A week ago tomorrow I found out Cascade College would be closing it's doors in May of this year. At first, all I felt was shock but now as time has passed I am feeling a lot of sadness and loss. Not just personal sadness or loss, but that for our community here in the Portland area. I was so blessed to have attended Cascade, and I am so sad to see it closing. I have so many memories at that school. I have been blessed with the rich heritage of Columbia and of Cascade. I have countless family members that attended both Columbia and Cascade, my dad and grandpa both served on the board of trustees. I got to walk and experience that campus with my sister and my brother in law. I met my best friends there and will forever be grateful for all of the opportunities I had to grow in spirit and knowledge over those 5 wonderful years.
Growing up I heard all about Columbia Christian College and all of the fun and exciting times my parents had there. That is where my wonderful parents met and fell in love, and it is also where they met a lot of their life long friends. Growing up they showed me the importance of maintaining relationships and how frutiful God can make them if you continue to invest in them. I remember as a young child dreaming of going to Columbia (at the time)and gaining what they had. As I entered high school and started thinking about college, I was able to start visiting the campus and was able to see what my parents had been telling me about all along. There was a spirit of community, love and support. I knew it was where God wanted me to be. So I went and experienced some of the happiest times of my life.
I am sorry that all of the current students have to think about leaving this place that has just started to or is finishing transforming their lives, I am sorry to all of the facutly and staff that have the Cascade vision and have to somehow let that go. I am sorry to all of the people who have invested all of their time and energy into this place that truly does transfrom lives. I could never tell you how much that place has impacted my life and can't imagine my life without it. I pray that we never lose our memories, traditions and relationships that we cultivated while spending time on that Northwest Corner of Heaven.
School of Brotherly Love
The raindrops beat upon the roof descending all in rhyme
The images of faded dreams keep drifting through my mind
The pieces of the puzzle of myself I had not found
But now I know the answer and my feet are on the ground
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain forever in my heart;
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain forever in my heart.
Lonely in my wanderings I walked without a home
The clouds of life, they followed me where ever I cast a stone
The wrong path I had chosen and there was no light to see
But now I 've found the answer and I'm hapy and I'm free
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain forever in my heart;
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain Forver in my heart.
I've learned to love and sing and pray and share a brother's tear
To know the joy of perfect peace and fellowship sincere
My heart was overjoyed with love and sunshine filled my soul
And now I walk the pathway to the true and only goal!
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain forever in my heart;
Oh, School of Brotherly Love remain forever in my heart.
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6 comments:
I can't read the lyrics to that song without a big lump in my throat and sadness in my heart. Don't you dare post the Delta song!!!
Hi Amanda,
I am writing a story for The Christian Chronicle about Cascade's closing and came across your blog post. Is there possibly a number or e-mail address where I could reach you to ask a few questions about your personal experience with Cascade? My e-mail is bobby.ross@christianchronicle.org.
Thanks,
Bobby Ross
Don't you think it would be lovely if we could get all the alumni in the area to go to a Mon. Night Devo sometime before we can't anymore? I do.
I feel the same way, Amanda. I just haven't had the time or energy to sit down and organize my thoughts, but you said it very nicely.
There will be a big loss in the NW due to Cascade closing and it will be a hard transition for all of us.
Hi Amanda,
My dad (Murray "Scottie" Cottell) wrote School of Brotherly Love after being at CCC for a year - he had to leave and expressed how much being at CCC touched him in that year. Twenty some odd years later, I attended CCC, just before it turned into Cascade. I, too, was only there for a year and share my dad's, and many many others view of how special and life-changing that little campus on Burnside truly is. Thanks for posting the lyrics here - I remember fondly singing it after devo.
Thanks again,
Christina Cottell
Amanda,
You don't know me, My name is Natasha and I go to Cascade presently and I thought this was a beautiful post, thank you for your thoughts and for posting the song. funny or not, most of us at Monday Night Devo don't know all the words and we take turns humming in place of them. But oddly enough, the day they announced the closing of Cascade these words are the only word that echoed in my mind as I sat crying in the Rehearsal Hall.
Thank you for your love, I love seeing these posts about Cascade, I'm sad they came out this way, but I do love seeing them. Cascade has a very very secial place in my heart.
I agree with Jamie, you all should come for Monday Night Devo, but also on Wednesday Nights we are having a "Remember Cascade/ Columbia" time and we're going to be sharing memories and such from school memories, recording them and putting them on a CD, we would love to have as many of you all as would like to come.
Thanks.
Natasha
Smiley_482005@yahoo.com
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