Two Months and Counting

Thought I'd add a little blog here in commemoration of our first 2 months in Albertville.

We arrived on the 30th of August, after an at times stressful series of flights, tired and longing to sleep. During the last 60 days our time here has been nothing short of interesting. Janice and I were talking the other night about our first 2 months and I remarked to her that our time here kind of reminds me of my time in college. I can remember being told on more than one occasion to really enjoy college because I'd look back on those days and think, "Boy, what a great time that was". Well, I used to think those people were nuts. After all, what fun is there in doing homework, commuting to and from school, sitting in lectures, and completing assignments? (Oh, there was one fun time I can think of. It has to do with a Husky football game my sophomore year... but I can't really tell it on this blog! Too bad.) Well, as I have gotten older I have tended to appreciate more my time in school. And, I must say that I even look back on my college years with some fondness - and, yes, I even can say that I did have my share of fun. My point for telling Janice, and you all, this is simply to say that I firmly believe that once we get past France and get settled in Chad we will look back on our time here as time of fun and new experiences. All is not lost in the midst of difficult circumstances. Attitude is everything. So, we press on, and enjoy ourselves whenever, and as much as, we can.

As I search my mind for the highlights thus far I think first of all the great people we've met. It is so encouraging to meet other people (some married, some single, some with kids, some without kids) who all have been touched by the Holy Spirit in the same way we have and want to go to a foreign country and do whatever He asks us to do. I also think of the neat sights and sounds we've experienced and all of the different food we've tried.

Yesterday, Gracey and I took a couple and their 18 month old daughter to the Grenoble airport. It was an 160+ mile round trip. I had originally told Ben (the husband/father) that I'd be glad to take them if he would make sure that he knew how to get there. He assured me he would. But, after talking to him on Monday the hairs on the back of my neck started to tingle (Yes, I have Spidey senses!) so I put together a map of my own. (Anybody who knows me knows that I'm directionally challenged. I can read a map quite well but I couldn't tell you which way is north to save my life.) About 5 minutes into our journey I became VERY thankful that I had drawn a map. Ben's "directions" - if you can call them that - would've been great for a US city (they were the turn left at such and such road and turn right at this and that road and proceed for 14 miles, etc.) but in a french context these directions were inadequate for a number of reasons. First, there's isn't a straight road in france and cities are not laid out on grids. So, if you get off course in a french city it can take hours (yes, hours, based upon some stories we've heard) to find your way back to the proper street. And, second, french roads are literally renamed about every 1/2 mile or so. So, while you might turn left on Rue de Jean Moulin chances are it'll quickly turn into another road within just a few minutes. Pretty soon you have no idea what road you are on or where you are going. Anyway, with the map we were ok. And, because their flight took off well after dark, Gracey and I had to come home in the dark. There were only 1 or 2 moments of anxiety on the way back and thankfully we were home before 9:30 PM.

Such is life here in France. Most things to this point feel like were doing them in the dark. Sometimes we have a map. Sometimes we don't. And, just like the illumination of the car's headlights only reach out so far so does the clarity to our daily path. Often times it's all we can to do just take the next step not knowing fulling where we'll end up.

I was reading Psalm 105 recently. In this Psalm King David gives a great summary of the first covenant God made with the Abraham and how it affected the Jews. In one section, verses 16 through 22, this is what it says,

"When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free; he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom."

You might be wondering why I found these verses to be so good? Well, it's because they show how the Lord can take a "bad" thing - Joseph's captivity - and turn it into a "good" thing - deliverance for His people. The word says that the LORD "tested" Joseph. The Hebrew word translated as "tested" means to refine or purge. We all know that refining makes something unpure pure and that if something is purged it is cleaned. But, the thing that is so important to remember about refining and purging is that neither of them can be accomplished with pain and suffering. Nothing can be improved without blood, sweat, and tears. Perhaps the Lord was trying to tell me that our time here is more than just a time of language acquision. Maybe, just maybe, He's purging me and my family of many of the things that will get in the way of His work once we get to Chad. If that's the case, then I want to be refined in the fires of the Master Metallurgist.

Have a great day.

sf