Bringing Wisdom from The Past into The Present: Ora Et Labora with Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas didn’t always see himself working at a small, Christian college.

“I’ve done a lot of things in my life, not all of them good. I even walked away from God completely for 8to 10 years, but God never walked away from me,” told members of the Kuyper community assembled in the Vos Chapel for Ora Et Labora, a weekly time where speakers come to campus to talk about their work and how their faith impacts that work.

Kuyper’s Director of Campus Operations smiled as he recalled the ways God has guided him through the many hills and valleys of life.

“The older I get, the more I realize how God has formed me, my life, and the direction I go. Now, when I look back on certain moments, I realize why He had me go through them,” he said.

Thomas believes his experiences allow him to help create a different kind of campus culture at Kuyper –one that is set apart from other higher learning institutions.

“My spiritual gifts are the knowledge and wisdom that I can bring from my past,” he said. He told the audience that he finds himself relying on these gifts more and more as the KuyperWorks program – the most visible facet of Kuyper’s work college initiative – grows and develops. Because he oversees the students who hold facilities positions through KuyperWorks, he is also often the person they come to for counsel.

“When students come into my office to talk about the ups and downs in their lives, I’m able to talk to them about how God got hold of me and brought me back onto the right path,” he said.

When asked what advice he might have for the listening students, Thomas smiled as he had this to say: “God’s going to open lots of door in your life. Don’t be afraid to try something new or do a job that you think is beneath you or that you don’t qualify for. God’s got a plan for you, He’s just not going to tell you what it is ahead of time.”