We were sitting around the conference table discussing the special Andrews University issue of the Herald. I was prepared for a typical production meeting where you go down the checklist to make sure everything is in place for a complete and balanced magazine our readers would find useful and interesting. But as the members of the university team began to share their vision, something began to happen inside me. They were talking about what the university was about—what their mission was—and what they hoped to accomplish in this partnership with God to educate our young people and prepare them for service.

It was a cold December morning and I sipped hot chocolate from a new mug that had these words printed on it: Seek Knowledge. Affirm Faith. Change the World. That’s what they were talking about. All of a sudden, I realized that is exactly what happened. That’s what our daughter experienced at Andrews University. She came home from her classes excited about new things she was learning. She shared her growing faith as a result of the spiritual mentoring several of her professors took time for. And now Josie is in India changing her world, one orphan at a time, as a volunteer English teacher for REACH, International.

We lamented the high cost of tuition, but now realized the sacrifices made in this partnership between God, our family, and the university produced in the life of our daughter the very words printed on the mug.

Gary Burns is the Lake Union Conference communication director and Lake Union Herald editor.