Each August for the last ten years I have been involved in “WOW Days” at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School where I serve as a Student Care Giver. The WOW letters are an acronym for “Weekend of Welcome” held for Freshmen, new students, and their parents. Dorm students then can move into their dorm rooms. It is always amazing how much gear students feel they actually need – but then again, I like backpacking! The event is also designed to familiarize new students with what to expect as they enter this phase of their life. Resident students get the ins and outs of dorm life. Commuter students learn where to park their cars, find places to eat, and more importantly where to get coffee on campus. Students also have time for some fun with fellow classmates and of course to check out co-eds strolling the campus. Orientation opportunities suggest how these new students can make the most of their collegiate experience. Parents after unloading the car – or in some cases a truck! – have orientation sessions too to help them process what lies ahead for their children. This is a time where they can be assured that their child will be well taken care of and answer any questions.
In my opinion, there is another WOW that
coincides with this weekend for these new students. This acronym is for parents
and stands for “Weekend of Wonder.” Many questions were not asked in the orientation
session for parents. In fact, many were not even thought of until the trip
home. Then the WOW moment for parents begins. “Did we adequately prepare them
for this?” “Did will give them the best advice?” “Did we do the right thing in
giving them our blessing as they launch into this new unknown?” At a certain
point in the Weekend of Welcome, all parents are asked to say their goodbyes,
get in their vehicles and leave. I have watched family huddles and hugs and
seen more than a few tears as farewells were expressed. The launch into the
unknown is now official.
This time of the year I am transported
back to when our son was launched into the unknown. He was our first child to
leave home for university, and he was going to one in Aberdeen, Scotland. There
he would do his undergraduate studies for the next number of years in a very
different educational structure. Since he was so young, I had to travel with
him to open an international bank account, line up phone cards (this was before
cell phones), and make sure he had all he needed. A week after our arrival it
was time for me to have a WOW experience. “What in the world were we doing – so
far away?” “Did I do enough to get him settled?” “Will he be OK?” I remember
walking away from him on a misty night in Aberdeen. After a number of steps, I
turned around and looked back just as his silhouetted form entered the lighted
entrance to his dorm. Tears welled and I turned back again to walk to where I
was staying, pack up, and fly back to the USA early the next morning. It was a
long flight with an abundance of questions and wondering whirling in my mind.
Parents have these WOW moments throughout
a child’s life. Will they be OK in nursery school, grade school, intermediate
and high school? Will they be OK at the week of camp, in the week with the
grandparents, on that first long unsupervised drive, at a youth party, on the
first date, their wedding, caring for their first child, and the list goes on. I
have described life as a series of changes with an occasional crisis thrown in.
What we really wonder about is, “Can we trust God with our child even in a
crisis?”
The Bible portrays numerous occasions
where parents are having a WOW experience. One is recorded in Exodus 2:1-10.
Moses’s parents had their wondering experience when their son was born. Historically
these were tumultuous times. The ethnic group, the Jews, of which they were a
part, were a hated people. They were enslaved, abused, and faced persecution
that included infanticide of their male children (1:16). In these days Moses’
parents, Amram and Jochebed (Ex. 6:20), had a son. Moses was hidden until it
became impossible to do so. Then the WOW moments came. Can my child be safe in
a parent-crafted ark? What will happen when he is found in the river where we
placed him? Will he be cared for? Will I ever see him again? Who will bring him
up, if not us? The biggest question really was, “Can God be trusted with this
child in this crisis time?” As you read the story you see how God intervened and
those wonderings were addressed. God not only saw that Moses was cared for, but
also that Moses would be the person that God would use to deliver and care for
an entire nation that was in peril.
I now have grandchildren that are leaving
home and are being launched into the unknown. I need to remember that the
unknown is my perspective not God’s. He knows the end from the beginning
because he is God (Isaiah 46:9-10). May you have another WOW in your life. This
acronym means “Waiting in Wonder.” Waiting in wonder and faith to see what God
will do. I am always delighted to see how God works (Roman 8:28) even in the hard
and disappointing times. It is then I can say, “WOW what a God we have!”
