“My church prayed over me before that lunch, but I thought it was just going to be a lunch,” Justice Walker laughed. “I was wrong.”
As it turned out, the lunch quickly became a preliminary job interview with Ken Litscher, the director for residence life at Union University.
Justice Walker and his wife, Hayley Walker, had been planning to start a trucking business in the coming fall months, license in hand and all. Both of them had quit teaching jobs this past spring in the Alamo, Tenn., school system. “So, what are you doing these days?” Litscher had asked when he saw Justice at a Fuge camp on Union’s campus this summer. Justice thought Litscher was simply catching up with him after the camp to reconnect.
As Justice and his wife retold the story, I settled into my chair. I knew this was going to be a good one.
Hayley continued Justice’s story: “I was praying for him, and I told him I was.”
“Nah, that’s not how it went!” Justice said.
“Oh wait, you’re right!” Hayley laughed. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to derail from our trucking business plans. But I was praying. I sure didn’t know what for.”
Looking around the Walker apartment (also known in Union terminology as the handicapped room in Watters 1), I found that the TV has handprint markings all over its surface from the two baby boys who live here. The midcentury 70s sofa Justice and Hayley sat on literally fills about a fourth of their small living room (“suite space” in Union lingo). A country bumpkin “Taters and Onions” wooden box sits on the floor near the kitchen. And outside the open door — full of toy balls — lies the iconic white bouncy house, deflated for the night.
“I like to pick on Ken; he’s funny,” Justice laughed.
Justice had previously worked for Litscher as a resident advisor (RA) for a few years while he was a student at Union. When Litscher sat with Justice over the summer — after praying over lunch — he informed Justice of the available secretary position, but Justice’s face as he retold this detail gave all away — secretarial work was the last item on Justice’s mind.
Strike one. Trucking business it is.
That is, until Litscher added they were also looking for a qualified man to serve in the graduate assistant resident director (GARD) position for men’s quads residence. Justice would get to serve alongside the current resident director (RD), Cody Curtis, in such a role. And Litscher thought Justice might be qualified.
Justice loves Cody Curtis. They had met years before when Justice and his now wife, Hayley, were dating at Union as students. Curtis and his family hosted students on their apartment lawn for Progressive Snacking, the early September ResLife event when residents file out of their dorm rooms to feast on the snacks provided by the RDs and faculty-in-residence.
“I saw all his pots and pans lined on that wall.” Justice turned his head to point back at the Walkers’ kitchen wall. “You know … he lived in this same apartment at that time.”
Confidence and humility define Curtis.
“He’s unassuming, serious, gets the job done … I want to be more like Cody,” Justice said.
I agree, Justice. I agree. As orthodoxly and unheretically as I can possibly imply, we would all do well to be more like Curtis and his wife, as Curtis and his wife are like Christ.
Now that Justice has accepted the job, he gets to work closely alongside Curtis and the whole residence life team, including me (I serve as an RA this school year). Justice explained how his goals for ResLife align with those already on the team.
“I want to break up the silos and cliches of people on this campus and meet everyone where they’re at,” Justice said.
Justice wittily added that one of his goals for ResLife is to stay longer than two years after he finishes his graduate schooling. As part of the GARD position, Justice is taking 6 credit hours online to complete a master’s in Christian studies (MCS) in approximately two years’ time.
“The MCS was all the way at the bottom of the list. I had to keep scrolling,” Justice motioned dramatically with his hands.
Alongside the busyness of online schooling, caring for a family of four and pastoring youth at their church, he’s genuinely thrilled to be here with the students and residents on Union’s campus, and he wants to build relationships and be ready for opportunities to speak into the lives of students at Union.
“Eighteen to 22-year-olds are trying to understand what the heck life is,” Justice said with passion. “They’re wrestling with the old self, how to put it off. I’ve been there! All these seasons of life change you, and you need a foundation.”
“What Scripture has been a rock recently?” I asked.
Curtis and Justice are memorizing a passage in Colossians. Justice opened his phone, found the passage and read it to me. The words “seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer” hung in the air as Justice repeated the phrase and applied the truths found inside to his daily life full of conversations.
Before I left to retire to my own dorm for the night, Hayley bagged a huge, fresh, perfectly gooey, perfectly crunchy cookie in front of me. Chocolate chip, my favorite. “Thank you, love,” she said in my ear as I hugged her goodnight.
Justice looked at his wife, tilted his head and realized this hour together — just the three of us in their living room — was the longest the couple had sat together in a while.
“The hardest thing has been time together so far,” Justice freely admitted in the presence of his wife. She agreed with a servant-hearted smile on her face. Yet, she had expressed in our living room conversation how grateful she is to be with her kids during the day now.
As I walked back to my dorm, I pondered gratefully how all the residents’ dorms are safe in such hands — because they’re in the Hand. I could choose to fret about my role in ResLife, and Justice could too. I could worry about my residents, and Justice could too. I could be anxious about how messy and out of control I feel. I could hide all my flaws and daily throw the façade that I know how to be an unerring hostess, a perfectly courageous leader or an inerrantly faithful friend. But what good do stone walls do to build relationships? We must break the stone of our own hearts before we can walk across bridges into relationships. The Walkers did not hide their mess from me that day. They shared it honestly and laughed contentedly at the Lord’s grace.
How freeing to remember.
I said a quick prayer: “Lord, help me to take off my masks the way Justice and Hayley have before me.” Union is in good hands under Justice Walker because he trusts the Hand.
