I hold the key.....

I realize today, I know nothing, yet I hold the key to everything.  I already knew that, but it amazes me over and over and over that I forget that so easily and yet am profoundly reminded so often!  I know nothing, yet I hold the key to EVERYTHING!  Mind-boggling when I truly ponder on the matter.  The things I think I know... I find out there is always more to know than what I thought I knew.  The things I think I have figured out, there is always a surprise to come along and remind me that never ever is anything fully understood.  And just when I thought surely a door would close, I find out it is wider open than I could have hoped.  And the coolest part of all... it is always drawn back to the place where I hold the key to it all.  Christ. 

You see, I may be surprised by the things my students do.  I may be surprised by the plans people make with me and for me.  I may be surprised at the sudden turn of events. I may be surprised that even on the path I thought I was on, things are never as I thought they were when I started on the path.  And I may be  utterly shocked that Osama Bin Laden's life came to an abrupt ending yesterday... after all these years.  But the thing is, God knew it all... before.  He ordained it and allowed it.  And because of that, though I know not, I still hold the key to everything... because it is HIM.  Isn't that remarkable? 

Many people have many thoughts and opinions.  Some build up, some tear down.  Some have pure motive.  Some have wicked agenda.  But every last step of it all is filtered through my Father who does not, cannot, will not fail for He says so in His word.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is unfailing, unfaltering, and mistakably in control... at all times.   He chooses to use us, He chooses to change us.  He chooses to stop us.  Not a single thing, by a single person goes on without His awareness.  Hard to fathom from our finite view, but from His infinite view, it is all playing out for the beautiful ending that He began.

Tonight, there are things I celebrate.  Some wonderful, unexpected news came to me this afternoon.  Something I didn't expect and yet somehow should have for sure because my involvement wasn't my own anyway!  It's so obviously God that I can't wait to see where He is headed with it!  Tonight I find myself drawn to thoughts of all those soldiers, all the families of the fallen soldiers, the 9-11 families, the first responders from that event, and to Osama Bin Laden himself.  Each one, somehow in some way today, realizes the power of God.  And then the things where the light has yet to shine... my thoughts are drawn there as well.  The places I know God is at work because He says He is, but I have yet to see His radiant beauty beheld just yet.  But somehow, I know that I know that I know, He is at work... in all of it.

People often wonder how one can claim God at work in tragedy such as 9-11.  Where was God that day?  How could he let such a heinous act go forth? How could he let so many innocent die when He has the power to stop it all?  I don't pretend to act as if I just accept that with a solid nod of the head and heart.  I struggle a lot with those questions.  My son died, remember?  Not a day goes by that I don't know with all my heart, God COULD have said yes to earthly healing.  He could have stopped the planes.  He could have stopped Osama Bin Laden.  He could have stopped the Navy Seals.  I don't have the answers.  But what I do have is the word that tells me.... NOTHING happens without God's involvement.  This world and all that is in it is His.  No matter how confusing, wrong, off track, or evil something may appear... God is still owner of the ending. 

No before someone gets confused or irate... God does NOT own evil.  He doesn't partake in it or condone it.  I said God is OWNER of the ENDING.  He did that through the cross.  Evil and all of us that sin, were far removed from our God.  But the cross, it covered it all.  ALL.  It even covered in love, the horrendous acts of evil from those who Hate Him and all of His people.  His grace is for all, every single one of us unworthy souls.  No way could God OWN evil when He is so far removed from it that it took the pure and innocent blood of His son to cover it.

But God IS owner of the ending.  ALL of it. My days in full, your days in full, Osama's days in full.  Every victim of 9-11.  Every precious child like my Tuffy that suffers disease.  GOD OWNS THE ENDING!  That is where I rest.  I will not pretend to have the answers of why, how, when, where, or anything else.  It doesn't make sense.  And to dwell there is to dwell in futile irrationality.  But to realize that God is BEYOND the details we can see and is in the middle of OWNING THE ENDING, then comfort, joy, peace, and refuge can be found.  In THAT and THAT ALONE, the KEY to EVERYTHING is found.  

I don't know how some things will work out.  I don't know why innocent have to die.  I don't know why disease has to strike and who it chooses to strike.  I do not know why God seems to let Satan have so much perceived power at times.  But what I know, is that the ENDING is good, ordained, controlled, and beautiful for HIS glory... and it that, I reside.  And every other soul on earth can choose that same hope, but it is a CHOICE.

Tonight, many grieve for their fallen "hero," Osama.  I feel deeply and pray for them, for they are so very lost.  A man of pure hate for a people that are about a God of pure love, is the deepest tragedy life could have.  And I do not celebrate the death of a man, now doomed to a life of hell, but I celebrate that God is still sovereign and just.  I celebrate that if God wanted another day on earth for Osama, no man could end that.  And I celebrate that if God wanted that life ended, he didn't need a man to do it.  Some how, some way, every last detail falls under than control of God.  He either brings it or allows it... for things we just can't understand. 

A friend shared of a sweet child's heart of pain over the rejoicing of the death.  It is not the death that I celebrate at all.  But I tell you, as I think of her innocent pain over his life doomed to hell, what I do celebrate is that I chose Christ and I hold the promise to never meet the same fate.  It is a choice.  I make it boldly, humbly, and gratefully.  I pity those that allow any other God be the God of their choice and I pray for them.  But in the end, I realize the bible is true, God is SOVEREIGN, and that each of us, including this sinister leader, has numbered days.  It is vital, critical, and totally our responsibility to live them out as if they are our last, willing to accept that if they are our last, we will endure the fate of what comes after.  We can choose that to be in the everlasting arms of a loving God, or in a place of suffering for refusal of His way and love.

And I celebrate that though things such as innocent bloodshed on 9-11, my son's disease, or even this man dying before he could choose Christ, I can know that God is using every last detail for the good and for His glory.  That man hated God.  HATED God.  But maybe, God knows, through allowing his life to be cut short due to his own refusal to live under the protection of the One True God, a soldier might find God.  Or a soldier might lead a former Bin Laden follower to Christ.  Or a family wretched in pain over the loss of their loved one to terrorism and consumed with bitterness, might begin to heal and find their way to the cross and forgiveness where than many, many others could find their way HOME too.  I just don't know.

But what I know is today, this afternoon, God showed me yet again, to stop selling Him short.  He is bigger than circumstances, politics, boundaries set by man.  He is up to good, good things in all circumstances.  All He wants is us to hold on.  When we do, He shows us, blesses, amazes, provides, breaks down walls, overwhelms, empowers, in the most beautiful, unexpected ways.  I still await many answers tonight.  Still don't know the outcome of many things.  But sunshine showed up today for me in a situation I am beyond thrilled about and that reminds me... HOPE LASTS, HOPE ENDURES, HOPE RESCUES, HOPE AMAZES.... HOPE LIVES... and because of HOPE... I HOLD THE KEY! 

Hoping on for all things new....

Robin