Limping into safe harbor

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few weeks ago the guest speaker at Mary’s church preached a sermon titled “Limping Into Safe Harbor.” Mary thought about my family and directed us to this sermon, which was posted to her church’s web site. It was good. It was appropriate. It was a gift from God.

The past few months have been very trying. We have seen and experienced many things we wish we could have shielded our son from—and ourselves. But God has moved us to the edge of the storm and we are about to pass through and land safely in the harbor. Our ship is wrecked. Our bodies are worn and haggard. But God has brought us through safely and we can see the harbor inhabitants coming to welcome us as we emerge from the wreckage. Just as the apostle Paul experienced when he was shipwrecked at Malta. Paul’s crew lost the ship. They experienced intense danger and the stress that goes along with that. But, by God’s grace, they limped into safe harbor.

This was the message of the sermon Mary directed us to. This is what our arrival in Front Royal, Virginia, felt like yesterday. We have arrived in the safe harbor. Praise God!

Yesterday we drove to Front Royal to sign the papers for the house we will be living in there. The day was characterized by a comfort and a peace about this move. A comfort and peace that we have not felt for quite some time. We are arriving at home.

While we signed paperwork, received the keys to the house, and learned about the various utilities and how the town handles such things, David went exploring on his bike. He had heard the sound of trains and went to investigate. I knew from Google Earth that a train track ran along the Shenandoah River, somewhat near the house, but David found something I had not expected.

He followed the sound of the trains for about three quarters of a mile and located a train crossroads where six different railroad tracks converge. The crossroads includes two bridges across the Shenandoah, five sweeping curves, and multiple track switching stations. It’s a train lovers dream. And David loves trains.

After we had finished with the property manager, David asked me to follow him on his bike as he took me to see this fantastic railroad crossroads. While I was there with him we saw two huge trains and I took these pictures (as well as quite a few others). We returned to the house and unpacked the car, which we had filled with boxes and other things. And then David wanted to show Mom the railroad tracks, so we headed back to the place he had found.

But this time I wasn’t the only person there with a camera. There were multiple cars there and quite a few people with high-end digital cameras and monopods standing in the middle of the convergence of train tracks. I grabbed my camera and went to where they were gathered to see what was up. A couple of the photographers work for Norfolk Southern Railways. But the whole group of photographers was there, some having traveled hundreds of miles to this particularly photogenic spot to take pictures of a prototype experimental train that was about to cross one of the bridges there. These train lovers (and railway employees) had chosen this spot near our new home as the best place to photograph this historic train.

What a wonderful place God has provided for our family. I will tell you about the neighborhood and the neighbors (we have already met a few of them) in upcoming posts. But I wanted to share this unique blessing of God that seems custom made for our son.

God is so good—looking out for each of his children individually and providing blessings that we don’t deserve just because he loves us and to the praise of his glorious grace.

Thank you, Lord!

Today we finish packing and pick up the moving truck. Tomorrow we move.

Be angry, and do not sin

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e read a chapter or two of the Bible to our son every night at bedtime. Recently, as we have gone through the process of having to find a home under a deadline, many of these evening devotions have seemed incredibly apt for the situation we have been dealing with. Many passages have been sources of encouragement. Some have been passages of rebuke. Others have been seemingly promises that if we just leave things in God’s righteous hands, He will work to provide, to comfort, and to avenge.

Tonight’s reading was one such particularly apropos passage that I thought would be good to share with any of you who may be dealing with similar circumstances. I encourage you to stay in the Word. It is a vast source of comfort and blessing—especially in difficult times when evil seems to thrive

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onight’s Bible reading when we put David to bed seemed particularly comforting. So I thought I would share it with you all. I encourage you to stay in the Word. It is a vast source of comfort and blessing—especially during difficult times when evil seems to thrive.

Psalm 4

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1. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
   You have given me relief when I was in distress.
   Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2. O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
   How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
   
   

   Selah

3. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
   the Lord hears when I call to him.
4. Be angry, and do not sin;
   ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

Selah

5. Offer right sacrifices,
   and put your trust in the Lord.
6. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
   Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7. You have put more joy in my heart
   than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8. In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
   for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

God prepares the way

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am currently reading in Genesis for my morning devotions. This morning I read chapters 45 – 47, part of the story of Joseph, and I noticed something I don’t think most of us pay attention to.

We all love the story of Joseph—how he was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually became the second-in-command in Egypt and his brothers had to bow before him to get food during the famine.

Genesis 50:20

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Those of us who rejoice in the sovereignty of God love this story because it so clearly shows that God works directly in our lives to bring his will to fruition—even decreeing evil deeds by some with the intention of fulfilling his plans. As Joseph says in Genesis 50:20, his brothers had evil intent toward him when they sold him into slavery, but God meant it it for good. God didn’t adjust it for good; God didn’t change it to make it work out for good; God meant it for good. He had the whole thing planned right from the start. In fact, He had planned it long before the start—before the world began. This is a wonderful and glorious truth! God is in full and total control, even of the things that seem to be going haywire in the world.

But the portion of this story that jumped out at me this morning is the fact that Pharaoh’s house rejoiced with Joseph that his brothers had come. They rolled out the red carpet for them. The people of Egypt opened their arms and welcomed Joseph’s family.

Genesis 45:16–18

When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.‘”

My family is moving to a new place where we don’t know anyone. We travel, Lord willing, to Front Royal tomorrow to sign the papers on the house. And then our moving day is two days later—this Saturday.

This could be a very scary situation. We don’t know anyone there. And we can’t afford to hire moving people to move our furniture. And my wife is not a weight lifting kind of girl. So the heavier furniture could be a real problem.

My parents were in Ohio this past week for a missions conference. My father was one of the speakers at that conference. He met a man there who traveled from Front Royal, Virginia, to Ohio with another one of the speakers at the conference. They talked about our situation and that man offered to help us find a house in Front Royal. He then met with us when we went to look at houses last Friday. He had a friend with him who attends a different church there in Front Royal. That church supported my parents when they were on the mission field in South Africa. Are you following all of this?

The pastor of this church in Front Royal has volunteered to organize a group of men to meet us at our new house in Front Royal this coming Saturday afternoon to help unload the truck. They have offered to help carry our heavier furniture.

God has prepared the way. Folks we don’t even know in Front Royal, Virginia, are rolling out the red carpet and welcoming us with open arms.

What a great and powerful God we have!

Postmodern greeting cards

Lt. Tyler Wilson

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e have had some wonderful experiences in the 3 years we have lived here in Lynchburg. But one of our favorites has been getting to know some of the outstanding young people who come through Liberty University and who attend our church. Some of these Liberty students are impressive young people.

Taking the oath

Lt. Tyler Wilson, Chaplain, U.S. Army, is one such outstanding young person.

We met Tyler through church. He was a friend of a few of the college students we had over to our house on Wednesday nights and he began to visit from time to time with them. We had known only his name prior to these visits, but the visits allowed us to get to know him. And we are so much the better for it.

Tyler is a dedicated Christian, a talented and smart young man, and seems to exude good character. It’s an image that is not seen often nowadays, but I’ve heard it applied to some of the standout young men from my parents’ generation.

Tyler and his sister

Kim and I took photos of the big event when Tyler’s class became commissioned officers of the U.S. Military. But unfortunately, Tyler was not part of that event. Due to a leg injury, he was not able to pass his requirements. But he recently passed his PT test and has now been commissioned as a United States Army officer.

Congratulations, Tyler. We’re proud of you and honored to know you. And we expect big things from you.

Click here for more pics

Jehovah Jireh – our provider

God’s care will carry you so you can carry others.
                 —Robert Harold Schuller

God

has provided! As we knew he would. Although this has been a harrowing experience filled with trepidation as home after home fell through and we saw the move-out deadline fast approaching, all along the way we rested in God’s loving care and providence.

The front of our new house

That does not mean that we had it all together for that entire time. There were moments when our confidence faltered—especially mine. There were moments when we questioned what God was doing. But the whole time we knew that God had a plan and was moving things into place at exactly the right moment for all involved—including our current (now previous) landlord, the new family that is slated to move into the church’s house that we have lived in up until now, our new neighbors, our new landlord, us, etc.

One of the rooms

Last night at about 7:30pm we received a phone call from our real estate agent informing us that one of the two houses that we had applied for the prior day had been offered to us for rent. This closes a four-month process of diligent searching for a new home—a process that has seen more walls and dead-ends than I could ever have imagined. But each of these was an answer to prayer because right at the start of this we asked God to make his will clear by closing doors he did not want us to walk through and opening the one he had planned for us.

And so, God has now opened the door to our new home, a new community, new neighbors, new adventures, new blessings, and new opportunities to serve him and others. Soli Deo gloria!

The view from the back porch

The home is a 1940s farmhouse on about one acre of land in a quiet neighborhood in downtown Front Royal, Virginia. It has historic wood floors (that have just been refinished). The backyard is huge with well cared-for grass and a handful of large trees. A deep, full-width front porch and a full-width screened-in back porch looking at the mountains.

Ephesians 3:20–21

Now to him who is able to do far more abundant than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The home has three bedrooms, two and a half baths—with a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath. There is a large library on the first floor, a large dining room, and a large living room and an unfinished basement downstairs that opens out the back to the backyard, under the back porch. God has provided, as Paul proclaimed, “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20), and we really love it!

I want to thank all of you who have been praying with us throughout this process. And please join with us in praise to our great and awesome God, who has worked his will in exactly his timing—as he always does.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

God’s providence

 

The Lord my pasture shall prepare,
      And feed me with a shepherd’s care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
      And guard me with a watchful eye.

                                 —Joseph Addison (1672–1719)

Blog Header - August 9, 2009

This photo shows the Dollywood water tower used to fill Klondike Katie, Dollywood’s wonderful steam engine. Our family was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, at this time last year. We loved our week spent there and at Dollywood’s ajoining water park. The parks are fantastic, the rides are beyond belief, the employees are delightful, and the entertainment is outstanding and family friendly. It’s a great experience. Oh yeah, the food is phenomenal as well.

A lot happens in one year. One year ago we thought that our family had grown permanent roots in Lynchburg, Virginia. Now, a year later, we are moving to Front Royal, Virginia, where I will be close enough to drive into the office regularly rather than working from home as often as I have for the past couple of years.

We will miss Lynchburg. We’ll miss my flexible work arrangements. And we will miss the friends we have made here in Lynchburg. But God is moving us on to new adventures, new friends, and a new location.

We’re ready for the adventure to begin.

House hunting again

Y esterday we spent the entire day in the Front Royal, Va., area looking for a house to rent. It turned out to be a positive day. We looked at four houses and submitted applications to rent two of them. Of course, we don’t actually need two houses, but we are out of time to find a place to live and thought that maybe applying for two houses at once, in spite of the additional processing fees, would give us more of a chance of avoiding homelessness in about a week and a half.

The Indian Store’s teepee

Both of the houses we applied for are nice and we could definitely see our family living in either of them.

David at the Afton Mts. Overlook

They are very different from each other; our real estate agent seemed a bit confused as to why we would apply for two houses that were seemingly so very different. But we are not looking for the things most families look for in houses. Our needs are quite different from others’ needs, due primarily to our son’s medical issues. And we simply are looking for the house that will bring the most glory to God while providing us with our need of shelter.

The area we are looking for houses in is quite a distance from Lynchburg. It takes essentially all day to simply drive there and back, so we try to leverage our trips there to get as much accomplished as possible. And this trip was no different—we expected to spend all day with our agent looking at houses. But we actually found two houses with “For Rent” signs in front of them along the road on our way to Front Royal. We stopped and called the owners to set up appointments to see those houses as soon as we saw them. Then we continued on into town and met up with our agent. By early afternoon we had looked at the houses and put in two applications. We then met with a friend of my parents who thought he might be able to help us find a house to rent.

David jumping from rock to rock
with Kim waiting patiently in the background

We ended up leaving to head back to Lynchburg a good bit earlier than we had originally planned. We decided to stop at the Indian Store along the side of the highway so David could get out, play a bit, and see some of the cool stuff those stores tend to sell. It was a nice break in the trip, allowing us to stretch our legs and walk around a bit. We took another break at the Afton Mountains roadside overlook to get some more slight exercise. These two stops helped break the trip into manageable segments and made the trip more pleasant.

We are hoping that this will be the last trip we have to make until we hear that we need to come to do a walk-through of the home we will be renting. So now we wait ... and pray.

Show your strength, Lord, so that we may sing and praise your power.
—Psalm 21:13

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