When D’Aun and I were seniors at Westmont College we signed up for a 2-week program called Sierra Treks. This program had us in the Sierra Mountains learning to cross-country ski, rappel off mountains, navigate by compass, and other fun things. Sounded like a simple and fun way to earn a couple of credits.
It turned out to be a life changing experience. The outdoor activities were great fun, although I remember one sub-zero night when I wondered what I was doing in a sleeping bag in the Sierras in January! But the outdoor times were only a part of it. Our instructor, Dave Willis, was also a Westmont alum just a few years older than me. He led us through conversations about what it meant to be an “earthkeeper”. That was the trendy term back then. Now we would say something like creation care.
The conversations opened my eyes to the Biblical idea of caring for God’s handiwork. That, in turn, led to D’Aun and I launching Hidden Lakes Retreat. Which led to Target Earth, which ended up all over the world doing all kinds of fun things that involved the Church with environmental activism. It was a wild ride that led to our work at pathlight.org.
Although Dave Willis was not part of that Target Earth adventure, he was the one who planted the seeds. And I’m forever thankful for that. It literally changed my life, D’Aun’s life, our kids lives…and connected us to people all across the world.
A few years ago I became more involved at Westmont College and now serve on the Board of Trustees. One of the pleasures of this service has been to get to know Dave’s brother, Paul Willis, and his wife Sharon. Paul is an English Professor at Westmont and Sharon works in the college health department. D’Aun and I have grown to love this couple and admire them deeply.
Last November, tragedy struck when the Tea Fire gave Paul & Sharon about 15-minutes to vacate their home. The house was completely lost, almost nothing was saved. They, along with 14 other faculty members at Westmont, lost everything. I remember staying awake almost that entire night, desperate for news about the college. Thankfully, everybody was safe. But the impact of losing homes, offices, classrooms and more was painful.
One of the first people I called after the fire was Paul. We offered our vacation home in Santa Barbara as interim housing. Their insurance company agreed, so for the last 11-months Paul and Sharon have had a comfortable place to live as their Westmont home is rebuilt. It has been an important time for them as they process the loss of their home, a family tragedy, and the ups and downs of our world these days. Paul writes about their experience over the past year in a recent article in Christianity Today Magazine, and I encourage you to check it out: http://is.gd/4hR8p. I’m really glad they had a safe place to return after a days work.
In many ways, offering Paul & Sharon our home is a great way of repaying Dave. His voice in our lives changed us many decades ago. It only seems right and fitting that we repay him by offering our home to his brother and sister-in-law.
Paul & Sharon are moving out soon because the Westmont home is almost built. I look forward to that because I know it will be a special day of celebration for them. But I also will miss having them as “tenants”. There was something rewarding and heartwarming about knowing they were there in our little house on Laguna. Hopefully they will leave with good memories and restored hearts.
And now, I’ll hit publish on this blog entry and just hope the English professor isn’t too critical.