My Journey to the Summit

           Hardly twenty-four hours has past since I first arrived to Snow Wolf Lodge in Pegosa Springs, Colorado and I could already begin to feel an amazing change in my life—the perspective of it, the purpose of it, the understanding of what my life really means was in a flux and I was enjoying every moment of it. My name is Robert Oakley, and this is how my journey to The Summit began.

Summit Semester has and will serve many purposes this season of my life but essentially it is an academic gap-year program founded upon Biblical standards. It is a means to an end by which every student has arrived seeking with intrigue and desire not solely exclusive to myself for I have already gotten to know most if not all 31 students who have arrived. We all share the same interest and passion for doing well deep in the Mountains of Pegosa Springs and we’re all highly looking forward to it.

Getting here in the first place is quite the story within itself, as I would officially like to begin there. You could all say it started when I was born: into a Christian home to parents who both had no clue what to do in raising me as their first born but knew and understood and submitted to teaching me about their faith and bringing me up to claim it as my own. When I was the age of eight years old, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior by His perfect will and grace. From that day forward I knew and felt His presence influencing my life every day. It wasn’t up until my later years in high school, however, that I really began to explore for myself life’s great questions, and coming to understand and know not only what I believed but also why I believed what I believed.

It was through my mother’s teaching and her desire to home educate me that fully allowed me to have the recourses, capacity, and freedom to explore these pressing topics without the pressure and exclusiveness of secular society. Though a great part of my education was founded on a Biblical foundation, one other book that has played a major influence in my life was Dr. David Noebel’s Understanding the Times.

Coming back to the topic of Summit Ministries and Semester, I actually had very little recollection or understanding of the ministry even a long time after reading Dr. Noebel’s work. Little did I know how drawn in to the ministry I would become years later. My parents along with many elders from my church have also made a huge impact in my life along with authors such as C.S. Lewis, and the many missionary stories I would have read to me or heard about in church.  I was also very fortunate to attend Houston Baptist University near the city of Katy where I grew up getting a solid Biblical teaching in my core education.

It wasn’t really enough, though, to have such a strong connection with my heavenly creator, my family, my church, and my mere existence on such a flourishing emotional level. There needed to be so much more and I had lots of questions. This is one of the many areas Summit Semester has promised to touch on in regards to further developing my relationship with Christ and those around me. Semester’s mission is also to make my understanding on an intellectual level bringing even more meaning and balance to my own conscience. I am fully intrigued with the idea and pursuit of “knowing thyself” and am confident that in ever seeking for truth, yet seeking first the Kingdom of God, I will know myself according to my creator, my master, and my teacher. This is only part of what Summit Semester is all about and for the next 12 weeks I looking forward to sharing even more.

Although my access to the outside world will be limited, this time will be one of little distraction and incredible focus on the meaning of life as not just a human being, but a soul created in the likeness of Christ. I plan to write as regularly as I can, but promise only to post updates every Sunday when I can since that is the only time I expect to have internet access. So consider this your first update! I am alive, well, and looking forward to telling you about my great journey through Summit Semester.

I am praying for you all as image bearers of Christ—Imago Dei.

Noblesse oblige,

~Rob Oakley