The View from Here

The lush green of Hot Springs in October as seen from the porch of Suradet and Yupa's house.

Haven't been able to blog much these past few days.

It's not that I've been too busy, although I've been busy enough.  There's a steady rhythm for each day, book-ended by worship each morning and each evening, and punctuated with getting ready for school, daily chores, doing homework, going to market, and the incredible meals I'm served from Yupa's kitchen.  There are gaps, like right now, when nothing too much is going on, and I can stop and reflect, or prepare for tonight's devotional, or make notes in my book about things to bring next time, or observations about each child.  Or blog.

I've had the time.  But truth is there are some deeply profound reflections happening inside of me this trip.   God has been opening up my perspective on timings...proper timings....and I think I'm grabbing a sliver of what He's seen in bringing about throughout my lifetime, and how that has been essential for what He's wanted to do here, now.

I catch the edge of this perspective whenever Boy is translating conversations where Suradet, Yupa and myself are telling our stories.  When we begin to recount the ways in which we have seen God working in our lives, both through the brutal times and through the blessed times, and when we suddenly connect the dots when it comes to timelines and what was happening when; that's when it starts to sound more and more like some complex yet pure tapestry of lives intertwined in colours of grace and provision and triumph.

When did Suradet and Yupa first feel called to bring children into their home?  When did they start praying?  When did Highview first begin to hear God's whispering about Regions Beyond?  When was our first trip here and what was it for?  It's almost spooky how all those things line up.

More personally for me is this life long thing of first having an inclination toward SE Asia at the age of 11.  How it took 40 years to get here.  How that was exactly the time when Suradet (who weren't even born when I was 11), needed resources to provide for what God was calling them to do.

We are the sons of our fathers
We grow and we go
To the daughter of daughters
And it all goes to show
This is the union of children
That touches us all
God bless the children
For they bless us all
No one can say this is not the work
Of the one who looks over us all
And the love that is given
The love we all share
Is the greatest gift of all
Love asks for nothing
Expects no return
Love’s understanding
Can never be earned
Love comforts and guides us
Each step of the way
And brings us together
On this joyous day
- See more at: http://stevebell.com/kindness-album/greatest-gift/#sthash.yRdE07SG.dpuf

There's more.  It's been five years since we started this with them.  Those five years should have been the most ineffective five years of my personal life or ministry life, and for Highview.  Circumstances, without God, would have destroyed our ministry in Canada.  Instead, God birthed something so spectacular, so Isaiah 58ish, it could only have been possible because of Him.

Sometimes, during our conversations, as we come to the realizations together, we have to stop talking.  God is taking our breath away.  Tears of awe fill our throats.

And those deep things sit deeply within me.  Still figuring it out.  

Byron O’Donnell / Signpost Music
We are the sons of our fathers
We grow and we go
To the daughter of daughters
And it all goes to show
This is the union of children
That touches us all
God bless the children
For they bless us all
No one can say this is not the work
Of the one who looks over us all
And the love that is given
The love we all share
Is the greatest gift of all
Love asks for nothing
Expects no return
Love’s understanding
Can never be earned
Love comforts and guides us
Each step of the way
And brings us together
On this joyous day
- See more at: http://stevebell.com/kindness-album/greatest-gift/#sthash.UE50vCrM.dpuf

We are the sons of our fathers
We grow and we go
To the daughter of daughters
And it all goes to show
This is the union of children
That touches us all
God bless the children
For they bless us all
No one can say this is not the work
Of the one who looks over us all
And the love that is given
The love we all share
Is the greatest gift of all
Love asks for nothing
Expects no return
Love’s understanding
Can never be earned
Love comforts and guides us
Each step of the way
And brings us together
On this joyous day
- See more at: http://stevebell.com/kindness-album/greatest-gift/#sthash.yRdE07SG.dpuf