Eleven years ago I woke to a mostly pleasant morning sun. Decided to walk up to the grocery store and stock up for the week (didn’t know that EVERYTHING was closed on New Year’s Day in Canada). Only thing open was the Starbucks, so I got a coffee and walked down to the beach. Everyone was smiling. EVERYONE. All the people with their dogs, their children, their “Happy New Years!” still resonate in my head.  The mountains were covered with fresh snow, the sea air was clean and bright, and I *knew* that I was MEANT to be here.  I was in love with Vancouver.  With everyone’s friendliness, even after their Resolution Runs.

It was a new life.  I was getting to start over from scratch.  I was going to be a student in a “foreign” country, I was going to make new friends, I was going to change inside – and out.

I look back on New Year’s Day 2001 with SUCH JOY and knowledge that I INDEED was in the Lord’s Will.  Not that I am one to discern things that way – but the joy, the gratefulness in my life was indeed FULL  It was SUCH a gorgeous day, warm enough to go out without a heavy coat (especially as I lived a few blocks from the beach, and it was quite a hike UP the hill to go home).  It was sparkly.  It was reflecting the mood in my heart – fresh, ready for newness, a blank slate.

The Lions over Capilano Lake

Little did I know that my soon-to-be-beau was in-flight/landing in Britain somewhere.  That in exactly one month I would meet him, and in two months I would KNOW that he was my life-partner.  Little did I know what would come.

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My brother’s father-in-law (Dan) is one of the shepherds of my home church family.  Amazing guy.  A vision that has shaped a lot of my vision for the “average” person’s work in the church, in the world.  Anyway, one of the talks he shared, maybe even 20 years ago, was one that I remember as “Just So Happened.”  It’s based on the Book of Ruth.  And, well, when in December 2000, when my friend drove me up to Regent to find a place to live (which I did NOT plan well – of course the school was closed when I came, the housing book was locked, and affordable housing in Vancouver is, well, desperately hard to come by).  This is when I began to really experience the “Just So Happened” phenomenon.  And Ephesians 3:20 became my life verse:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us … (Ephesians 3:20 NIV, emphasis mine)

And this is a bit of the “Just So Happened” story of Ruth…

As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.” Ruth 2:3

“The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law.  ”He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.”  She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.” Ruth 2:20

It “Just So Happened” that as Ruth was gleaning in the fields, the field she ended up in was Boaz’ field.  One of the men who was able to set Naomi and Ruth up with land, and with a name in Bethlehem.  There was another man in line as a kinsman-redeemer, but he refused to take Ruth (she was a foreigner) as that would cause his estate to suffer, so Boaz, taken with Ruth, bought the property of Naomi’s husbands’ family and took Ruth as his wife.

That little piece of story, that “just so happened” bit, is SUCH a reminder to me of how God has these details worked out – even when we are filled with grief (she was a widow), loneliness (in a foreign land) and poverty (she was gleaning the edges of a field to feed her mother-in-law and herself).

•••

When I chose to come to Regent, it wasn’t a very prayerful decision.  Really.  I had thought about it for awhile, but never really felt the urge.  I was too sick.  And after that week near Seattle, and encouragement from a friend, I decided to look into it (little did I know that the website I was perusing that stated it was the “unseminary” was designed and maintained by the man I’d marry!  Little did HE know that his work was bringing his future wife)!

I applied for student loans, I was granted disability, and the US dollar could go a LONG way in Canada (then).  It made sense.  Even if I’d have to pay out-of-pocket for medical services (which, because I moved at the end of December, somehow it counted as one month, and I had complete MSP coverage by March 1, AND the $100 travel/student insurance I purchased was much cheaper than what I was paying in the US for care, but that is another story all together).  SO, it was a logical choice.  I could feasibly survive BETTER in Canada, at least learning than I could in my lead-tainted apartment in Spokane.

So, early in December 2000, my friend drove me to Vancouver and to Regent and I attempted to find housing.  It did not go well.  I didn’t realize the housing book would be locked in an office.  There were a bunch of people in the Atrium, “studying” and it “just so happened” that this guy sitting in the bookstore/coffee shop area was leaving Regent with his wife and they “just so happened” to have a great apartment not too far from the college.  That was available.  It even had a carport (at the time I was still planning on bringing my car up – but that is another story – that “just so happens” to help Ken win my affections).  Not only that, it WAS NOT a basement suite (unheard of).  It was a TWO-BEDROOM suite on the TOP FLOOR of a house.  With a VIEW of North Vancouver and it’s mountains across English Bay, downtown (which I would watch gleam in the golden light EVERY NIGHT as the sun went down), about 10 blocks from the ocean (maybe not even that many) and about a 45 minute walk to the school (approx 3 miles).  The walk would first take me by a Starbucks (coffee) and then a good 1-1/2 miles of green space in the endowment lands before hitting Regent’s Green Roof.  It was really perfect for me.  And, by this time, with this hope and promise of a new life, a 45 minute walk was looking very, very exciting.  =)  SO, even though my planning was poor.  Within an hour of arriving at Regent, I had not only met this person moving from this amazing apartment, but had paid my down payment and was well on my way to being settled in Vancouver.

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And to think, 31 days after my fabulous New Year’s Day walk along The Spanish Banks and Jericho Beach, I met Dear Husband “by chance” at the same coffee bar where I “just so happened” to meet up with someone who had an apartment to let.