God Provided a Way Out

God knew we would need a way out.

August 14

Back at the beginning of June my son Andrew signed a lease for an apartment. He was planning on heading back to campus in August. All the announcements from the school were saying they would be open. Newsletter after newsletter talked about all the plans and preparations they were making to make the students safe. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. When July rolled around and the number of COVID cases started to climb, I started to wonder. I thought back to a conversation I had had with Andrew. If the campus was open he wanted to go back. He has friends there, and clubs, and community. I understand, college is more than just education, it is the whole experience.

Sadly, with the beginning of August came the news that all of his classes would be online. I sat in his room late one night and we talked over his options. We talked about all the extracurricular and questioned whether any of them would happen. We talked about what he hoped to do. We wondered if he could even get out of his lease. Ultimately, I left it up to him. I did say it seemed like a lot of money to spend if everything was online and all the rest was canceled.

The next day Andrew made some phone calls. He decided to stay home. Nothing was going to be happening on campus. To get out of the lease, he needed to find someone to sublet. Over the next week, he found a student looking for a room and they started the process. There have been several students applying to sublet his room. The real-estate firm was making things difficult and we knew if this was not resolved before school started, we would be paying for a room that wasn’t being used.

Today my husband pulled up a copy of the lease that Andrew sent him. And there it was! The answer to our problem. Starting date 8/15/2020, ending date 7/14/2020. The lease ended before it began. My husband contacted the real-estate firm, informed them that the lease was invalid and Andrew would not be moving in. He asked to have our deposit refunded and they complied.

God knew when Andrew signed that lease that he would not be going in the fall. God made sure we had a way out. God had Micheal look at the lease and see the mistake. God protected us. Thank you, Jesus, for such a small mistake that has saved us thousands.