by Gus Kroustalis

Created on: January 15, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

I am one of the many fortunate people in this country who has grown up in a church. However, as mature Christians realize, that can be positive and negative with respect to a person's walk with Christ. Some people see fit to simply be church members. In my personal experience I was baptized as an infant into the Greek Orthodox Church. That admittance into the denomination allowed me to learn about our Savior and other important things such as the value of worship.

Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a cultural thing for me. I still had the secular version of Christianity in my head; I was a "good person" but not too much more with respect to God and living a life for Him. I eventually left home (Winston-Salem, NC) for college at Seton Hall University to be a student-manager for the men's basketball team, coached by former Duke player Tommy Amaker. That was the highlight of my life. It got me out of bed in the morning because it was at the top of my priority list, even above school and maybe even above family because, looking back, I did not invest much time into family during that year.
Working for the basketball team was exciting. There was time spent with high profile athletes and personalities, split-second appearances on SportsCenter, an identity with the basketball team on campus, and much more. Something was missing, though. I became homesick and eventually wanted to go in a different direction. The business side of college basketball desensitized me to the glamour side. After speaking with my parents and other mentors, I decided to stick it out one more semester just in case I might change my mind.
The dorm that I lived in at Seton Hall was (and still is) named Boland Hall. It houses over 500 freshmen each year and unfortunately had a notorious reputation among all of the dorms on campus for excessive false fire alarms each year. In the fall semester of my freshman year, we had 18 false alarms. It becomes tedious after the first few, having to leave the building in the middle of the night and stand outside in the cold northern New Jersey air until the fire department opens the doors.
On January 18, 2000, the basketball team scored a big victory over St. Johns. Everyone was on cloud nine including myself. At 4:30am the following morning, the fire alarm went offagain. I did everything I could to try to fall back asleep until I heard girls screaming for help. This one was real and most students did not take it seriously because of the previous false

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