Home Again

We tried a new route for part of yesterday's trip home, and got here in 11 hours instead of the usual 12. We're thankful for safety, and for getting home early enough to unpack and read the mail before beginning the rest of the week. I hope to get the important things done today at the office before chemo takes over most of the rest of the week.

Rule #6 of The Red Sea Rules is "When unsure, just take the next logical step by faith." (The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward" --Exodus 14:15.) I chose a couple of stories from this section.

Sir William Osler, a medical student, was worrying himself up to a nervous breakdown when one spring day in 1871 he read these words of Thomas Carlyle: "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." Osler went on to become the most famous physician of his day, organized the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and was knighted by the king of England. I suppose Carlyle's wisdom continued to guide him: Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

Then there was Isobel Kuhn, one of my lifelong heroines, a missionary to China during and after World War II. When the communists came, 1,000 missionaries with the China Inland Mission were trapped behind communist lines. But Isobel and her young son escaped on foot across the snow-covered Pienma Pass. They finally arrived in Burma--without money, unable to speak the language, and half a globe away from home. "I cannot tell you the dismay and alarm that filled me," she wrote. But then she made two decisions. "The first thing to do is to cast out fear. The only fear a Christian should entertain is the fear of sin. All other fears are from Satan sent to confuse and weaken us." So she refused to be afraid. Her second decision was to "seek light for the next step." She didn't know how to get out of Asia, but she would concentrate on figuring out what to do for one day at a time to provide food and funds, to find a safe place to stay, and to seek a way to communicate with the outside world. Eventually she, as well as the 1,000 other missionaries, made it safely home--one footprint at a time.

No matter what we're facing today, we can surely, by faith, take the next logical step.

What a treat it was to see our great grandson Joshua Sunday afternoon, as well as his parents. They won't be able to come to our famiy Thanksgiving, so this visit will have to fill up our hearts for some months. The new baby is expected in a couple of months.

Blessings for your day,
Carol