IT'S GOING TO BE SOMETHING

"If I traded it all ...
If I gave it all away for One Thing,
Just for One Thing ...
If I sorted it out ...
If I knew all about this One Thing,
Wouldn’t that be something?"

(One Thing by Finger Eleven)

Yesterday evening, Melissa and I were stopped at our local JayC grocery store to grab a quick and easy family dinner of deli fried chicken on our way home from Indianapolis when I heard these pop song lyrics playing faintly over the sound system.

"If I traded it all ... if I gave it all away for One Thing..."

And I teared up just a bit.

The tears weren't about me or my family - although this song really resonated with me a few years ago when Melissa and I were selling everything and packing our family for the move to Haiti. Saying goodbyes. Wondering what the future would hold.

Yesterday the song moved me to tears for our friends (and soon-to-be co-workers) Jeff and Chris Love and their son Camden. Because they are going through that same turmoil RIGHT NOW.

Jeff in the garage - Smiling through it all ...

The Love family (I know, right?) first visited the OMS ministry in Vaudreuil just a couple of years ago. Long story short, God spoke to them about serving at Cowman School long term and they said YES. Chris will be teaching junior and senior high science courses for us full-time while Jeff will be helping out part-time with math.

Our family is excited for Cowman and for the Loves because we are convinced it's going to be SOMETHING once they hit the ground in Haiti.

But NOW? Now it is rough and I just want to ask our praying friends to remember this precious family in your prayers in the coming days and weeks. Yesterday Melissa and I were in Indy to help Jeff and Chris with the final few frantic hours of moving the last odds and ends out of their house of 17 years and cleaning the place from top to bottom in preparation for new owners.

If you have moved recently, you know that the job is ten times worse than you anticipate going into it. Add to the stresses of a "normal" move all the extra decisions and the lightening of the load that comes when you are heading overseas. Each and every item silently asks, "Should I be thrown away? Sold? Given to somebody? Packed in the suitcase? Placed in the shipping crate? Put in long term storage?" Add, also, weeks of difficult goodbyes and some serious health issues among extended family, and you'll perhaps understand why I am asking you to lift the Loves in prayer. They are in the midst of a physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining process. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel...

Melissa and I and the kids have much to do over the next two weeks, but we are excited to head to the airport on August 16th because we'll be going HOME. But we're also excited because the Loves managed to book their seats on the same flight, so we'll be heading into Haiti together. We have already pledged our willing assistance, in those first few weeks especially, in making sure they are fed and shown the ropes.

It's not going to be easy - and they know that - but it IS going to be SOMETHING.

Something beautiful.
Something fulfilling.
Something stretching.
Something God made them for.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

- Ephesians 2:10

Dinner in Indy with the Loves and another new Cowman teacher, Kacie, a couple of weeks ago.

DINNER WITH STRANGERS

Last Friday night was the 16th anniversary of the day Melissa and I said "I do". It is safe to say that we had no idea what we were getting into that clear summer day, but it has been a fantastic journey ... and one that gets better with each passing year.

About every other July 15th, we manage to do something special to celebrate. For example, last year we were on Lake Okoboji with all the kids and some dear friends and the day was perfect, ending in a romantic sunset viewed from the back of a boat.

It was GOOD.

But this year? We were leaving for a week in Iowa the very next morning and there were things to do, so Melissa and I told ourselves that our kid-less time in the Northwest last month would have to suffice as an early anniversary celebration. 

During the day, I did manage to find some flowers (on clearance at Walmart!), bought some cheesecake slices, dipped some strawberries in chocolate and turned the above photo into a small placard. (Melissa, meanwhile, had the kids at a hot, crowded zoo with Grandma Trudy - so I got the better end of the deal.)

The cheesecake and strawberries were intended to give us something sweet for a late evening dessert, something to look forward to while sitting through a dinner engagement I had scheduled a few weeks earlier with a couple of women I knew only via messages they had left on the Cowman Facebook page. 

Romantic, right?  As our dinner "date" approached, my uneasiness grew. I started fearing I had committed a monumental husbandly faux pas. Dinner with strangers on our anniversary? Throughout the day, in my mind, the probability of great social awkwardness steadily climbed toward 99%. Even on our drive to the restaurant, Melissa was grilling me: "Tell me again - who are these people we're meeting?"

Here's what I understood about who we were meeting: Caryn and her friend Jane lived in Michigan but their hearts had been captured by Haiti on a couple of short term trips, accompanied also by Caryn's brother, Craig, who lived in Kentucky. Craig's church had struck up a relationship with a school in Cap Haitian but, over the span of several visits, they had all gotten a bit disillusioned with the quality of the education and other important aspects of the arrangement. They were on the internet exploring options for rerouting their time and resources when they came across some information on Cowman. 

Which is what led to us all gathering at an upscale hamburger place in Columbus. Craig and his wife Ruth had driven up from Kentucky and Jane and Caryn had driven down from Michigan just to talk about ministry in Haiti with US for an evening!

All concern over awkwardness evaporated completely within the first 60 seconds of meeting these four strangers just inside the restaurant doors. They were full of insights and questions and so incredibly easy to talk to. It was quite apparent that they greatly desired to serve the people of Haiti while being good stewards of the gifts God had given them to share.

And that made the evening one of incredible encouragement for Melissa and me. Cowman seemed to meet every expectation they had for a worthwhile school to throw their support behind in ministry:

- Christ centered

- Pre-K through high school

- Responsible use of financial resources

- Ministry in support of parents

- Trained and supported staff

- A vision for the betterment of not only individual students, but of Haiti as a whole

These kind folks treated us to dinner and encouraged us beyond anything we could have expected when we walked in those doors. Melissa and I left the restaurant feeling refreshed and invigorated. It couldn't have been a better anniversary celebration.

Only the Lord can knit six hearts together so quickly. We look forward to having some or all of these four visit us in Cap Haitien in the very near future! And we can only imagine what the Lord has in mind for this new friendship...