Floored.

Sometimes the way people reflect the image of God just floors me.

As many of you know, the organization we work for (New Horizons Foundation) is currently faced with many of the natural problems that come with success.  NHF does amazing work with youth in Romania, and that work has been noticed and appreciated -- and rightly so! -- by experts the world round.  It's Good work, life-giving work, work that makes me smile and skip as I walk home from an evening IMPACT meeting or hang up from a Skype call with leaders in Nicaragua.  But NHF's growth, like the growth of any organization, requires some changes -- in management structures, in sustainability, in governance and oversight, in leadership.  It happens to every organization.  It's natural, and a sign of Good things past and the promise of Good things to come.  But in the meantime, it's hard.

So Jack and I have wrestled with this throughout the last year -- witnesses to the pain and struggles of a teenage organization hitting puberty.  We don't have any answers, so we pray and complain and ponder and journal and complain and pray some more.  But what to do when you're new, and a foreigner, and you don't have any expertise?  It's easy to diagnose problems.  It's a lot harder to fix them.

Well.  In comes the amazing providential working of the Holy Spirit.  (You can tell I'm astonished right now; I almost never use the word 'providential'!)  So.  A few years ago, I was asked to be the student representative on the presidential search committee at Calvin College.  I didn't know at the time what saying yes to that meant, other than a lot of confidential meetings, a ton of extra reading during the months of my senior thesis, and working with important adults who impressed and intimidated me.  But through it all we were guided by this really kind, gentle man -- a consultant whose expertise was beautifully entwined in his gentle, empowering, thoughtful nature.  Rob's work left an extraordinary impression on me.  He probably knew from day one what the issues at Calvin were, all the things we needed in our next president, and how to heal as a community from the division that plagued us.  But -- in such a gentle, Jesus-like way -- he simply walked alongside us, gently probing, asking us questions in a way that provoked but never frightened, challenged but never attacked.  It sounds silly to say, but he was one of those people who just exuded love.  And sneaky, gentle brilliance.  Extraordinarily so.  Anyway, we eventually finished the search process, Michael Le Roy came to Calvin, I graduated from college, life went on.  I had learned a lot through that year-long process, about organizational structure and management and leadership and committee work and confidentiality and putting the needs of a community ahead of your own desires.  I was proud and grateful for the opportunity and everything I had witnessed and learned.  And that was that.

But recently I was thinking about NHF and suddenly had the idea to find Rob's contact information and just ask him if he had any advice for an organization in this tricky stage of expansion.  Little did I know that he would respond with such extraordinary generosity and kindness.  Jack and I just hung up from a Skype call with him, and I am just thankful.  Floored, really.  That God would fill His people and equip them to help and encourage one another in such remarkable ways... I'm really moved.  That God would put the pieces in place, at such a time and with such remarkable coincidences... I am astonished.  And that He would fill one of His servants with such gentleness and compassion and insight... I can only say, well, wow, and thank You.

So tonight I am encouraged.  It will be a long road, and who knows what will happen in our next few years here, with Rob or without him.  But for now I am just thankful that God cares about this organization, and that He provides the right people at the right time... and that they speak to us in His words, with His love, His peace.

Whew.  I am so, so thankful.