was a pretty pathetic site. Right around 1999 God introduced me to HMCC and began to reshape my faith. Through the struggles in school and the rejection of my family, God began to work in my heart to desire more for Him and less for the things of this world. I continued to fight through to get my degree in CE and also worked as a computer consultant at the University on a part time basis. As I began to worship God more and my degree and my parents less, I began to turn around my performance in school by discovering a greater purpose for pursing a degree.
I no longer wanted to become a programmer that made a lot of money, but through my job as a computer consultant I began to grow a desire to use my degree and skills to serve other people. I began to see that serving people and helping others was a more fulfilling life then just sitting in a cubicle and writing computer code. (As I look back on my college life, God used those last two years to really shape my future and my destiny. If I had graduated on time or even early, I would not be in Ann Arbor today, serving God and helping build His kingdom -- so it’s another confirmation of God’s crazy sovereignty!)
After graduation, I felt convicted to stay in Ann Arbor to serve the church. But with no full time job, I had a temp job at the University as a computer consultant for 16 months. It was a difficult period in my life. My parents were upset with me for not having a full time job, and staying in Ann Arbor. I also made very little money, so life in Ann Arbor was quite difficult. But I felt the conviction to stay and work -- I had to obey.
Little did I know that God was going to use that job to give me the skill set that I needed to be hired as the Desktop Support Specialist for the Civil Engineering Department. I started working there October of 2003. God had not only provided me with a job, but also a place do to ministry. God opened my eyes to see how my job at the University was also an avenue for me to build relationships and share the love of Christ with the students that were here from so many different nations.
Through my job, God has opened up doors to invite 10+ people out to different church events and even see one sister accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. I’ve began to discover that even as computer engineer, God has burdened my heart for the sphere of education and the opportunities that lie in colleges that brings so many international students from all over the world to the states. So instead of going to the nations, God has brought the nations to me through this job. God has revealed to me how he can use my degree to build His kingdom and I am looking forward to even more opportunities to share the love of Christ with the people God will bring into my life. I am excited to see how I can continue to partner with the local church to advance His kingdom on this campus.