The next 523 words won’t fit the form of your traditional opinions article. However, since I will be writing in the opinions section all year, I didn’t feel right about jumping in without introducing myself first. I felt it was like beginning a conversation without shaking your hand and telling you my name.

I was born in a cozy suburb called Edmonds, Washington where bumper stickers read, “It’s an Edmonds kind of day,” and you can frequently hear the whistle of the ferry or the train as the sun sets over Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. When I was about five years old God turned me from an enemy to a friend. Since then he has used a loving family, a sport called wrestling, a rapper named Lecrae, a band named Switchfoot, and quite a few people, trials and cross-cultural experiences to shape me and the perspective that I'll be speaking from this year.

I love writing, but I have never written for a newspaper before, and I never thought I would. My intercultural studies major doesn’t have a whole lot to do with rhetoric, press or media. So what am I doing writing for the Chimes? Well, I really care about the Biola community, and every year that I have been a student here, I’ve found a way to participate in that community. That’s what I want to do again this year, but with a pad and a pen … or in this case a laptop.

One thing that overwhelms me about writing is that so much has already been written. Whenever I wander around a library or a bookstore, I always think to myself, “How could there possibly be anything left to say?” Solomon seemed to feel this way when he said, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body,” in Ecclesiastes 12:12. This year it is my goal to bring attention to those things that need to be said, but have never been voiced before. I also hope to say those things that have been said over and over again and need to be said one more time, but maybe with new words or a fresh perspective.

Think of it like this: When I was a kid I played the original Warcraft video game. In the game the majority of the map is black. The area occupied by your soldiers is the only portion of the map that is visible. In order to discover those portions of the map which remain hidden, you must send your soldiers out exploring. As the soldiers enter uncharted territory, the gamer uncovers lakes, forests and gold mines that were previously concealed. In the same way, I hope to explore uncharted territory and to articulate that truth which is still hidden from us or which we haven’t yet learned to put into practice.

I hope to speak consistently into the intersection of big ideas and daily living, of theory and practice, of doctrine and action. And I hope to do it all as authentically and transparently as I can.

Hi, my name is Stefan. Nice to meet you.