LAST LESSONS #90 – MOVING PEOPLE

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.” Exodus 15:13

It’s one thing to move an organization with buildings, but it’s another thing to move people! Certainly, I do not compare moving Rafiki to Florida to the Israelites moving to the Promised Land. However, God has moved his people throughout history, and he does so even today. To move Rafiki to Florida, it was necessary to move some staff members. Not all existing staff members were willing to move and those who were willing would need help.

 

I have learned that if you ask people to make a sacrifice, you should give them as much help as possible. Therefore, my daughter, Kathy, knew a real estate person in Central Florida who was willing to come to San Antonio to determine the needs of families who would require homes in Florida. That was a big help. 

There were several people who were absolutely necessary for the work of Rafiki, especially Karen Elliott who was becoming my right-hand man (woman!) and Steve and Carol Kranz. Steve would oversee the building process and Carol would continue to write curriculum. Others were willing to come also, and I was very grateful to them. The work of Rafiki needed to continue without interruption and God gave us those we needed immediately, and others who would come after the buildings were finished. 

The most difficult to move was my husband Bob and me. Although Bob had retired from teaching at the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio, he was just finishing his memoirs of the Korean War called Bloody Snow. The reason it was difficult to move was because Bob had begun to show signs of dementia. (After we arrived in Florida a brain scan confirmed that Bob suffered from Alzheimer’s.) I realized that there was something wrong when Bob couldn’t find his way home one day. We needed to sell our house in Texas and buy a house in Florida as well as pack up everything and move. We had to do what we had to do!

The Kranz’s house sold in Texas before their house in Florida was ready, so they came and stayed with us for a month. They helped me pack because Bob was not able to manage it. And we had so much stuff!!! Because of his writing Bob never threw anything away! I wasn’t much better. One day all three of my daughters came and cleaned out masses of stuff! 

In the meantime, I had the responsibility of selling the house in San Antonio and buying one in Florida. God graciously gave us a buyer for the house in San Antonio and found for us a nice one in Florida that Bob loved because it was on a small lake. The realtor also found a beautiful house for the Kranzes not too far from ours. The plan was for us to move at the same time. This took several trips pulling trailers from San Antonio to Eustis. We had cars to move as well as things. I will be forever grateful to the Kranzes. God knew we could not have moved without them. 

I have learned that moving people is hard. Asking people to make sacrifices is hard. Only God can make people willing to make the sacrifice of moving from family, friends, and the security of the known to the work and insecurity of the unknown. But that is exactly what God did for Rafiki.

I also learned that God sees to it that we finish the work he has planned for us to do. Bob finished Bloody Snow before he was no longer able to write (It is available on Amazon). Now, years later, I am depending on God to enable me to finish what he wants me to do before I go to my real home with him. 

God may be making it necessary for you to move so you can finish a work he has planned for you. And the move may be hard, but it will be worth it. I have certainly learned that lesson!

I will never forget the day Bob and I moved to Lake County, Florida. It was 7/7/07.