A senior reflects on how he has been tested at ORU—in the best way
“The process of testing is a highly choreographed dance.”
That’s what Frank Santoni, chief pilot of commercial planes for Boeing Test and Evaluation, said when I visited Boeing’s factory near Seattle, Washington. Touring the massive facility meant witnessing doorways large enough for 747s to go through. To ensure safety and durability, these airplanes must be tested thoroughly.
Years before my tour at Boeing, my family and I escaped from Iran after my father’s life was threatened because he was a pastor. We soon made our home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
My father had yearned for his children to attend ORU before we ever left Iran, and his dream eventually came true. My journey at ORU has included plenty of late nights, great friendships and conversations where professors must have felt as though they were the Wright Brothers explaining the idea of flight for the first time. I’ve spent four years being told that folks in the world are walking, but God has called us to fly.
As with many of my peers in modern day Christendom, I’ve been raised and encouraged to find God’s dream for my life and cooperate in bringing it to fruition. I’ve met and learned about folks who’ve caught the jet streams of God’s anointing on their lives and circled the globe in order to “go into every man’s world.” Like my fellow eager Golden Eagles, I began my time at ORU looking forward to finding my own jet stream, preaching God’s word, writing bestsellers that transform the way people perceive and experience Christianity and marrying the woman of my dreams.
But soaring successfully, whether as a Golden Eagle or a Boeing 747, requires plenty of due diligence that one cannot afford to rush or overlook.
One particular test I noticed during the Boeing tour was the “ultimate load wing and fuselage bending” test. This test involves suspending the airplane barely off the ground by attaching it to an infrastructure, which holds it completely still. Just about every difficulty a plane might face is emulated to see how it holds up. If planes could talk, they may point out the irony of being created to soar all over the world yet being kept seemingly stagnant for a time. “I was created to fly thousands of feet in the air!” the plane might say, “But you’ve forced me to remain still and now you’re throwing things at me.” Yet, the ultimate load wing test is conducted on every Boeing plane in order to determine the amount of load the airplane
Planes don’t talk—but college students do. My time at ORU has been full of dreaming about the future and longing for the day where I take off and move people toward the heart of God. But these dreams remain untouchable when testing is delayed or skipped.
My four years at ORU have been a highly choreographed dance, like Santoni described. I’ve found myself being tested time and time again for the purpose of ensuring that I won’t crash once I’m out on my own. Though I’ve been taught about my potential and God-given mandate to go into every man’s world, my journey at ORU has been about God making me still so that He could come and make His home in my world.
My four years at ORU have been a highly choreographed dance, like Santoni described. I’ve found myself being tested time and time again for the purpose of ensuring that I won’t crash once I’m out on my own.
Whether a plane landing in Tulsa comes from Durham, North Carolina, Chicago, Illinois or Mashad, Iran, the passengers can’t help but be thankful for all those tests that took place long before they boarded. And whether it was a professor encouraging a tired freshman taking time out to have coffee with a beautiful girl or learning to be still and hear the voice of God, none of the tests of college life are in vain. I imagine there are alumni all over the world who, when they look back at their time at ORU, find themselves grateful for all the testing that took place here. I know I am.
