Aslan Newsletter of December 17, 2001

Dear friends:

A MIRACLE OF SMALL BEGINNINGS

The memories of Christmas, 1975, have faded over the years. I do know there was a great sense of anticipation on all our parts – Lynn Ann, Dusty, Bill and myself. Within a couple of weeks, the four of us would be embarking on one of the greatest adventures of our lives. We’d done some pretty crazy things before, but this was perhaps the craziest of them all. We were preparing to move two thousand miles from El Paso, Texas, to New Jersey. During ’71 and ’72, Lynn Ann and I had spent a year in Monmouth County, New Jersey working with Camp Shiloh, an inner-city ministry reaching out to urban children in the New York City Metroplex. Now the four of us were coming back to work with children Lynn Ann and I had known at Shiloh. Returning to start our own program was a real long shot. No one in New Jersey knew we were coming, and we had almost no support from anyone. We were, however, armed with a lot of faith. We also had a new name – ASLAN – that we borrowed from C.S. Lewis, an author who had greatly impacted our lives.

A few days after Christmas as we rested on the floor of our house in El Paso in sleeping bags, all our earthly belongings sat outside in a U-Haul truck. It was a Sunday evening, and we were supposed to leave for Jersey early the next morning. To conserve on motel bills, we would stay with friends along the way. We calculated it would take $500.00 in gas and food for the four of us (and two kids and a foster daughter) to get to New Jersey. However, that night we didn’t have $5.00 to our name, much less $500.00! During our two years in El Paso, we had established a successful ministry. We could already hear the laughter of many who had warned us we were "crazy" to even think about moving to New Jersey in the first place!

It was a long night, and the morning didn’t bring much comfort. As I left to pick up a gallon of milk (with the small amount of change in my pocket), a friend flagged me down from his car. "Craig," he said. "Remember the $50/month for rent that you guys paid me for the first six months you lived here in El Paso? Well, God spoke to my heart, and I’ve been keeping it in escrow for you!" He smiled and handed me $300.00 in cash. Forgetting about the milk, I rushed back to the house to share the news with the others. In the few minutes I’d been gone, two other people had called. Each of them had $100.00 for us. Not one of these individuals knew how much we needed (or that we needed anything for that matter)! Two of the three thought we had already left town! By noon we were on the road, and five days later we were driving across the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border. The dream of Aslan Youth Ministries was given wings.

I can’t say that it’s been easy. Sometimes the road has been very long, and more than once we’ve wanted to give up. But as I stand and look back across a quarter century, I see a golden thread throughout the fabric of Aslan Youth Ministries. That thread is God’s love and His enormous grace. It is what has sustained Aslan these many years and what drives us forward into this new millennium. This work is not our own. Truly it is God’s work. He loves the children of Aslan, and He wants the broken pieces of their lives to be put back together again.

We will have many challenges this coming year. Our programs have grown significantly to meet the needs of almost 300 children now. To reach all these kids, our staff has now grown to eleven dedicated and loving individuals. How important is your support for this work? The only words I can come up with are, "You are absolutely invaluable to Aslan’s success!" Aslan could not be here without you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Craig Bogard