Into The North

ALASKA unrelentingly called their names. Ever since our move to Canada so many years earlier, the boys fell in love with the north. They never lost their early childhood memories of snow, snow machines, and country life, even though we moved to California in their eighth and ninth years. We all felt out of place in Fresno, California, moved to Gresham, Oregon, a year later, and settled on two acres of horse pasture surrounded by gentlemen farmers, orchards, and tree nurseries. Still, the boys longed for the north.

After high school, Jonathan studied forestry and took a job timber cruising out of Ketchikan, Alaska. Then he met Becky and realized the incompatibility of forestry with marriage. They married, and Jonathan enrolled at Portland University for his airframe and power plant certification, and also got his pilot’s license. As soon as he graduated, an airplane mechanics job at Aero Twin opened in Anchorage, Alaska. A year later, Jami graduated from LeTourneau University in Texas with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and with his commercial pilot’s license. He also found a job at Aerotwin, and he and his new wife moved to Alaska.

The winter before Jami and Kristy moved to Alaska, I painted this picture and gave it to them for Christmas. I believed God placed those dreams in their hearts, and I wanted to celebrate His direction. God planned to draw us to Alaska as well, without revealing those plans at the time. The probability of grandchildren births in Alaska provided the momentum for us to follow them a year later. We moved, and for fourteen years, we also enjoyed the rugged Alaskan beauty of snow-covered mountains, frozen lakes, and glaciers. Though we finally moved to Spokane, Washington, Jonathan and Jami remain in Alaska to this day with their very patriotic Alaskan children.

Though we miss our two older boys and their families, I choose to trust God’s Word when I remember:

It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Phl 2:13).

A man’s heart plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps (Pro 16:9)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Pro 3:5,6).