I am not with my students this summer. They are interning in California. Studying in New Orleans. Each member of our merry band is alone, for the most part. It is a bad thing: they cannot lean on each other. It is a good thing: they cannot lean on each other. Since the semester ended, numerous students have reached out to tell me that the summer is a struggle. They demanded that I hold Bible study, which I had not thought to propose.

These are successful, charismatic young men. They live in “fun” cities riddled with every form of debaucherous entertainment. They are surrounded by participants willing to accompany them on whatever misadventure their overworked minds might dream up, and what are they doing instead? Calling their campus missionary to lament the depravity in their midst. Tuning into a Zoom call at 9PM on Wednesdays to talk about the Bible.

In the fall, these students did not notice the poison in the air because they had not breathed anything else. Slowly, we carved out a space in a dirty, smelly, two-bedroom apartment that the fools did not even lock. There was clean air, and they learned to breathe it. It was a change that they did not notice until the summer took it away from them. Now they are holding their breath, coming up for gasps where they can find them. They breathe in the Lord through the virtue that their brothers express.

This time in history is a blessing for those exposed to the truth. Our surroundings are so backwards that their nature is impossible to ignore once seen for what they are. It is dangerous for anyone to go it alone, but every one of the students with whom I work knows his choice.