My son Ben, who is 18 and a senior in High School has been looking at colleges for a year or so. he's visited many of them, and gotten calls from numerous running coaches all over the country. He has been chanting and studying hard, and running.
This Sunday he went to Miami of Ohio for a visit. He went alone by bus. He loved it the moment he got there. At some of the colleges he's visited, the runners were isolated and spent a lot of their time playing video games. Ben's not much of a video game player, and wants to be integrated into the whole college experience.
At Miami of Ohio he felt at home right away. He loved the feel of the campus and everything he experienced there. He saw that the runners are really a part of everything...and, on Monday...the coach told him about a great scholarship offer he could extend to Ben. And Ben accepted the offer on the spot.
That's the part that gets me the most...I am so impressed by the fact that Ben was certain...he knew without a doubt that this was the right college for him...and it offered him the biggest scholarship of them all...almost a full ride. isn't that something. That is fortune. That is the kind of fortune you get by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. When Ben chants, he chants so heard he sweats. His whole life flows through his daimoku.
And now he is set.
It was a visual transformation as well. When he came home on Monday he LOOKED like a college boy. And he looked so serene. He has made a major decision. He made it by himself, and he fulfilled a goal he has had for many years of going to school on scholarship...his running efforts have paid off in a big way...all that running in the rain...all that pain...it has all paid off! Go Ben! I am soooo proud of you!!!