An Ode to WBCL

God’s fingerprints were all over my arrival at WBCL

When on the very last day of college

I was offered the Donor Relations Assistant position.

I accepted with glee in my heart and in anticipation

Of good things to come and the opportunity

To meld my skill set with God’s ministry.

Because of my youth, I was green in many ways

And alone in Fort Wayne without friends or family.

The WBCL staff was quick to take care of me.

Suddenly I gained eight “moms”

and even more “older brothers”!

Their protective nature brought much comfort

In a season of learning and uncertainty.

The family atmosphere didn’t stop with the WBCL staff though.

Oh no. It went much further than that.

I was pleasantly surprised to find

A family of WBCL listeners when out and about.

I learned the ins and outs of commercial free

Christian Radio as I worked closely with

Supporters – specifically business underwriters.

What a great crowd of generous people

And not to mention, ever so key in the ministry!

After two years of “learning the ropes”

Things started shifting and I learned of an opening

To assist with the production of Mid-Morning.

The talk show had been a WBCL favorite for me

So it was only natural to reach out and offer my help.

Transition ensued and I found my sweet spot

And only at the age of twenty-two!

The job of Mid-Morning Producer fit me to a T.

Not only did God create me with the organizational

Skill set to keep Mid-Morning running behind the scenes,

But He gave me a heart for life-long learning

And loving others through this ministry.

I grew leaps and bounds under the

Great guidance of Char and Lynne.

What a treasure trove of knowledge

These two freely gave away to me.

I’m so grateful they chose to invest in this naïve girl.

I can remember countless times I heard someone say

“That Mid-Morning program was just for me.”

I especially rejoiced when God worked to this end

Even during a Mid-Morning repeat!

What a joy and how humbling to be a part of bringing in

The best of the best Mid-Morning guests.

From local to as far away as the west coast,

We’re always blessed when a potential guest says, “yes!”

Seven years later, God’s nudge to pursue

More training in ministry

Leaves me with mixed emotions.

His fingerprints have never left me

And in fact have become even more visible

As He’s planted a new vision in me

that I’m following whole heartedly.

Why? Because even though it’s hard to say goodbye

God is so worthy and deserves all my heart.

I’ll always treasure my season at WBCL

Where many divine appointments arose

And in countless ways I grew up

from a little girl into  a young woman.

The transition is bittersweet as I leave behind

A family I dearly love, yet embrace a future

Of new ministry inspired from above.

My heart is filled with joy at how God’s hand

Has orchestrated every detail of this transition

Including the hire of WBCL’s new Mid-Morning Producer.

I met Rebekah Freelan last November.

Where? Ironically, of all places,

it was in the Mid-Morning studio!

Her depth of insight and love for Christ

Was evident as she shared thoughts from her

Christmas devotional book, “His Advent”.

A friendship with her was soon to follow.

I quickly came to love her,

as I know the WBCL family will too!

 I have a feeling that won’t be hard to do!

Goodbyes are tough to embrace

But no matter the place,

We’ll continue to share

God’s heart everywhere.              

With a grateful spirit,

You’ll always be in my prayers.

~Jamie Bennett

An Ode to Christin

My Dear Christin,

How ironic that our journey all began at David’s Bridal in Fort Wayne.

Who would have thought that my future sister-in-law

would introduce me to such a posse of Taylor Alumni

- one of them being you!?! I’m delighted she did

- even if that means I’ll forever be thought of as a Taylor Alum.

That’s not a bad thing, I assure you.

It just creates a lot of confusion considering it isn’t true.

Little did we know that we’d be doing

plenty of wedding shopping in the future.

Of course, not for our own weddings,

but that of our roommates.

The nerve of them to skulk off and get married.

Oh wait – they didn’t really skulk – I just like that word.

It’s more like they frolicked away to get married. 

Yes, they frolicked – good for them!

It was good of our roommates

to simultaneously decide to tie the knot.

Their choice to leave us high and dry in the roommate world

at the same time worked out well!

Thus began our roommate days.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure about living with you at first.

All I knew was that you were a sports loving, zany dancing,

if there’s a party, I’m there, kind of girl!

Oh but how I came to love all of these things about you and more!

Our Pointe Inverness Days are filled with bittersweet memories.

Mostly sweet.

Turns out the bitter actually brought us closer together.

I guess you could say together with God’s help

we turned coffee into lattes.

I must admit, after watching you go through a job loss and boy drama,

It certainly was nice to see the Lord bless you

with a new job and a new home – a fresh start.

In the time we’ve lived together, I’ve learned of your love

- or rather obsession - with jeans.

I must say – you have outstanding taste in jeans!

And then there’s scarefest – that’s what I’m calling it anyway.

Yes – all those years of you lurking around the corner

with the sole goal of hearing my shrilling screams.

And then sure to follow, after I got over the initial shock

and you had your uproarious laugh,

 was your running away to hide from my return attack.

Come on – a girl with two older brothers

isn’t going to let you get away with frightening her all the time.

I’ll never walk around another corner

without suspecting a potential scarefest is imminent.

Thanks to you.

Who can forget the way we slipped and slid

down that long Pointe Inverness side walk in mid-winter?

And how ‘bout those bull frogs in the summer?

Too bad a simple kiss didn’t turn them into our princes.

After both experiencing our own heartbreaks

and finding the bullfrogs to NOT be quite prince worthy,

we decided to join the ranks of online dating.

What a trip! Oh the stories we have…too many to count.

My favorite is the “Mad Ants” basketball player

that you skunked at HORSE.

Who can forget his unfortunate fall

That lead him to moan and groan

Faking a hurt ankle to save his pride

And leaving grass stains on his side?

You were kind to give him a pity hug.

While none of those online dates worked out,

you must admit it was a beautiful season

of flowers and laughter in the bachelorette pad.

And while we’re on the topic of a beautiful season,

remember the Colts Christmas tree?

Now that was quite a dandy beauty!

Who would have thought you’d make a sports fan out of me?

Well, at least a Colts fan.

Your influence went farther than that though.

You turned this early to bed girl

into a late night girl on occasions,

especially when you’d break out the dance music

or when we’d get into late night conversations.

Sometimes they were silly exchanges.

Other times they were deep, meaningful theological discussions.

No matter what, I could count on

my dear Lutheran friend for a riveting chat.

You taught me new vocabulary,

or rather new meanings to words I already knew.

It would be inappropriate for me to list those here,

so we’ll just keep that between you and me.

There are many random things I appreciate about you.

Like how you love taking clothes fresh out of the dryer

And dumping them on top of you in mid-winter,

Following up with a declaration of “but they’re so warm”

after I give you a quizzical look.

And then there’s your adorable habit of changing

into your basketball shorts at the end of a long work day

while leaving your work shirt on.

Love this look on you!

I’ll forever think of you when I have two bites left over after eating out

And know that without a shadow of a doubt

that if you were present, you would say,

“Oh you should totally take that to go. It will be a good snack later!”

I’m going to miss your random “let ‘em rip” moments

As well as your incessant gravitation toward anything sweet

And of course your casual swigs of pop from a two-liter.

I’ll miss having you there to ask, “can I have a sip”

of whatever beverage I’m drinking.

This after you’ve already taken a sip!

We’ve certainly had our share of

throwing some great parties together!

Games, good friends, food, and fun

were always a guarantee at our festivities.

It didn’t matter if there was a reason to celebrate.

We certainly wasted no time in coming up with one.

Thanks for extending an open invitation

to always celebrate life to the fullest.

I’ve never seen a girl with such couponing skills.

As much as we laugh about it and call you the coupon queen,

I’m never ceased to be amazed at how you always

have something in stock to give to someone in need.

Your generous heart has often impacted me for the better.

I love your willingness to always

be honest, up front, and talk things through.

While there are distinct differences between us,

we certainly haven’t let that get in the way.

Your loyalty, perseverance, and team player mindset

are all qualities I admire about you.

And I’ll always cherish our prayer times together.

Oh what sweet memories of our four years together

I hold in my treasure trove.

So thankful this is simply a “see ya later”.

Even so, just want to recognize the closing of one chapter

and the beginning of another.

I dearly hope you’ll come visit me in Cali!

May you always know you’re loved and celebrated!

Not only by me and many others,

but by the God of the universe.

His love for you is beyond measure.

Drink it in and keep being

your passionate, random, beautiful, humorous self!

All my Love,

Jamie

God Flavored Beginnings - A Place to Call Home

I mentioned in my last post that God has pulled two key things together to make my transition to California possible. The first was the amazing story of how God brought Bekah Freelan to WBCL to carry on my work as Mid-Morning Producer. We just completed our first week of training, and I’m so thrilled to have this time with her! We’ve had plenty of laughs this week (and we worked too, of course). After showing Bekah the ropes, I’m convinced more than ever that she’s the girl for the job. She’s already won over the staff with her delicious caramel brownies. But even more than that, she’s got the gifts and talents to do the job well. Congratulations, Bekah, for completing week one with pizzazz!

The second amazing thing that God has done is regarding my living situation once I arrive in California. I must admit, the idea of moving again so soon did not excite me initially. After all, it’s only been a year since my last move. And having moved six times in the last decade, it just doesn’t sound all that appealing to me anymore. But relocating to the golden state where a warmer winter awaits and access to the ocean is so much closer than anywhere I’ve ever lived before, does help me pardon the inconvenience of transition a little more easily. Not to mention the close proximity of the Red Wood Trees! And now that God has again paved the way for a place for me to live once I arrive, I’m actually looking forward to it. Let me tell you how it all came to be.

One of my good friends, Michelle H., sat down at her computer this last March to check her old email account. She wasn’t familiar with the school I’m headed to, but the name rang a bell in her mind. So, she felt led to check an email account she hadn’t checked for about a year to see why Bethel sounded so familiar. She found an email from an old Taylor classmate of hers, Sarah. Guess what the email was about? It was the initial email Sarah sent to all of her contacts to let them know she was headed to Bethel this last year! So, Michelle connected with Sarah again because they hadn’t talked since college and then put me in touch with her incase I wanted to ask her any questions about Bethel. Of course, I did! However, I didn’t really get around to emailing Sarah until Memorial Day weekend because life was crazy with the initial stages of transition. By May, I knew I had been accepted to Bethel and I was beginning my search for a home in California. The same day I emailed Sarah with my questions, I included a little info on what I was looking for in a place to live. I had posted a “Young Lady Needs Housing ad” in the housing section of the BSSM website for students and also made connections with others I had been put in touch with including Sarah. I was quite overwhelmed by the responses I got – and quite thankful to have so many options!

Not two days after I made the initial contact with Sarah, I learned that she had an open room in the house she lived in last year. It was everything I had been looking for and more! So as you’ve probably already guessed, I said, sign me up! The landlord, Sharon, is in her early 70s and she rents three of the rooms in her home out to Bethel students. Each student gets to have her own room and there’s plenty of shared space including a pool in the back yard! I’ve seen pictures of the home and it’s simply lovely. Not only that, but there’s a mountain view from the house. These are the wonderful aesthetic things I appreciate about the house. But there’s so much more than that.

Sharon shares her home as a ministry to Bethel students so the cost of rent is very affordable – especially for California! I love the fact that Sharon has been a resident there for a while so she can tell this directionally challenged girl how to get around. I will have a GPS (thanks to Betsy and Gerson) but I can use all the help I can get when it comes to directions! Sharon attends Bethel Church as well and volunteers in the healing rooms on Saturdays. I love that she’s a part of the Bethel community and am looking forward to gaining wisdom from her. In addition, Sarah mentioned to me that people had suggested she should live with a second year student during her first year at BSSM if at all possible – that way she would have someone to help her navigate the first year program. She didn’t have that opportunity, but she said she would love to do that for me. What a huge blessing!

So there you have it – God prompted my dear friend, Michelle, to check an email account she rarely checks and that all started the ball rolling to lead me to my new home in Cali. A home that has all the aspects I was looking for and more. Once again, God is so amazing! He’s faithful and has provided in a way that is quite God flavored and beyond my wildest imagination. So, the next time you’re prompted to check an old email account or do something out of the ordinary, you may want to take into consideration the possibility of a divine appointment in the works. It could lead to something extraordinary! Thanks, Michelle, for being sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. And thanks God for orchestrating it all!