Listening to Mrs. Micikas talk honestly about her faith was hugely encouraging to me and a pretty big highlight of senior year so far. I think that's mostly because, as Vandy puts it, most students go from being terrified of her as freshmen to loving her like a grandma. Hearing her story, particularly the parts about the shock of being suddenly introduced to culture, really affirmed my views of how Christians should actively engage culture, not ignore it. And like so many other people in the class, it's encouraging for me to see somebody that's so incredibly intelligent both struggle with Christianity and, in the end, come back to it. Now does this mean I can suddenly accept Christian beliefs without scrutinizing them? Of course not. What it does mean is that I can now think logically about different beliefs with yet another person's real-life experiences in mind. To me, other people's experiences carry a ton of weight. This just shows how we can learn from other people's stories. Too often people think they need to experience absolutely everything in life to have any sort of grip on it. Still, one of the most moving statements I ever heard was from Mrs. Gunnink after giving her testimony (this is it more or less...): "Don't ever wish that you had a 'story,' because God may just give you one."