UNION COLLEGE
A Soldier Fights for His (New) Life
C
aleb Woods, a military veteran and freshman international rescue and relief major, tells about his first day at Union College.
college campus. During freshman orientation, the speakers talked about finding our path and discovering our purpose. It was a strange sensation to sit among People always ask me what 18- and 19-year-old students while many declared that this makes me most nervous was their first time away from about starting college. I home. There was so much usually say moving to a new place by myself. innocence and hope, but I In reality, being in school couldn’t help but feel like I’ve and sitting in a classroom already lived out my purpose. more than 10 years after Something Rich Carlson high school terrifies me. As wrote in his first “Good a 30-year-old and a combat Morning Union” message veteran, I don’t think I’ve ever stuck with me, though, and felt more out of place than I can’t shake it despite my sitting behind these multicol- ongoing resistance to everyored (and undersized) desks thing religious. He wrote: here at Union. I pray that you will take this I’ve been to war several first day experience and use it times. During the years I as an opportunity to, in a way, was deployed, it felt like I got start over; start again; stop to know Afghanistan better fretting over the past and look than I know my hometown of forward to an amazing future. Chicago. It’s hard to explain, These are simple words, but and it doesn’t make sense to they impacted me more than most people, but I feel more I expected. I’ve been living in comfortable under enemy fire the past, dwelling on what I than in the relative safety of a used to be instead of what is in
As a career soldier, Caleb Woods found facing a new calling far scarier than any combat situation. student’s growth. It was great for me too, because I was able to feed myself for the day through the Bible study. Throughout the experience, I saw growth in the student and in myself.” Woll’s time at the Bismarck Church prepared him for a future in ministry. “It was an amazing experience,” Woll shared. “I appreciated the opportunity to learn what
actually happens in a church. Being in a classroom is great and important, but being able to apply those things in the field was invaluable.” Woll’s enthusiasm and commitment to ministry did not go unnoticed. When the president of the Dakota Conference came to talk with the junior and senior theology majors, he offered Woll a job. Woll was the student
front of me. My thoughts have been consumed with the military every waking moment of every day since I enlisted. I will never forget what I learned in the army, and I’ll never forget my experiences in Afghanistan—both good and bad. I’m doing my best to move forward, though, and begin “cultivating a life of the soul,” as my dad puts it. My palms are a little
sweaty, and my hands are shaking because I’m not usually one to tell how I feel. But I’m doing my best to follow Pastor Rich’s advice, and I’m doing my best to let go of the past and look forward to an amazing future. Caleb Woods is a freshman international rescue and relief major at Union College.
Photos Courtesy Union College
the two pastors had prayed for years to return home and serve in the Dakota Conference. Jason Woll graduated in May 2019 with a B.A. in Theology, with an emphasis in Biblical Languages. His life in ministry began this fall when he was assigned to be associate pastor of the district in central North Dakota including the Mandan,
Turtle Lake and McCluskey churches under the mentorship of Pastor Harold Chin. His advice to theology students approaching their senior year is, “Go off campus for your student pastoring. It is so beneficial.” Trena Reed is a Union College graduate and freelance writer based in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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