Hello everyone! It's Annika, Jake's wife of 3 years and ministry partner of 6 years. Jake and I have been doing this Young Life thing together for a long time. Young Life is where we met, so to say that it has been a big part of our relationship would be an understatement.
As the wife of Kentwood Young Life's only staff member and a volunteer leader, it's safe to say I am VERY involved. We often joke that I might as well be on staff with how many hours I spend on Young Life related things a week, whether that is helping to plan clubs or doing some of the administrative work. If you need a picture of how this looks in our life, we planned a night away without our daughter over the winter, and spent the first part of the evening doing vision planning for the ministry before we went out and enjoyed a nice dinner together.
All of this to say, I feel all the emotions of working in ministry strongly: the fear and uncertainty of entering a new space and trying to relaunch a ministry, the simultaneous stress and feelings of gratefulness and humility that comes with fundraising, the pressure and urgency to reach struggling kids and to show up for them, and more than anything, the overwhelming faithfulness of God through all the highs and lows of doing ministry.
Jake and I would definitely say that though this year has not been without challenges and self-doubt and disappointment, God has done more than we could have asked, dreamed, or imagined in our first year at East Kentwood High School. It is crazy to think about what has happened in only one year.
Speaking of one year, May 6, 2022, was a pivotal day for me and also our ministry. I had picked up an extra overnight shift for my hospice job to help out, and was heading to Holland for a patient visit. When I called to check in and provide an ETA, they said they no longer needed me to come. Excited to head back to my bed, I pulled off into a bank parking lot and and came out a side street to head back the other way. It was 5:45 am and seeing no cars driving my direction from across the street, I went to turn left with a blinking red. What I didn't realize is that the stoplight for the cross street was blinking yellow. Before I even had time to think, my car got smoked by a pick-up truck. My car spun completely around and my airbags went off. It was terrifying. I miraculously was uninjured and was able to quickly get out of my car and make sure the other driver was also fortunately ok.
This experience was intense for a lot of reasons. My initial emotion was anger at myself. I couldn't believe that I had made such a serious mistake and the potential gravity of it. I was overwhelmed by the knowledge that a slightly different speed or angle could have cost me my life. May 6, 2022 could have been the day that my daughter lost her mom. This was so heavy for me, both the weight of self-loathing for the mistake and the weight of knowing God had protected me. After I got over the initial frustration, I was overwhelmed with both the fragility of life and gratefulness that my story gets to continue.
On top of all of this, we had only had this car for a year. I had totaled another car only a little over a year prior (that accident was not at all my fault), and I was well acquainted with the hassle of being down a car, dealing with insurance, and finding an affordable car in a very tough market. I know this is a small price for the preservation of my life, but it was still a source of frustration and anxiety.
Fortunately, we had some very gracious and generous family members who let us borrow cars as they were out of town, specifically my sister who left in June for 6 months for YWAM and offered us her car during that time so we didn't have to rush to make a purchase. As far as good timing to total a car, we hit the jackpot.
I spent the first four to five months looking for another sub-compact SUV while being very discouraged about the prices compared to the value. Jake and I had always talked about getting a van in the next few years as we grew our family (I'm practical to a fault), but I was set on not making that jump until we absolutely had to. With only one daughter, I thought I had at least a few more years of still being young and not full on MOM;) We had a few leads we followed but nothing seemed to be panning out, and I couldn't seem to pull the trigger on any vehicle.
Sometime in September-October, shortly after we had started our first Young Life clubs at East Kentwood, I had this startling realization that for the sake of the ministry, we simply needed a van. I was surprised by how comfortable and sure I was about this. It just became a fact to me; if we wanted to do better ministry, we needed more seats to provide transportation, non-negotiable. Jake quickly jumped on board and we pivoted our whole search. A facebook post and a few texts later, and we had a few leads. One of our options (shoutout to Jeanna Watson!) was a 2002 Honda Odyssey. We went and took it for a drive, and though I was a little nervous, the price was right and Jake was all in. This van is the opposite of glamorous, and as Jake likes to brag, it can legally drink! One of the doors only opens automatically and one only opens manually, and if the van has been in park for too long it needs to be physically pushed from behind (I am not kidding...), but this van has been a game-changer for us. It is full of kids multiple times a week, and I can't even tell you how many times Jake and I have looked at each other and said, "What would we do without a van?" Jake has completed owned his role of being a man with a minivan and we have affectionately labeled it as our "ministry mini."
Why do I share this story? As I stated before, there are so many emotions that come with working in ministry, but the overwhelming outpouring of God's faithfulness trumps them all. The morning of May 6, 2022 was one of the scariest moments of my life, and I didn't see how anything good could come from it. With God's divine intervention, we were able to wait until the following fall to make a decision on a car, and that timing allowed me to see the need for a van after giving kids rides too and from club. On top of that, we were able to get a great deal that minimized the financial burden of buying a new car.
Perhaps the best part of the story, however, is where the car accident occurred. As I mentioned, as I was approaching the intersection, there were no cars driving through toward me from the opposite side. That opposite side was actually the road that leads into East Kentwood High School. I was on Eastport Dr turning left on Kalamazoo, looking straight at the school before it happened. I have come to realize, perhaps due to my stubbornness or skepticism, that God often chooses to not be subtle when growing my faith.
The aftermath. Amazing I didn't even have a concussion.
The man with his van!
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