“I will lead the
blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide
them. I will make darkness into light
before them and rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone”
(Isa. 42:16).
Hey Gang: Last week
I had the privilege to be a tiny part of the dedication of the Lighthouse
Academy, the new school program at the Village.
I remembered back, how many years, I am not sure, when Gov. John Engler,
called to inform me that the legislation allowing development of Charter
Schools in Michigan had passed and suggested that we consider being the first
charter school in Michigan.
It was a time of extreme agony for me. I was far from
satisfied with our education program at that time but we had just received wonderful
gifts from two wonderful ladies to build our third and fourth residential
units. That meant double everything
including staff and, adding the nuts and bolts of adding a school at that time
was just impossible.
If I were to choose the two toughest years of my tenure in
development of the Village, it would be during that period. We learned that “if it could break it would”,
or “if it could be confused and come out the opposite of what we planned, It
did”. We were in the midst of trying to develop treatment teams in two houses,
and finding qualified staff who were willing to move to Hersey, Michigan, and in filling the beds in the two new houses
meant twenty-two new boys that we knew absolutely nothing about arriving on our
doorstep. I do not believe I had one
continuous night sleep during that period.
As I stood there at the dedication of the Lighthouse Academy,
Leppien House, previously known as the Starr Home was to my right, Ashmun
School behind me, the Branson center dead ahead and beside it the Strosacker
Maintenance Building. In the distance I
could see Hainley House, the Ashmun House and the Sherk House and behind me on
the hillside, the Putnam House. As I
viewed each one, a thousand memories of the good things and the bad flooded my
mind; all part of the process called
rising to the top of the mountain.
How many times I stood on Mt Nose, a favorite name of our
family for the hill behind Putnam House, and looked at what God had done, again
I asked the Lord, “Why me Lord?” “Why
did you pick me?” or better said, “Why did you allow me to be part of this
wondrous miracle called Eagle Village?
Were there not better equipped people who would have listened more
intensely, who had much more talent than I?”
The answer was always the same, “Because you were willing! Because I
knew you would climb to the top of the mountain.”
That brought back more memories of people who came here to
gain advice on how they could follow in our footsteps. But, to our knowledge, none made it because
they came and saw the beautiful campus with all of the program activities and
they were not willing to go through the process
and the agony and pain to climb ten
feet at a time- up the mountain. They
could not see the top of the mountain because of the storm clouds and soon
allowed the agony and pain associated with climbing mountains to kill their
dreams.
Well, I cannot close this without a challenge to you who are
beginning to climb your mountain. My
advice is “Don’t try it if you are not in good spiritual, physical and
emotional shape. If you are in good
shape spiritually, physical and emotional, get your back pack out and begin
your climb up the mountain; remember that God knows how to close doors as well
as open them., so be diligent and continue to test the waters to see if God is
opening a new path for you to add to the “process”.
Blessings,
Gramps
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