Can I Come Back?

Found this while e-rooting through my hard drive... though it may come as a shock to most of you, I did get kicked out of PCC, and this was my (melodramatic) letter requesting permission to return and finish my degree.

Dean Ohman Pensacola Christian College Pensacola, FL 32503

Dear Dean Ohman,

For three and a half years I attended Pensacola Christian College. I learned many things and grew in many ways, considering it a privilege and a blessing to be a part of God’s work. Over those three and a half years, I accumulated a good deal of demerits—not for anything drastic—simply out of carelessness and irresponsibility. Things that were not Biblically “sinful” in my mind often took second place. I can remember standing before Miss Fowler or Mr. Griffin in discipline committee hearing “five demerits for being up after lights out” or “three demerits for not scanning back in”.

They may seem like small things compared to the situations you have to deal with every day, but they summarized an attitude of carelessness that surrounded the first three and a half years of my college career. This attitude is what led me to visit my girlfriend’s room and ultimately dismissal from PCC. I realize that what I did was foolish and wrong. It seemed so insignificant when I made the decision. Friends supported me and I tried to justify my actions in my own mind; so I went.

This may sound odd, but I cannot thank you enough for dismissing me from PCC. Please don’t misunderstand me. I love PCC and I wish so much that I could come back and watch my graduating class walk. But this sin of making molehills out of mountains needed to be broken, and my dismissal from PCC really changed my perspective. I used to trivialize the rules I disagreed with, but a habit like that will leave me changing God’s laws when I disagree with them. Because you dealt with my actions so severely (and justly), you taught me the importance of obedience even to the rules that I don’t enjoy.

I have learned that partial obedience is still disobedience, and that I need to respect the authority that God has placed over me. I am writing this letter to ask permission to reenroll for the 1999 fall semester at PCC. Thank you for the consideration.

In Christ Alone,
Jesse Gardner

*rolls eyes* I still believe much of it, but did I have to be so durn theatrical?