Trust

Barbara is in a jet or an airport somewhere in the world. She will arrive in Freetown, Sierra Leone sometime tomorrow. It is a site of incredible poverty. It vies among a small number of other nations as the poorest, most wretched country in the world. However, there is an active Christian church in the country. Barbara and others will be doing their best to encourage the leaders of a number of those churches that will be gathered in Freetown. She will be there more than a week and then will spend another day and a half traveling back home (ten days all together).

I am dealing with fears. I have little structure in my life now that I have retired from HP. Now my wife and best friend has flown off to a rather dangerous place and I will seldom be able to communicate with her. Freetown doesn't even have electricity or running water. It has all the usual nasty tropical diseases and parasites. And Barbara left feeling very unsure about how she can provide assistance to the people of the churches in Sierra Leone.

In a couple of months my oldest child, Julia, plans to fly to a remote spot in Tanzania with her husband and my grandson. There again, there are risks that do not exist in our rich, sheltered country (or the even richer, more sheltered Norway where she currently lives).

This is where I find out if I really believe what I say. I say that if we are doing God's will, that is the safest place to be. It does not mean that we are exempt from suffering and or immune to injury and death. It simply means that even with what may happen, it is the best place to be.

As for me, I must try to stay at the center of God's will while I sit tight right here in little old Philomath, OR, USA. I look forward to an eternity with God. No more crying, no more pain. For now, we are here for a reason. I pray that we would understand that more and more and follow God's lead.