October 17

I'm a huge believer in God opening and closing doors.

During the months leading up to Jack buying his taekwondo school, he had everything in order to purchase it from his boss. He had a business plan written. A loan lined up. All he needed was for the leasing company to change the name on the building's lease from his boss's name to his own.

The leasing company said no.

So Jack got a co-signer. Surely with somebody with a lot of assets could help him get the lease in his name. They said no again, this time indicating that they wouldn't be interested in changing the name on the lease no matter who co-signed or what Jack did. Why take the risk when they're getting their money now, they reasoned.

Without the lease, he couldn't get the loan. Without the loan, he couldn't buy the business.

The door slammed shut.

And we decided that God was telling us to wait. So we did. And you know what? The economy took a pretty bad downturn after that. God had a plan.

When I was looking at colleges back in high school, I visited Texas A&M University, where I had a meeting with Dr. Ed Walraven, the head of the Journalism department and later my favorite professor. He got me incredibly excited about attending their school of Journalism and becoming a Journalist.

Right after I got accepted, the university decided that Journalism wasn't worth their time or money (what!?) and I was forced to choose another major.

The door slammed shut.

I ended up choosing Telecommunication as my major, which led me to internships in audio production, where I learned all about editing for podcasts, audio dramas, and radio programs. Now I work for an international Christian radio broadcast where I really feel like I make an eternal difference with my work.

I've had enough experiences with closed doors to understand that when something doesn't come together or gets ripped away from you, God has a hand on it and is putting things exactly where He wants them for something in His plan that's way better. So I've gotten good with the "no's." They're not always fun at the time, but God's plan is always better than mine. Always.

That's why when I started Survival Mode Parent last month, I didn't necessarily know what would come of it. It's not that I wasn't willing to work hard to make it succeed or didn't want to see it come together; it's just that I realize that there are so many ways the doors could close on the project if this isn't what God wanted me to do.

The doors aren't closing here. In fact, they're flying open so fast that they're hitting the wall behind them and bouncing back and smacking me in the face.

In a good way.

From the second I announced the website, people have been beating down my door (no pun intended) to help. My former Awana leader owns an embroidery store and donated all the SMP business cards and any other promotional items we need. (!) Someone offered to write press releases for me. (!) Almost 200 people from all around the country have signed up to volunteer. (!!)

And remember how I was trying to get stuff together for a raffle because it was going to cost $1,100 to get Survival Mode Parent set up as a real-live non-profit with tax exemptions? Well I was. Because I don't have an extra $1,100 laying around, believe it or not. And that's a lot of money.

Today, my neighbors came over. With cupcakes. And scrapbooking supplies they bought for me at a garage sale (SQUEE!). And after they gave me all that, they asked me a question.

"How much did you say you needed for the filing and lawyer fees for Survival Mode Parent?"

"Um, $1,100. Why?" I replied. Steve got out his checkbook.

"Because I want to cover it," he said, matter-of-factly as he wrote an $1,100 check.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Evidently, every year for the last 20 years, my neighbor has been donating his extra paycheck to charity. His wife didn't even know about it. He just does it. Because that's the kind of guy he is. And this time, the charity he donated to was mine.

He said that was the first time he's ever seen me speechless. (Probably because it's possible that was the first time I actually have been speechless.)

We have everything we need to get our non-profit status. We will be protected from lawsuits and can accept donations for the organization. We can get SMP bank accounts and everything that's donated will be tax-deductible for the donors. I'm in awe of how God has provided for this organization.

The door swung open.