DECISION
THE KING’S COLLEGE MAGAZINE
This issue of Emblem illustrates how students and alumni of King’s made decisions and exercised moral agency.
What is the relationship between what’s given to us and what we choose ourselves? All of us are subject to circumstances outside of our control—where we’re born, who our parents are, what other people think of us.
I want to explore how people exercise agency within those boundaries. Think of the parable of the talents. Each servant is entrusted with a different number of coins. These servants have no say in what they are given, only in what they do with it. They can decide either to make something of their talents or to hold back in fear.
Likewise, while knowing that our lives are governed by God’s sovereignty, we can still choose what gifts we work to develop or how we respond when tempers flare. These decisions may feel small, but I believe they matter to God and shape who we become.
One day we may find ourselves with scarcely a talent to present to God, like John Milton mourning the loss of his eyesight and by it, his capacity to write. As he says in Sonnet 19, “that one Talent which is death to hide / Lodged with me useless.” Yet even in our limitations, the choice to serve God remains open. Milton continues:
. . . “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Editor’s Note: Why Decision?
By Rebecca Au-Mullaney
Alumni Features
The Alumni Features show individuals choosing to take action to address a problem, to serve a vulnerable community, or to trust God in a new arena.
Rob Frazier
Diana Bellini
Mike Wojcik
Keyah Doering
Jonathan Roberts
Letter from the President
Dear readers,
This past year, time seemed to stand still. In place of daily commutes and in-person worship, many of us stayed in our living rooms, joining Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting. We pushed vacations and celebrations indefinitely into the future, and only recently have we felt able to plan.
Yet in other ways, the pandemic has forced us to make choices. Parents chose between hybrid or fully remote modalities for their children’s education, or started homeschooling pods. Families decided how to creatively gather for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Business owners and church leaders determined when to close, when to reopen, and what policies to implement. Despite limited information about this virus, we’ve had to make decisions in the areas where we are responsible for others. It’s not an option to simply throw up our hands and refuse to act.
While this season has made it evident that leaders must make decisions under pressure and with incomplete information, it’s also shown us failures of decision-making. Society needs leaders who exhibit character and conviction in their decision-making.
This issue of Emblem illustrates how students and alumni of King’s made decisions and exercised moral agency. In the digital-only content, first-year students share how they decided on King’s during this pandemic year. The Alumni Features show individuals deciding to do something to address a problem, to serve a vulnerable community, or to trust God in a new arena. Within accounts about deciding on a career or a new venture, each alumnus has made a fundamental commitment to follow Jesus wherever He leads.
The King’s College educates students to ask hard questions, debate the critical issues, and stand up for what is right. And even as we help students learn to make decisions and to act, we recognize that God is the one at work in them, and in us. Philippians 2:13 reads, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Our individual choices have significance, but they are not entirely up to us. In ways we cannot fully understand, God is with us, working in us, as we seek to do the best we can with the knowledge given to us. I hope this issue encourages you in the decisions that you face, and reminds you to see where God is going ahead and calling you to follow Him.
Yours in Service,
Tim Gibson, Brig Gen, USAF (Ret.)
Credits
Leadership
Tim Gibson, Brig Gen, USAF (Ret)
President
Megan Dishman (MCA ’14)
Assistant Vice President of Marketing
and Communications
Bridget Rogers
Chief Development Officer
Creative Direction
Rebecca Au-Mullaney (MCA ’15)
Editor-in-Chief
Natalie Nakamura (MCA ’13)
Art and Design Director
Celina Durgin (PPE ’15)
Contributing Writer
Alumni Contact
Bridget Rogers