Dear partners in the journey,
These last months of our journey have been like a non-stop ever-circling plane ride around the world. In theory you could go back in time. At this point we sort of tumble out of the ride and ask wearily, “where am I?” But at this time of year my mind settles on Mary and Joseph who with a toddler made a long journey to a foreign land and didn’t have the opportunity to ride a jet plane. I rather think they had far more reason to ask that question of God, “where am I?”
In August Debbie was walking with a cane and a walker, her hip had gotten so bad that everything was painful—walking, standing, and sitting. Surgery with a hip replacement at the end of August had her on her feet in a day and dancing a week later. So time turned back. She spent all of September teaching at Covenant College as she usually does and was able to re-engage with a new generation of future missionaries, leaders, and Church parents. It is a privilege to help guide their experiences and understanding through the years and experiences God has given us. You have walked and prayed with us through those years so you know the journey. But this set of young people are just coming to learn some of the ways of God of the ages past. Were it not for the walker and cane we might not think of ourselves as part of that “ages past”! She has gone back into our own history a bit this December as she has returned to oversee a project far off along the Kenya/Ethiopia border where draught and famine are cyclical.
Karl spent the month of October in Manila with his Peace Studies program. It was the usual drill of courses, mentoring of participants, marking papers and dissertations, and face-to-face research reflections. Usually all of that happens long distance by email and phone so it is a privilege to do it in person. But in October the program took a turn. It has really been like making a landing on a very short and bumpy runway in a very large plane after a long flight. So that is the tumbling out and wondering, “where am I?”
The school that has been hosting the program, The International Graduate School of Leadership, has moved to incorporate Peace Studies into its overall program and not simply host it. This has come with a process of curriculum revision and that now means curriculum rethinking for the peace study program as well as the development of a lot of detail that has not been done before. The roles, job descriptions, interfaces with the school, and evaluation tools all finally need to be agreed upon. These have been needed for years but finally the discussion and decisions can happen. There is good hope that the program can actually have a staying power beyond the graduation of existing students that I teach and mentor. Given that this is the last PhD cohort I lead, the news is wonderful. I feel like we have come to a landing strip just as the old engine is running on the last few gallons of fuel.
This cohort is down to a small number, only three. But they are all three very strong players and exceptional students. We still have two students from the first cohort working away, and three from the second cohort working away, plus two more who are sleeping—or probably more accurate to say that they are overwhelmed with their regular daily responsibilities and cannot manage the required extra work for a doctoral program. So in all I still have ten for whom I am responsible and hope to bring to a conclusion point with a cap and gown. I pray that two will finish in April of 2018 and at least three in April of 2019, leaving the balance perhaps for 2021. In the meanwhile a new cohort will start up. New classes, new faces…and I hope new transitions to new faculty and director by 2019.
One of the significant decisions made at the very end of my days was that both my colleague Steve Hobson and I would “lean out” of the program to bring others in. That is easier for me because I need to just shift to reading dissertations and hanging out with grandchildren. They won’t even want to have me read them the dissertations! But Steve will be extending the program of peace studies to a broader audience through seminars and recruitment, a very new role.
I landed in Detroit. I was pretty sure anyway, because that is what the pilot said. But nearing the transfer point for the doctoral program at the end of a long journey, is a welcome announcement. I have never been in this transfer point before so it is all new. Pray for everything that has to happen in a very short time. One thing that we know of our journey is the same thing that Mary and Joseph knew of theirs. That while there was uncertainty about just where they were, there was no uncertainty about where God was. God has always led His people to accomplish His purposes. Give thanks with us for that certainty!
-Pray for the formation and ownership by a program committee.
-Pray for Steve and I as we “anoint” and transfer authority to others
-Pray for the next few students who should finish and graduate in April
-Pray for a new Phd director to be identified to replace me (I have been looking for the last four years)
-Give thanks for the amazing new strength that Deb has had which has enabled her to be fully back to her labors with World Relief.
Joyfully wondering about the next steps,
Karl and Debbie
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