A few months ago I spoke with a hospital administrator who had enrolled his son at Great Lakes Adventist Academy. He told how he was totally unprepared to leave his son so far away. He said he even shed a few tears on the trip back home.
While speaking with him, a flood of memories came to mind. I pictured Lisa, my little girl, waiting for the school bus the first day of school. As the bus pulled up behind her, she gave a wave and a faint little smile that revealed two gaps in the front where teeth had recently resided. Then she whirled, ran up the steps, and disappeared into the bus.
At that moment, it seemed to me that she had just whirled out of my life. Certainly, I would be sharing control with someone else for the first time. Actually, I was being a bit dramatic because Lisa was to remain with us through grade school, academy, and college, with much of the latter two possible by commuting.
When the time came, we drove around to different academies to observe them. We settled on a school just 40 miles from our home. Lisa seemed to thrive in the Christian environment that was not a lot different from the home environment she was accustomed to. She was active in academy and became a resident assistant (R.A.).
During a "careers day" at that academy, Lisa was fortunate to associate with a representative from the physical therapy department of the local hospital. Lisa was hooked forever as a "PT" and wanted to specialize in geriatric treatment. That may have been due to the fact that she hung out with my mom, who was nearly 80 when Lisa was born. She was such "a little old lady" that we sometimes called her a "39-year-old midget."
Later, while observing a college, my wife Jackie and I were taken aback as Lisa suddenly spoke up with, "I'm going to need more structure than they have here." Well, if my teenage daughter wanted more structure, I certainly wanted more structure, and we brought her to Andrews University. Lisa did very well in school, rose to be an R.A., and then head R.A. of Lamson Hall under the dean, Francis Faehner.
The amazing thing to me is this: you have to remain focused and committed even in a Christian institution. At each level of Lisa's education, there was always at least one teacher who told her she couldn't make it or that the course she had chosen was too difficult for her, being African-American. Well, they had the wrong person. Lisa doesn't discourage easily, and she will work especially hard to dispel some negative notion being attached to her. And you know what else? For every discouragement, there were many more godly teachers who lifted her and spent extra time with her to ensure her success.
After receiving her Masters in Physical Therapy from Andrews, Lisa is now Director of Operations for a string of nursing homes in the states of Ohio and West Virginia. As such, she supervises all rehabilitation therapies. She is on the road a lot, but operates from a well-equipped office in her home. This enables her to spend extra time with her three sons. She is married to Stan, a fine Christian man, who is taking training in ministry. Two of their children are currently discovering the benefit of Adventist education at Spring Valley Academy.
So, was this just an opportunity for a proud and grateful father to share his joy about his only daughter? Maybe so, but I really want you to know that at each level, each station along the education highway, there is a dedicated, committed institution in the Adventist system with a staff that is ready to partner with you and your child to prepare them for a life of service.
