In February we lost the use of a van we had been borrowing from the St. Johns Wesleyan Church. The van had been destroyed when the rear wheels caught on fire after taking some church members home after a Sunday service.

The Opportunity

Thus began the hard work of solving the opportunity that stood before us. Some could view this as a problem, but we prefer to see it as an opportunity!  At FamilyWorks we have a finance policy that states all spending has to fall within the current fiscal budget. Funds raised in this year are stored in the savings account and then used to make a budget for the following year. In order to honor this policy we created a special projects clause, but the money still needed to be raised and not borrowed from the current budget.  Our current budget was $16,680 and had no room to purchase a vehicle that would meet our transportation needs. It took us a year to raise the funds we currently were operating on and that was a lot of hard work from many people to even make that possible.

Where would we find a vehicle to meet this need with no money to spend? On top of all that not one of us at FamilyWorks are paid to do this work we are called to do! Where do we find the time to work full-time at our other jobs, continue to fulfill the programming and services that we have going; raise funds for the next year so that we can at least offer an equivalent level of service to our community as we did in this year, and get this need met too?

All this is opportunity looking straight at us! On the front end of this journey I was telling the boys at Lions of Judah, “I have no road map to help me through this opportunity…there is nothing that says if you do, A, B, and C, that I will get the outcome I want.” Then I told them to watch me succeed when there is no clear direction to go. A lesson they need to learn as they face their own individual opportunities. What a great OPPORTUNITY  to model this mindset to these future men who will be leading their own families in our community one day!

So the journey began in late February and ended in May, nearly six weeks later, with a beautiful bus in hand! I literally started by telling everyone I knew about the need and in that time we raised $4,000, almost 25% of our annual budget, found a suitable bus when I knew nothing about buses, and got to share the mission of Familyworks with over 100 people! People who will be great assets to the future viability of FamilyWorks!

Our mechanic says it was a great buy for the price because it was in mint shape for the age of the bus. Even more important than reaching the goal of meeting our transportation needs was the great  inspiration that filled the hearts of many.  The mere presence of the bus has created an excitement, a sense of adventure, and the wonder of God’s grace.

Hope Arrives

No one said it out loud, but their eyes and body language, shouted hope!  The first Sunday it sat in the parking lot it attracted kids and families.  Parents simply sat in the seats talking as kids played about pretending to be on a road trip.  At the Lions of Judah meeting all were excited. Every meeting ends with a 15 minute block where an adult debriefs the day with announcements and a word of wisdom, called the “Director’s Cut.”  That night’s Cut was held in the bus, the modeling of living out a hopeful mindset now  complete, I spoke to these future men with a renewed strength and confidence that told me God was leading the ship.

As I stepped out in my own faith to make a project happen, I was reminded of how important it is to walk into the great unknown of my life with HOPE in the forefront of my attitude. Not only as a role model to the boys I lead, but for my own assurance that He is with me.

As God provides one simple need of transportation, maybe the bus is a greater symbol of the journey we are all on. Perhaps it says, God will give us the bus that we could not see once and when it comes, just in time to take us down the road a little further, don’t be afraid to get on board and see where He’ll take us!

“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:24-25