"All You Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time That Is Given To You"

You’d think I’d have conquered jetlag by now. But you’d be wrong. I also can’t sleep on planes, which only makes matters worse. It usually takes me a week to fully adjust to a new time zone. My first night in Greece was met with more obstacles than just jetlag – there was a ticking clock.

In January of 2011 I walked into my new home, an apartment on the HUG campus. This would be my home for the next...well, as long as I wanted it. After traveling for 20 hours with no sleep, I quickly made my way to bed around 11. However, it was not meant to last. By about 1:30 am I found myself wide-awake!

As I lay in bed, trying to go back to sleep, the repetitive ticking of a clock was keeping me awake. I decided, “This is my apartment now, my new home. I’m pulling the battery out of that clock!” I did and the dead silence made the jetlag insomnia slowly disappear.  

It’s funny, growing up I didn’t like being away from the comfort of home. I tried going to camp twice when I was about 9 or 10. Camp started on a Sunday afternoon. The first year I made it until Tuesday before I went home. The second year I only made it to Monday. In elementary school I was in Cub Scouts, like most boys, but I almost always skipped the camping trips. And the few that I didn’t skip, I dreaded going on them, though they were never that bad. 

Here's proof, I did do a few camps.
And I even appear to be having fun!

I didn’t mind going places. My family and I went on these massive two-week long trips around America all by car. I never minded those because I was with my family. And when you are with your family you are comfortable.

Family Trip to New England after 1st grade.

All throughout elementary, middle and high school I spent the night at friends’ houses with no problem because we all lived in the same town. It was close enough to my comfort zone. Towards the end of high school when I told my friends I was planning on going to Harding, five hours away by car, a couple of them laughed. They knew I didn’t venture far from home.

I went to Honors Symposium, a two-week experience at Harding, the summer before my senior year of high school, not sure if I could do it. It sounds ridiculous to even admit. I stayed the entire time and loved every minute of it! During that week they informed us we could attend a sort of “sequel program” in Greece at the HUG (Harding University in Greece) campus next summer. This would be the summer before starting college. My best friend said, “We have to do this!” Of course I agreed with him and signed up. It sounded like an amazing opportunity. However, I was dreading it and even planned on dropping out before payments became non-refundable.

During this time, senior year of high school, my choir was going to Ireland. My friends said, “We have to go!” I said, “Of course!” And like the upcoming Greece trip, I planned on dropping out before payments became non-refundable.

Well, I didn’t drop out of either. I went to Ireland for a week in March of 2007 and then to Greece for two weeks in June of the same year. I loved every minute of those trips! I knew I would, even during the dreaded waiting period.

All the seniors that went on the chorus trip to Ireland at the Blarney Castle.

I never dropped out because I knew I would have fun. I needed to have these experiences! I’ve often said that most of my life is me dragging myself kicking and screaming through things I don’t want to do but know I should. I needed to stretch, challenge and ultimately change myself.   

Over time my reluctance to leave home dissipated. I never thought twice about it. I never once got homesick at Harding. Then again, five hours isn’t that far away. But it’s farther than camp ever was! There was a spring semester I never went home. And the fall before that I only went home for Thanksgiving! The summer of 2009 I went back to HUG for the full summer semester and during that time I never got homesick! Time changes all things.

Late 2010, I was offered the job as the HUG assistant stating in January of 2011. I immediately took the offer and never looked back! For the last four and a half years I have had the most amazing experience. I got to see and do things three times a year that most people would love to do just once in their lifetime! Not only that, I got to work with, visit and learn from some of the most unique faculty and students! And would you believe that I NEVER got homesick during that entire time? It’s true!

When I started the job I couldn’t imagine ever quitting. Why would you leave such a golden opportunity? The “clever” answer I’d give people that asked me how long I would do this for was “When paradise becomes prison, I’ll leave.” See, I can count on two hands the number of friends I had in Greece. HUG and the students weren’t just my job, they were my life! And I loved it! But I knew that eventually I’d want more. I’d get tired of living on repeat – doing the exact same thing three times a year, year after year – no matter how fantastical it was!

July 2015, my last time on the Acropolis with the Parthenon. 

I’ve been home for almost two weeks and it’s been amazing! While I know I was gone for four and half years, it doesn’t feel like it. But in other ways it does! When I look back on my first year or two, they seem so long ago. So many new memories fight to overwrite those experiences. And now I return home to find many friends married, on the path to it, in big important jobs and some even have kids!

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life doesn’t stop. Time simply marches on. You can’t stop it. And maybe Gandalf said it best in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”

The last morning in the Artemis (old hotel name for the HUG campus) was a whirlwind of goodbyes and setting things straight. As the clock approached nine, I was ticking items off my last to-do list. Once I had dragged my suitcases out of my room, I was ready to leave it for good. But not before one last little task – putting the battery back in the clock. 

The very last thing I did in my room – take a picture of the now working clock.
Flight is at 11:20, better go!

See, in an effort to quiet my room so I could fall asleep that very first night years ago, I didn’t realize that I was also subtly trying to stop time. I was trying to make the most of that experience. Even though I had no end date when I started the job, I knew that one day it would come to an end. I wanted to live in that moment for as long as I could – even if that meant challenging time itself.

Like I said earlier, “Time changes all things.” If I could go back in time and tell 9 year-old Steven, as he leaves camp after an embarrassingly short 24-hour stint, that he would one day live in a foreign country with no fear for four and half years…well, little Steven would probably have passed out and not have been able to sleep for a few weeks. Thankfully, we are all given time. “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” Hopefully, we all use time to improve ourselves. 

I went from being a boy who didn’t like to stray far from home to a young man living in a foreign land, begging for more time before the countdown even began. But taking a battery out of a clock doesn’t stop time no matter how much you want it to – and that’s fine. Time isn’t meant to be stopped. It’s mean to be used (wisely) and enjoyed. 

My time with HUG and Greece are over, on my terms. I’m happy and content with the four and half years I got. I’m just ready for the next big adventure!

June 2007 with Honors Abroad. On Mars Hill with the Acropolis behind me. Look at that smile!

May 2009 as a HUGer. Looking at the Acropolis from Mars Hill. 

July 2009 as a HUGer. Leaving Athens for what I thought would be my last time. 

July 2015, my last time in Athens.