A Leap of Faith

(Circa 1985)

Life was good in our little house in Lakewood, CA. It had become our home and was the place where we raised our children, entertained friends and family, and simply lived our life.

Our house was built in the early 1950’s, right after World War II when the GIs were coming home and starting their families. There hadn’t been very much remodeling done since its construction. We had done a lot of re-decorating and landscaping when we moved in but nothing significant, that is, until we got tired of our outdated, old, kitchen.

Bill, the perpetual do-it-yourselfer, and his expert woodworker father took a hard look at the eyesore and decided to do something about it. And so one lovely Sunday afternoon, we placed hammers in both of our children’s hands and told them to start smashing out two walls. They were in demolition heaven and couldn’t believe they were actually allowed to smash holes in the walls! The renovation had begun!

And so, for the next few months, our house turned into a construction zone. Bill and his dad built new oak cabinets from scratch and I was the designated finisher. As each new cabinet was constructed, I set about sanding them. I sanded … and sanded … and sanded some more. Then I applied stain, then polyurethane and sanded some more. After more sanding and painting and sanding and painting, those cabinets came out as smooth as glass – beautiful, if I do say so myself.

I spent weeks and weeks working on those cabinets and during that time I learned to love wood and the unique grains and aromas of each piece. Sawdust covered every inch of my body, turned my dark brown hair blond and invaded my nose. With every step I took after a day of sanding, clouds of sawdust billowed into the air. I didn’t mind – I was just looking forward to my beautiful new kitchen.

Finally, it was done! Cooking became a joy and was a source of pride when we entertained guests. Plus, we had learned many lessons and skills along the way that would serve us well in the future – not only how to remodel kitchens but how to stay married in the process (if you know what I mean…)

A Lesson Learned

I did learn one important lesson from my 7-year old son, Luke. I was cooking in my new kitchen one day when Luke accidentally knocked something over. It hit one of the beautiful new cabinet doors and put a big 2-foot scratch right down the front of it. My life flashed before my eyes. I was horrified! Then I looked into the sorrowful eyes of my sweet, rambunctious little boy.

If he had scratched it on purpose, I would have been justified in being angry and would have applied some discipline to his little behind. However, it was just an accident. It was then that I realized my kitchen is just a temporary thing and would someday be old again and need another remodel. In fact, all of my possessions are temporary and are, in an eternal perspective, worthless. My little boy, however, is not. He is priceless. We did, however, have a little talk about being more careful but the experience put my possessions in their proper perspective.

Moving? Are You Kidding?

Our kitchen hadn’t been finished for too long before one Sunday afternoon as we were driving home from church, Bill glibly said something out of the blue that rocked my little world. “Maybe we should move some day.” WHHHAAAATTTT??? Where on earth did THAT come from? I didn’t say anything in response; I was too shocked, but that statement set my heart on a downward spiral.

By the time we got home, I had to go to the bathroom. As I closed the bathroom door, the Lord started to speak to me: “What if I am speaking through Bill? What if I want you to move?” I replied, “Absolutely NOT! That’s impossible. You wouldn’t want us to do that. We just finished our new kitchen. I love our neighborhood and our house and our church and our life here. Bill has a really good job. There’s no way I want to move!” He persisted: “But what if it’s me that wants you to move? I want you to flush the toilet, then march out to the living room and tell Bill that, if he wants to move, you are willing.”

I can’t describe what happened next, except it was a kind of “out-of-body” experience. I watched myself as I marched out to the living room and announce to Bill, “If you want to move, I am willing.” I looked at myself again in shock and scratched my head. “Where did THAT come from?”

It’s a funny thing how God works. When you obey what he says, even if you don’t want to, something in your heart changes and you begin to desire what he desires. It took a long time after I made that announcement, but gradually my heart began to kinda, sorta WANT to move. This was crazy – insane – but there really was something brewing.

To Flagstaff, Arizona?

Our closest friends, Don & Zaida and their two girls, lived 1 block from us and we were all in the same church. Bill and Don would count the offering every other Sunday night and one night as they were counting they began to talk about this crazy idea of moving. Don felt like the Lord wanted them to move too – and that our two families should move together. But where to? After they talked more over the next few weeks, they felt like the Lord was telling them that we should move to Flagstaff, Arizona. Our church organization had just planted a brand new church there and we should go to help strengthen it.

But where on earth was Flagstaff, Arizona? Isn’t Arizona one huge desert? I detested the desert, especially the thought of actually living in one. However, after a little research, I discovered that Flagstaff is a mountain town, at an elevation of 7,000 feet! It is surrounded by a huge ponderosa pine forest and gets SNOW every winter – a LOT of snow! Now this was looking better and better to my native Southern California soul. I could think of a lot worse places to live. I loved the mountains! HOWEVER, the economy in Flagstaff didn’t look so good. Jobs that paid more than minimum wage were scarce and there were certainly no aerospace or manufacturing industries in existence there. A popular saying used by locals describing Flagstaff is “poverty with a view”.

A Leap of Faith

Ssssoooooo, Lord, how do you expect us to make a living? His response? “Trust me.”

This was crazy – insane! But, by faith we put the house on the market anyway (for sale by owner). It sold very quickly for full, cash price! Oooo, this was getting a little too real. I can’t lie; no matter how I wanted to trust God, sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, terrorized by the prospect of our future, desperately trying to put my faith in God.

Being that we sold our house, now we needed to buy a house in Flagstaff and decided to make a vacation out of it. And so we set off with our little tent trailer, traveling through Colorado and Utah, ending up in Flagstaff and began looking for just the right house. We finally decided on one, almost brand new and ironically located on West Shannon Drive. Little 5-year-old Shannon was worried that she would have to change her name. We assured her that, no, she could keep her name, plus, she would always remember the street she lived on.

But the question persistently loomed in my heart – how were we going to make a living? Our very patient, helpful realtor gave us an idea: start a home maintenance business. Bill had the necessary skills and tools and I was good at advertising and graphics. Why not? Maybe this was what the Lord was leading us to do. And so upon our arrival back home we set about getting ready for the big move.

Moving in the Midst of Turmoil

However, a big problem arose in the family. About 6 weeks before our scheduled departure, Bill’s parents had gone on a trip to Atlanta. During that time Bill’s father became gravely ill and had to be hospitalized. His condition steadily worsened. The day before we were scheduled to move, they flew him home, traveling on a stretcher in first class, along with Bill’s mom and a friend to care for him.

The plane landed late at night and an ambulance took them from the airport to a hospital in Anaheim. It was midnight when we met them at the hospital. His father was barely conscious and we think he recognized Bill, but aren’t quite sure. It was heartbreaking to see this formerly robust man so very incapacitated, now on life support.

But our Ryder truck was packed with all of our household goods, escrow had closed and the new owners were moving in the next day, so we had to leave. Our hearts were torn in two and we were assaulted by a whirlwind of emotions. But we decided we could drive to Flagstaff, unload the truck and then Bill could drive back to California as soon as he could to be with his parents.

At about 10:00 pm the next night we were ready to leave. After a very slow trip across the desert we finally arrived in Flagstaff at about 4:00 pm the next day, welcomed by our new church friends, ready to help us unpack the truck.

What a lovely sight greeted us: fresh, clear mountain air, laced with the pungent aroma of a swift-moving summer monsoon rain and ponderosa pine trees. Our new home was graced with a spectacular view of the beautiful San Francisco Peaks right behind our house. That night, as we lay in our hastily unpacked bed, we opened the door to let in the cool summer breeze. Bill said, “Listen!” I didn’t hear anything, so I queried, “Listen to what?” He said, “Nothing! It’s so quiet.” He was right. No longer were we subjected to the din of Southern California city traffic and police helicopters. It was just so quiet. And the stars!! They lit up the night sky in a brilliant display of God’s majesty. Yes, I could handle this!

We unpacked the necessary household items the next day and Bill was on the road back to California as soon as he could get away. As he was driving back, we received word that his dad had passed away. So instead of Bill greeting his dad, he helped plan a funeral. A few days later, the kids and I flew back to California to mourn the death of Grandpa.

A few days after the funeral we were ready to drive back to Flagstaff. Our friends, Don & Zaida were ready to move at that time so we decided to drive together. We assembled a caravan consisting of a Ryder moving truck, three cars and a U-Haul trailer and made yet another trek across the desert at night. We were finally ready to begin our new adventure of a life in Flagstaff. Little did we know what awaited us…

… By Faith …

We have experienced many parallels to the life of Abraham and Sarah in the Bible and our experience of moving is one of them. Hebrews 11:8-9a says, “By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country…”

That certainly happened to us. We knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that moving to Flagstaff was something that God absolutely wanted us to do. It didn’t make sense. It was insane. It was risky. But what were we to do? God told us to do it. It was like jumping off the edge of a cliff, trusting that God would catch us. We didn’t have jobs. We didn’t have health insurance. We were plunging into a cavernous unknown. BUT we had a loving heavenly father that, we knew, would take care of us. And that’s exactly what he did.