A Time and a Place

 It was 32 years ago this week that our son, Trevor, died. We don’t dwell on the date much anymore, but it does give us a chance to “check systems” and discover to our delight that God is still there and still bringing that comfort and assurance.


I can’t help but recall Romans 8:28 during this time and realize anew that things really ARE “working together for good”. In the first year after his passing, a church sprang up, built on shared grief; for awhile, it was the fastest growing evangelical church in Japan, and 32 years later it’s still going strong. 


Not a ministry tool I would have chosen, but I have the assurance that this will be only one of many “good things” to have come about through this deepest valley.


But I have to look back and remember the day when a well-meaning church member reminded us of that verse, and unfortunately the timing was just not right.


We were in Alaska, driving up from California on a family camping/exploring trip, on our way back to another exciting four years in our home in Japan.  We couldn’t wait to get back to several projects and endless opportunities. It was high adventure at its best, with Trevor anxious to drive with his new learning permit.  Unbelievable scenery around every turn in the road. 


Then Trevor began to feel unwell, pointed out by the fact that he preferred to sleep instead of drive. So naturally, when we got to Anchorage, we booked in to see a doctor. Nothing to worry about, we thought … until the call came. Without mincing words, the doctor said, “Your son has leukemia. You need to get him back to the lower 48 immediately and start treatments.”


Now the lesson part.  The local church there in Anchorage jumped into gear, taking our car, camping stuff etc, promising to sell it all and send us the money. On the way to the airport, a kind older gentleman who was driving us, pontificated, “Well, you’ve just got to remember Romans 8:28, ALL things (and he emphasised this as he looked patronisingly) work together for good for them that love the LORD!”


If I could have reached him and not endangered our lives, I would have punched him.


Sometimes, I think, the best platitudes can be delivered at the “less than best” of times, even if they’re true.  


All that is to say, keep those wonderful words of comfort and encouragement close at heart. Draw on them. Share them. But be sure to check with the Holy Spirit before dishing them out.  Sometimes, it’s just not the right time.


And the truth of Romans 8:28 is no better manifested than by the fact that I can look back on 32 years and see the Hand of God in my life, doing what He does best.


Now I can add another verse to go back-to-back with Romans, and that’s Psalms 30:11,


“You have turned my mourning into dancing. You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.”  


Stay with me, folks, and next time I’ll show you a bit of that gladness! 


Have a blessed week, 


Marsha


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Surprises in the Snow

 Last week I talked about three great men who impacted our lives for the good: Steve Metcalf, Eric Liddell and David Hayman. This morning, just for a break, I’d like to tell you, as that late great news commentator Paul Harvey used to say, ‘The Rest of the Story’ about Steve. Tony and I had heard this story a number of times back when we knew and often worked together with the Metcalfs, but we still shake our heads in wonder. After being released from the POW camp in China and being reunited briefly with his family, Steve went to Japan in 1952 to be a missionary.  This was to the people he had hated so much from his wartime internment camp, but thanks to his friend and fellow prisoner Eric Liddell, had learned how to forgive.  He was single, and so attacked Japanese language school with a fervor given to those who were not encumbered with family.  I look back on my own language school experience, and it still makes me tired!  We had a family, and we found that learning what one 16th ce
Read more

Farewell to a Friend

Good morning,   Many of you know that we have a place in our house where we hang pictures of selected men and women. We call it our ‘Wall of Witnesses”, and it’s based on Paul’s mention of his Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 12:1, those who have gone before us and encourage us to run the race with perseverance.  We started our wall many years ago and now have 9 couples who we believe to have helped make us who we are. Of course you’ll see our parents there, a loving and Godly grandmother, but the other people we’ve picked up along the way, all greatly impacting our lives. Unfortunately for us, only a few of these people remain with us today, and it certainly hurt (selfishly) to hear this morning that yet another one has gone to be with the Lord.  But the good news is that he was ready. In his 90’s, now free of pain and rejoicing with his wife…… only having been separated from her for two years. His name was Howard Kroese, but he preferred to be called by his grandkids and younger asso
Read more

T'was a Dark and Stormy Night

  Happy New Year (almost)!   Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever read the short story by James Thurber called, “The Night the Bed Fell”, but we had a similar event last week.   First came Christmas Dinner at Nathan & Kylie’s place (since it’s big enough to accommodate all of us). It was a huge feast, enjoyed by most all our Aussie relatives, and a couple of friends to boot. There was enough food to feed a small army, which is good, because the next day …   … we moved camp with the gang (about 15 or so of us) over to our house for a ‘leftover meal’, showcasing several new dishes and uncountable desserts.   Finally, most of them went to their separate homes, and by God’s Grace managed to get safely inside before a major storm hit the Gold Coast later that night. Tragically, it was killer, rather like the kind of tornadoes we get in America’s Midwest, but covering hundreds of square miles and lasting most of the night. Our own house missed most of the damaging wide and rain, but the nex
Read more