About Us

I heard a story once, told to me by a Hindu friend, who explained that God was like an elephant and all the different religions were like blind people feeling various parts of the elephant and describing what they felt, each with varying perspective and position. To some extent this may be true. But what if we didn’t have to be blind?

Anything exposed by the light becomes visible. God gives sight to the blind. I know friends that have prayed for eyesight to be restored and have witnessed actual eyeballs regrow in their sockets! But more than this, God opens the eyes of our hearts. And once He does, the world doesn’t ever look the same. It’s full of hope, and goodness and light, and truth. Life is purposeful and passionate. We can live unafraid and in the full confidence of God’s love for us.

When I was about to graduate from high-school, I remember going out to our field to pray and ask God what I should do for college. I didn’t have it figured out and everyone’s questions were stressing me out (sound familiar? lol). I cried, a lot.

     “I love you, I love you”, I kept hearing.
      “I know, I know, but what should I do next?” I wanted to know the plan!
      “What is your most prized possession?” A voice in my heart asked, and I contemplated the question. 

     “My sewing machine, without a doubt.” It was the most expensive thing I owned, I had labored over it, and took care of it meticulously.

     The voice came again, “How do you care for your sewing machine?”

     “Well, I wipe the dust off of it, and if it breaks a needle, I fix it and rethread it, so that it can function properly again…”

     After a pause, the voice continued, “You are my most prized possession and I died because of my love for you. I love you and that’s all you need to know. If you go the wrong direction, I will go after you and redirect you so that you can do what you were designed to do.”

Later in college, I was debating whether or not to go to China to study abroad. I was on campus, up on a hill asking God for guidance, when suddenly two little boys I had never seen, probably seven and eight years old, walked up the hill and one of them straight away said, “Hi Courtney!”

     “Hi”, I said dumbfounded.
      “How did he know your name?” The other boy asked.
      “I don’t know,” I replied, still confused.
      “Are you going to come to our house?” the original boy, the one who had said my name, asked.
      “Where do you live?” I responded, not really knowing what else to say.
      “All you have to do is follow me!” And with that, both boys ran down the hill, rejoining what appeared to be their mom, and they walked away. I never saw them again. But in their wake, I felt the Holy Spirit whisper to me, “You don’t have to have all the answers, all you have to do is follow Me.” I felt God’s peace to go to China, and several weeks later my school wrote me a $15,000 check, no strings attached, to go study abroad. From that one check I lived abroad for one semester, spent the summer traveling across China and Pakistan, and even had extra to pay for my fall semester back home. God is good. I can’t help but share His goodness. These are just a few simple demonstrations of that, after a lifetime of experiencing Him.

My favorite passage in the whole Bible is Acts 17:22-26 which states, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in EVERY WAY you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. THE GOD WHO MADE THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT, being the LORD of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, THAT THEY SHOULD SEEK GOD, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. YET HE IS ACTUALLY NOT FAR from EACH ONE OF US, for ‘in him we live and move and have our being.’

Imagine a good and loving, generous and sacrificial God zooming in on google earth, knowing just exactly when you sit or stand, and knows your thoughts afar off, intentionally setting you in this point of time, on your own tiny piece of turf, knowing your boundaries and area of influence, ALL WITH THE OVERWHELMING HOPE that YOU would, like those blind people feeling the elephant, find your way to Him, so He can open your eyes to see. And He is actually not hard to find. We are His kids. Do you see the parallel? Don’t you hope for your kids to know you and love you? It’s the same thing. Your kids live and move and have their being because of your love. It’s the same thing with God! He made us. We live, move and have our being in Him and Him only. And He is holding out His hand inviting each of us on the greatest adventure of exploration and learning that we could ever dream of. The natural world is just the beginning. Science is just a tool for better understanding the incredible complexities of God’s creation. There is such wonder in every single experience when God is in it.

My goal and dream as a teacher is not only to equip kids academically, but to also instill in them an awe of God. It is also my hope to shine His light in all of our daily encounters, whether spoken or not, and to let each child and family know that God loves them, that they have a purpose beyond themselves, and that Jesus is inviting them to follow him and to hear His voice, clearly and practically everyday.

At Sojournings Academy, Jesus is our source. We are a package deal. He is our inspiration, our creativity, our energy, our patience. We don’t always do things perfectly, but take Jesus out of the equation and we don’t leave you with much, honestly. We need Him in our life and work in order give you and your kids the excellence and diligence that you deserve in a school setting.