Why does God allow His children to sometimes fall into grievous sin? The answer that the Westminster Confession gives us is God uses this to humble them. Here it is below:

The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;[19] and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.[20]

Here we see that death and resurrection theme. Sometimes a proud heart can only be humbled when it is brought low by its own sin. God uses this to bring about a spiritual renewal and awakening, resulting in a much closer walk with God.

For those watching, it can be heart breaking. But that is why faith is needed. And if you have a loved one who has been caught in a grievous sin, pray productively that God will use the fall as a means of destroying pride (that’s the death part) and that He will create a new heart that is humble and faithful (that’s the resurrection part).

It is easy to get confused and disheartened when someone close to you falls. But we must keep our eye on the story line and remember that God is faithful and will bring all things to an end that is consistent with His glory and our good. And, someone else’s fall into sin can and should be a sermon to everyone else, a reminder of our own frailty and weakness, and a motivation to take heed to our own souls.

Sometimes we might be tempted to think that God is not answering or prayers, or that He is answering them the opposite of what we asked. But that is the time we might need to step back and look at the whole picture from a different viewpoint.

God is writing the story, and we may be in the midst of a very difficult chapter, but the story is not yet finished. That is why we need to have the eye of faith to hope for a better outcome. When the disciples were watching the crucifixion, they felt lost and disappointed. But God had already planned the resurrection and victory was coming just three days out.

We have to remember that recurring theme of death and resurrection that God loves to weave into His stories. This is why the psalmist can fear no evil in the valley of the shadow of death. This is why we can expect God to work all things for good, even those things that look (from our perspective) hopelessly tangled. Faith is not what we see, but what we don’t see. Faith remembers the Author and Finisher of our faith. Faith looks forward to the resurrection.

So I have been missing from this page, but believe me, I have not been inactive. But let me not be tedious with all my doings. The central thing is that we got the Merkles off!

In fact, they arrived safely in Oxford not long ago after a smooth trip from Moscow to Seattle and from Seattle to London. However, according to a couple of cryptic emails from Ben and Bekah, the smoothness of the trip ended at Heathrow, for Bekah says it was “a completely unbelieveable scene.” Bekah writes: “We missed the bus due to unforeseen issues, and then the next bus wouldn’t let us on, and then we finally caught the third.”

My feeling is that any bus driver who would look at a travel-weary family of seven standing on the curb in a foreign country with fourteen pieces of luggage, five children, and seven carry-ons and not take pity on them and squeeze them in one way or the other ought not to be trusted to drive a bus.

Then Ben writes: “Travel went very smooth until Heathrow. Then we had a serious woop. I even got to push the emergency stop on the moving sidewalk. Very exciting and I am sure Bekah will tell you all soon.” So we await the story. Somehow I think that Bekah’s “unforeseen issues” and Ben’s “serious woop” are the same event.

So I’ll keep you posted!

My husband (after a bit of prodding over this past year) now has a blog.

In his words,

“This is not an important blog. This is not a me-baring-my-soul blog (if I can help it). This is me thinking out loud about writing, me responding to questions I’ve been asked about writing (some frequently, some not), and me goofing off and amusing myself in writing. But whatever you (oh, reader) might find here, you can expect it to focus on, spring off of, or dance around, the subject of writing.”

So there you have it. Enjoy.

Here is a little mental image that may be helpful for those of you who have little dinks like I do. I like to think of them as a bunch of little racquetball players and I am the court. They throw things at my walls, or hit them, or otherwise propel them at me, and it is my job to absorb the shock. To take a bad attitude with a lot of spin and turn it into a quiet little ball rolling across the floor. Sometimes it seems like we can get caught up in the game - “you throw that backtalk at me, buster, and it’s gonna come back at you so fast you’re gonna need  protective eye gear” - just to take an example.

Continue reading ‘I am a racquetball court.’

Now that October is here we can really begin to feel that Fall has arrived! The fall colors in Moscow are famous for being beautiful, and I confess it’s my favorite time of year. The ladies’ fellowship hosted our first ever Fall Jolly last Saturday which was a combination food, craft fair, and tag sale. I think we can safely call it a big success, and we are hoping it can become an annual event. Here are a few pics. Not only was the craft fair a hit, but we sold lots of used furniture and household items at the tag sale, and the hot dogs and sausages went like hot cakes. We also invited private vendors to sell their wares and we had several booths selling things like artwork, books, homemade bread, and flowering bulbs. It really was a jolly event!