Letting Go (A Special Guest Post!)

Hey ya'll, it's me (Peter) finally,

As you can see, the ladies were hard at work selling the donated yard sale items at the second (and much smaller) sale that was piggy-backed onto one that Michelle's friend was having.  Olivia did good, eating and picking out her favorite items to try and take back home.

I know you know that I'm really excited to see Olivia go on her first mission trip, since I am, sort of..

It was really hard for me to accept that I was not going to be with her out there- way out there.  It's hard for me just to know I wont be with her on her first jet plane take off (which is always my favorite part of any such trip).  There's just something about her little self being buckled into her window seat, chewing her gum and chattering (probably the whole way) about everything she can think of while sitting in the belly of a big aluminum bird that soars her over the cloud tops to a far away land where she will take in all of the sights, sounds and smells of place that just might change her life forever.

There was a fateful day a very long time ago in another far away land that determined the fate of all the world which was all about a father and his boy.  It seems to be the story that parents like to use as the ultimate example of trusting God, since perhaps it is.  We like to show our kids that God never intended to let Abraham sacrifice Isaac- He was both testing Abraham and validating his faith in God, since he supposed in his heart that God could raise him from the dead.  "See kids, we need to trust God with everything, even if it means..."

"Follow me."  This is not just a command from the King, it's an invitation to be led by the Shepherd.  Obeying God can be easy after a while- you stay away from the harmful 'don'ts' while pursuing the joyful 'do's', but trusting God is a whole 'nother way of life.  Obeying God has visible boundaries while trusting God is boundless, and that can make us really suck in our breath.  So the question is, have we really given everything and everyone in our lives over to the absolute Lordship of our Savior to do whatever HE wishes, while trusting in His goodness as we remember that all of creation was made for the purpose of His death on our behalf through the cross?

Now I'm getting excited again.  Jesus knows what it's like to have sadness from separation infinitely more than I ever will but He still understands what I struggled with.  But He is also well pleased to see His Spirit at work in me to remove any bitterness or disappointment and I follow His plan for my family, which is really, and always, His family that I have been entrusted with.

So after all of our prayers for the last bit of money and of safety for the trip are finished and that bird lifts off and the wheels tuck themselves into that belly where two of the people that I love the most in the world are buckled in and chewing gum, I know that it's not my will, but  in His will, that I will eventually have the most joy. 

For His glory and name to all the nations!