Leaving York

(Picture: This magnet is on my friend’s fridge, and I can’t think of a more appropriate image for this post.)

Two years ago as John and I we were on a road trip to visit our son in the military, we took advantage of the time by planning and organizing the HUGS for Tomorrow ministry. It was a cute, fun project when it was small and all we did was feed some kids, but it had reached the point of needing serious structuring. It was time to put pen to paper and really make it all official. That was shortly after we had applied for our 501(c)3 nonprofit status with the government. We were ready for the next phase of development, which we expected would involve more money and more people than we could manage in our own heads. I had my laptop open for a couple of hours in the car and wrote lots of notes and emails and documents. But we spent most of our time dreaming and praying together about what amazing things God might want to do with our meager initial efforts, and we asked for His guidance.

It was on that trip that John got an invitation to visit York, Nebraska, where his old school buddy was the president of the Christian college. It was a scouting trip to see if John would be a good choice to serve as dean and vice president of student life. While that seemed somewhat out of the blue to us, we’ve learned to not dismiss any opportunity that presents itself during a prayer campaign. But did they know he had never worked in higher education? Did they know his wife had no idea what a dean does? Did they know we were kind of busy building a school in Africa that would one day, Lord willing, include a university? It hit us at the same time that a position like the one on the table may be just the answer we were looking for. What better people to mentor us to build a Christian school than another Christian school? So, we went and checked it out and, much to our delight, we all seemed to agree on the vision: John would fill the position at York and York would adopt the HUGS ministry as a little sister, sending students on campaign trips and maybe one day even to school there as part of an exchange program. What a brilliant and beautiful plan! Suddenly we were excited about a place we didn’t even know existed just weeks before.

Well, it might have been our first indication that things were not going to go as planned—or even modestly well—when on moving day I was sick as a dog and had to pop Sudafed just to breath and to stay awake for the nine-hour drive from Texas. If that wasn’t challenging enough, we passed through a haboob on the way into town. If you don’t know what a haboob is, you are not alone. Spell check doesn’t even recognize it and wants to change it to “kabob,” and I promise you we would all have much preferred little skewers of tasty meat to what we experienced that day. It started like a dark orange cloud that came rolling in from the west and was on us in seconds but lasted for what seemed like an eternity. It was the most terrifying sand storm I’ve ever seen in real life, like something from Dune or Star Wars. Ben and I were in my car behind John in the U-haul that kept tipping to the side enough to raise the tires off the ground. I told Ben to put a pillow between his head and the window and to look to his right in case one of the larger chunks of flying debris might break through and poke his eye out—or worse. Knowing what I know now, I think it might have been God telling us to turn back.

Suffice it to say, York didn’t work out for us, and we are all glad to be leaving. Not bitter, just glad. Not surprisingly, John did an amazing job and left the school a better place, as was attested by many parting comments. Also, we have made a few lifelong friends and got a daughter-in-law, so I’m not sure I can say I wouldn’t do it all over again, but I would need a lot of  prescription medication and/or liquor. I have some stories that I will be sharing with you, but I have no interest in venting or tattling or making anyone feel bad. On the contrary, I hope our family will process two of the worst years of our lives in a healthy, godly way that will make us better people. I just happen to process through writing, so you can look forward to some entertaining, and hopefully, inspiring words from what I glean over the coming weeks and months.

I feel like we owe it to our faithful supporters to say we never intended to divert from the ministry you are funding. Quite the opposite, really. We didn’t know until we moved to Nebraska that the school’s offer to partner with HUGS was, at best, disingenuous. They weren’t shy in telling us they never truly intended to give it any attention. They apparently didn’t realize how seriously we take it. We were initially crushed and felt duped but believed God would eventually work it out. He has. Ultimately, He has allowed us to leave and to go back to full time development of the school we have already built up to the fifth grade. And, He graciously forced us through a two-year eye-opening, skin-toughening curriculum that will undoubtedly serve us in ways no other experience ever could. So, as we say goodbye to York and a few very special people, we say hello to the next chapter of this crazy, wonderful story as stronger, deeper, more attentive disciples of Christ who are hopefully better equipped to continue building the awesome ministry in Malawi that He has called us all to. Thank you for being a part of it and for continuing to pray for the future of our campus and for the 150 children we serve. We believe some amazing days are ahead.