I was about 10 or 11 years old and living in a foster home. Doctor Neal, my foster family's physician, was a Seventh-day Adventist who made a practice of asking his patients if they would like to study the Bible with him. My foster parents accepted his invitation, and I went along.

William Heffley and his wife gave the studies with Dr. Neal. When the studies were completed, the Heffleys asked us children if we would like to go to Battle Creek Academy (BCA). I said, "Yes." So my sixth-grade year was the beginning of a journey that would change my life forever.

My parents were divorced, and my father had custody of me. He really didn’t care where I went to school as long as he didn't have to pay for it. After a period of time, however, he noticed that there was a difference between the academy and the public school system. He later helped me with my tuition.

The family I lived with sent us to Sunday school, but there was no spiritual instruction in the home. It was in church school that my spiritual journey began. That’s where I learned about Jesus.

I remember the Week of Prayer my eighth-grade year. While sitting in class, one of my classmates, Kathy Sykes, turned to me and said, “Karen, you ought to be baptized.” I thought, “Wow! Be baptized?”

I started going to Sabbath school after that, and it seemed to me that everyone accepted me just the way I was. It didn’t matter that I didn’t come from a religious family with both a mother and a father, they just accepted me the way I was. I remember the love my classmates’ families showed me by taking me home on Sabbath. I was just one of their kids. There was more than one family that did that all through my high school years.

There were certain teachers that cared about me. “Karen, if you need this, you can count on me. My wife and I will be there for you.” Teachers like that really cared, not only during school hours but outside of school too.

I had talked my father into letting me come and live with him my freshman year of academy. My junior year he said he wasn't going to pay for me to go to BCA anymore. He said that if I wanted to go to that school I would have to call my friends for help.

I remember that I had to swallow my pride and pick up the phone because I wanted to be at BCA. I hadn’t turned 16 yet, so I couldn’t work other than a little labor at school. So I called Mrs. Heffley and told her that I wanted to continue at BCA, but my father said that he couldn’t afford it. She said, "No problem, we’ll take care of it." I am so grateful for her love and generosity.

I don't know what my life would have been without a Christian education, but I do know that Christian education put me in touch with a loving church family that I would not have had otherwise. That family is what brought me into the church and has kept me in the church ever since.

Karen Bekowies is the certification registrar in the Lake Union education department.