Whatever

Daphne and I are sitting here this morning, watching the snow fall and listening to the fire crackling.  We found out yesterday that tomorrow is the day - we'll either find a solution for a bank loan, or we'll have to let this particular home go.  We thought we had until the 15th, but several competing factors have brought that deadline forward to tomorrow.  Daphne's been reminding me of some of our "Holy Deadlines" from our life together:

When we were married in South Africa 1991, Daphne was a South African citizen and was therefore required to have a visa for the U.S.  After our wedding in Johannesburg, and before setting off for a week's honeymoon, we gave strict instructions to the church secretary:  Do NOT under any circumstances put our application for a full marriage certificate (required by U.S. Immigration) in the mail, but take it by hand to the nearest Home Affairs office.  South Africa's postal service was notorious for losing mail, and we didn't have time to spare if the certificate was lost.  We left in our lovers' bliss, with the reassurance that all would be taken care of.  We returned a week later, only to discover that the form HAD been mailed, and was nowhere to be found.  Our plane tickets were purchased, but we needed the U.S. visa to leave - and for the visa we needed the full marriage certificate, and God only knew where it was in the postal system.  We frantically called every post office in the area to figure out where the form was, but to no avail.  We finally reached a point where we had done all we could do, and there was nothing left but to cast ourselves upon the Lord.... and wait.  I actually did such a good job of putting the whole affair in the Lord's hands that I pulled out a book and settled down for a good read.  Daphne asked me, "What are you doing?  Shouldn't we be making some more calls?"  I said there wasn't anything left to do.  Several hours later we got in the car and drove to the local Home Affairs office - thinking, "what the heck, we've got nothing to lose."  We walked in, spoke to the first person behind the counter and explained our predicament.  He literally turned, looked on the counter behind him and said, "Oh, here it is.  It just came in."

Several weeks later we were in the U.S., and our new challenge was to acquire a U.S. passport for Daphne, without which it would have been impossible for her to gain entry into Senegal where our team and ministry awaited our return.  We filled out all the immigration forms, turned them in, and left for cross-cultural training.  Three months later we went in to see what progress had been made on our file, only to hear the words, "We have no file in your name.  You'll have to start all over again."  Now we were in a pickle, because we had only weeks left before we wanted and needed to fly to Senegal - and U.S. Immigration does NOT move at a fast pace.  Someone suggested that we ask for help from a U.S. Congressman for Georgia, so we went to his office and pled our case with one of the administrators who worked for him.  To make a very long story short, in a matter of weeks we found ourselves standing in the office of the Deputy Director of Immigration as Daphne was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.  Then there was the issue of her passport.  We (once again) had our plane tickets purchased, and only a couple of weeks left.  Passports normally take at least two months to prepare, but the woman in the Congressman's office gave us the name of a personal friend who worked in the passport office in Miami and told us to FedEx the forms down there, with a paid FedEx envelope for the return.  We sent it off, and waited, and waited, and waited.  We were two days away from our departure date when we came home from running some errands and found the FedEx envelope sitting inside the screen door, with Daphne's passport inside.

Of course, the most recent example of God's divine intervention was the sale of our home and our car in France only days before our scheduled departure for America, and our new life here.  So we should be used to this by now, right?  We shouldn't find it any trouble at all to put our lives and plans into the Lord's hands - with the peaceful reassurance that He is fully in control, right?  I wish.  Yet once more we're faced with a major obstacle before us.  We have done all our due diligence in pursuing the purchase of this home.  We went forward in faith that the loan would be no problem - after all, we intend to plunk down over half the purchase price of the home in cash from the sale of our house in France.  I've spent two virtually sleepless nights, trying to understand why this is happening.  At this point there is absolutely nothing more we can do but wait, and trust the Lord, and see what happens.  Daph and I have decided to call this point the "Whatever Stage";  we have to get to the point where we can say, "Ok Lord, whatever.  If we get this home, great.  If we don't, fine.  Whatever." 

I had a long conversation with my brother John yesterday.  He brought this thought to my attention:  Jesus compares us to a flower in Matthew 6, when He describes what our attitude should be when it comes to trusting God to provide for our food, clothing and shelter.  So, what does a flower DO to provide for itself?  Well, it doesn't DO anything - except for one thing.  Throughout the day that flower turns it's head to stay in the light of the sun.  Other than that, it just sits there.  So here is our prayer for today; we want to - once more - rest and be at peace in our hearts, and turn our faces towards the Son of God, who loves us with such a deep love, and relax.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow?  In the end, it doesn't really matter.