Paradoxes

It has been three weeks since we returned home from our amazing journey to Ethiopia. The re-acclimation phase has been … well … full and frenetic – not unlike our lives before we traveled over 7,000 miles to the meet our sweet Joseph last month. With barely enough time to catch our breath (and unpack our suitcases), we quickly dove back into ‘life’ at full-throttle. I (Mike) was greeted with a demanding work schedule that required full engagement - traveling to four different cities in just three short weeks. We’ve celebrated Ela’s 8th birthday, marked what would have been my late father’s 66th birthday (they share the same December 10 birthday), attended Christmas events for school, enjoyed fellowship with dear friends, and prayed for family and loved ones treading through deep waters of trial and heartache that life often brings our way. As I reflect on our recent journey and all that has transpired in the days following, I have been struck by a very simple, yet profound reality - God often reveals himself, his goodness, and his glory and his grace in counterintuitive ways. He has been pressing this upon my heart and showing me that His ways are quite contrary (and eternally better) than my own. The paradoxical manner in which God often works is just so different than the relentless drive to achieve lives of comfort, convenience, and self-gratification that our world advertises and exalts. Isaiah 55:8-9 captures it well, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I’ll never forget Sasha’s words of encouragement to my twin brother Brian and his wife Andria during their rehearsal dinner on the eve of their wedding day. Sasha’s humble words of advice were simply … ‘die daily’!  Not the most uplifting marital exhortation you’re likely to hear at you’re next wedding event! However, she was telling both of them that God would be most glorified and their marriage most satisfying when each one would die to their selfish tendencies and sacrificially serve the needs of the other with love &  patience.  It was and is profoundly rich in wisdom and in God’s call to all of us in our walk of faith. These were the same words that my brother-in-law Jon challenged us with during our wedding ceremony in October 1995.  It is the message of marital unity and Christ’s love of his church described in Ephesians 5. It is the message of Matthew 16:24 (denying oneself and taking up the cross) … and it is the amazing model of our Savior outlined in Philippians 2:5-11.  In marriage, in family, in faith, and in all of life … God calls us to a life of surrender.  A life of faith in his grace and selfless giving – just as Christ gave himself for us. In his book Radical, David Platt so poignantly emphasizes this point, “While the goal of the American Dream is to make much of us, the goal of the gospel is to make much of God.” He continues, “This is how God works. He puts his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.” So powerful. So true. The question we all need to ask ourselves is … ‘are we willing to go to those places … those places where we find ourselves desperate for God and His power??” They are usually places of hardship, sacrifice, and brokenness … far from the places of comfort, convenience and self-indulgence. The surprising reality is this … it is in precisely these places and through these experiences (not in spite of) that we really begin to know, to see, and to grow in the fullness of God’s grace, mercy, and provision. I began this post last night … and to my astonishment … this is exactly what our pastor preached on during this morning’s worship service (Philippians 2)!  I sat in the pew in awe … soaking in God’s word and smiling at his providence.

These paradoxes are meant to humble us … to quiet our restless hearts … to re-calibrate our perspectives on our lives, our struggles, our futures, and our faith. Ultimately, they are meant to draw us to a deeper love and dependence on our Savior. I’ve been reminded of this in so many ways in recent days.  I look back on Joseph and the children of the orphanage. They have so little by way of material possessions… yet abound with a richness of faith, love, and selflessness. It continues to touch and convict my heart.  It was beautiful, pure … and humbling.  I’ve seen in our dear friends returning from China (see picture below) to bring home their daughters … trusting in God provision as they commit to this lifelong journey.  The Lewis family refusing to subscribe to the world’s fallacy that they should be planning & positioning their family & finances for retirement, and choosing instead to press forward and embrace God’s call to adopt their sweet Sadie! The Mellili family adopting sweet Josie … clinging to God’s word and knowing that He will be their “Rock, Refuge, and Redeemer” … trusting that God will “equip them with everything good that they may do his will”. Hebrews 13:21

Providence … Paradoxes … and Provision.  I’m praising God for the way that only He can work and for the ways that He is teaching me so much about Himself.  Adoption continues to expand my reverence, my awe, and my love of God!  It is taking us to places of need and dependence upon our Savior … and that is an eternally good thing.

Mark, Mary, Sadie, and family returning home from China last night