16.
The Art of Humility
The ability to speak truth into someone’s life only comes by permission and is most effective only through a relationship built on trust. But it absolutely requires a healthy dose of humility to both give and receive it.
I learned these truths through many friendships, but one of the most memorable times someone has spoken into my life came through my best friend from college, Brian Coscia. The University of Valley Forge (formerly Valley Forge Christian College) is a small university in rural Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia in a town called Phoenixville. The school only had about five hundred students in total when I arrived in 1992. Some of the best Philly cheese steak sandwiches were just across the street from the University at Bob’s Haven Pizza & Deli. You could experience the best milkshakes on the planet at T.D. Alfredo’s Pizzeria downtown in Phoenixville
The university was moved in 1976 to the former Valley Forge General Hospital on the property of a former military hospital base. The dorms were old buildings where some of the rooms may have been former offices, but most were former beds for patients. I am certain my first room at the school was a closet of some kind. It was at the end of the hallway just next to the door that led to the exit at the end of the building.
The men’s dorms had community showers on each floor where six to eight showerheads lined the inside of a white-and-green-tile room. This is where I learned to take quick and efficient showers at the times when there were not a lot of guys going in and out.
Brian’s room was at the other end of the hall and was a much larger room he had all by himself. We had no laundry room at the dorm, so weekly trips to the local laundry mat became customary. We would take our laundry to wash it, grab a pizza at the shop next door, and either do homework, talk, or just hang out.
If you are from the east coast, you will remember a convenience store