Maybe I should have stayed home, I thought, bobbing my head to the music, scanning the party for familiar faces. When my friend invited me to come watch her husband’s band play at a retirement dinner for local teachers, I figured it would be fun. But now I just felt out of place. It didn’t help that my mind was somewhere else, worrying about the situation I was in.
I’m the director of Eaglecrest Alaska Missions—a Michigan nonprofit that helps needy families in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. It was almost time for our 10-week summer program to help needy residents with yard work, build sheds, paint homes. Typically we don’t have enough volunteer staff—maybe 10 if we’re lucky. This year? We had double that! I was incredibly grateful, but there wasn’t enough room for them on campus. To accommodate everyone we’d needed to utilize our bus—and I didn’t know anyone with a commercial license. I kept my worries between God and me, praying every day for a solution.
I hoped the party would help me relax. But the questions kept popping up in my head. Where would everyone stay? How would we travel to each town? I didn’t want to turn anyone away.
As the song ended, a man approached me. “Hey, Roger, right?”
“Yes,” I answered. I vaguely remembered meeting him once before, briefly. “Greg?”
“Good to see you again,” Greg said. “You here alone? Why don’t you sit and eat dinner with my wife, Gwen, and me?”
We chatted about the music, the food, what a nice night it was. I was grateful for the distraction, but whenever the conversation paused, I thought back to all the issues with the mission trip.
“You work with Eaglecrest, right?” Greg asked.
“I’m the director,” I answered.
“I thought so,” Greg said. “You know, Gwen and I have some cabins that are right near the Eaglecrest campus. If you ever need to use them, you’re more than welcome.”
I nearly dropped my fork. Cabins? Near Eaglecrest? “How did you know that’s what I needed?” I asked.
“Excuse me?”
I explained my situation with the volunteers. Greg genuinely had no idea. Hmm… maybe coming to this party wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“Now if I could just find someone to drive the bus…” I said.
Greg smiled. “Well, I do have a bus driver’s license.”
