Sometimes He lets us see..........

Sometimes we see things and experience things in life that make absolutely no sense.  If you are a Christian, then you believe (or definitely should believe) that God is sovereign.  This means that He is over all things and in control of all things.  But let's be honest, sometimes we go through things or hear of things or see things and leave shaking our heads saying to ourselves "God, where are you in this?" 

A precious child passes away from a terrible disease.  Or what about a precious married couple who desperately want to have a baby, finally gets pregnant, only to miscarry.  Don't even get me started on the thousands upon thousands that will die today because they don't have food or clean water.  We look at situations like this and we may not, in this life, understand why God is allowing what is going on.  We simply have to rely on His promises that His ways and His thoughts are higher than our ways and our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9) (i.e. He's God and He does things better than we do), and for the believer, He's working all things together for good (Romans 8:28).  Sometimes we never see the story unfold, and we never see how God was working in a certain situation.  And that's okay............but sometimes He does let us see.  Sometimes we see the story unfold right before our eyes, and we can only step back and stand in awe of our God's handiwork.

Four years ago today (2/21), a set of twins was born in a village in Uganda.  The mother died at child birth.  One twin died shortly after birth.  The remaining baby clung to life feeding on tea and whatever milk could be rounded up.  A few weeks later, near death from malnourishment and malaria, a local pastor brought this child to Sonrise Baby Home about 30 minutes away in Jinja.  This baby's name was Steven.

The nannies at Sonrise loved this child like he was their own and eventually nursed him back to health.  Many would say he was REALLY healthy! :)

As he was growing in Uganda, God began working on our family on the other side of the world.  He started with my wife, and began to break our hearts for the orphans of the world, and particularly Uganda, and even more particularly Sonrise.  He had sovereignly brought us to Sonrise in a way that would take too long to describe in a blog post. 

What started as sponsorships, and volunteering and fund raising for this incredible baby home, soon turned into adoption.  One son turned into two.  Three children turned into five.  And almost two years later, here we are with a chaotic, beautiful, amazing family of seven. 

What I am getting at is, as I look back at the events of the last four years of our son's amazing life, I understand that God is letting us in on what He's doing.  He's writing a story, and He's letting us see how the chapters are unfolding.  He's letting us witness how He's being glorified in what looked like a desperate situation.  Kim and I have had countless opportunities to share the Gospel through the earthly adoption of our sons.  Our daughters have been able to tell their friends about Jesus, simply because others were curious about why their brothers were a different color.  Doors have been opened to speak that never would've been opened.  Our family has fallen in love with a country and a people that we never would've come in contact with, had this child not have been born four years ago. I can see how God is working in this story.  Can you?

We have no idea what the future holds.  But no matter what happens, we know that the birth of this beautiful baby boy four years has changed our family for the glory of God.  We love you, buddy.  Happy birthday, Steven!!!