By Dr. MaryCatherIine Harmon, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology
In the body, there are over 600 of the future. We believe their voices hold meaning, and muscles, 206 bones, 11 organ systems, but only one heart. One heart that keeps us alive, moving, thinking, exploring, longing, creating and loving. One heart that will beat over 168,192,000 times during a student’s four years at HBU. At HBU, that heart can come alive in worship at convocation or cheering for the Huskies in the stands of an athletic event or asking that special someone to grab a cup of coffee at Java City. That student’s heart will see life and loss, victory and defeat, joy and sadness. And we, the faculty and staff at HBU, have been given the rare and precious gift of being the caretakers of those 168 million heartbeats.
In kinesiology, we have the honor to guide each student as we teach them how scientific, objective truth can meet and harmonize with biblical and spiritual truth. We present this harmony through the teaching of the beauty of intelligent design and encourage curiosity that leads to understanding. We maintain Christ at the center of ethical research and pursue the compassionate heart of Christ in the practice and care of patients and clients.
Over the course of a kinesiology students’ academic career, they will be taught the principles and interaction of the human body from the smallest chemical reactions that make a muscle contract to the motor development of the body across the lifespan. They will explore the psychology and theories of health and learn how to adapt health for the physically and mentally impaired. Students will engage in primary research and will be able to present their research at regional and state levels. Students are also given opportunities to participate in service and leadership events and experiences. All from the worldview and central confession that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
Our charge to our kinesiology students is to be the voices of the future. We believe their voices hold meaning, and given the chance, their voices can change our world. Our prayer is that their voices hold firm in the convictions of God’s truth with a heart for those who are hurting. And yes, our students will walk out of HBU with every chamber of the heart memorized and a depth of understanding of its every beat. But more importantly, they will also know the heart of Christ whose love for them is immeasurable.
Antoine De Saint-Exupery once said, “if you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Our time with our students is finite and our mission is quite simple, to know the hearts of our students so that we might teach them to yearn for the vast and endless heart of God by which science lives in perfect harmony with the world. At HBU we are graduating students not only with knowledge and passion but with purpose, built on the foundation of knowing Christ. A foundation built to withstand their next 168 million heartbeats and beyond.
We ask that you join us in our continual prayer over our students from the letters of Paul to the Colossians: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. –Colossians 1:9-14, NIV