Today has been a day of hard news. First thing this morning I logged on to the computer to find that dear friends of ours have just lost their beautiful home to a fire. No one was home when lightning struck the house. The news report said that the home was destroyed in only 20 minutes. They had three dearly-loved dogs, who were in the house at the time of the fire; all died before they could be rescued. Our hearts were heavy as we read the news; we can only imagine the loss and sadness our friends must feel as they process the loss of their pets, their home and their belongings. We praise God for keeping our friends and their three children safe and we are praying for the next few hours, days and weeks as they deal with the shock and aftermath of the fire.
As the morning continued, the bad news kept coming. Our music teacher at DA is returning to the States, after battling some kind of sickness that they have not been able to diagnose here. A DA family around the corner was robbed for a second time, and there also was a robbery in an apartment building housing several other DA families. Some friends have learned of a difficult situation concerning their house back in the States. And when we reached the T. center, we learned that there was bad news there as well. One of the marabouts (teachers) has decided that his boys can no longer come to our center. We are not getting a clear story about what specifically has transpired, but it seems that this man is one of the newer teachers and he is putting his foot down about this. The boys that we think we will be losing are in the top class with us – they have been coming a long time and have made tremendous progress. We have no way of knowing how this will play out – exactly which boys will stop coming, or how long they will stay away – but it is very sad to us to think that we may not see these boys again.
As we were talking on our way home from the center, the verse came to my mind (Proverbs 16:9) about how man makes his plans but God determines his steps. And the verse (Isaiah 55:8,9) about how God’s ways are not our ways. We just don’t know what’s going to happen next. We have our plans and agendas but in a heartbeat everything can change. I don’t believe God wants us to throw up our hands and give up planning… I think God wants us to be passionate about things – to love deeply and to share boldly and to serve wholeheartedly. But all this bad news today reminds me of two other things I think God desires, that I keep working on loosening my grip on my agenda and my possessions, and that I make the most of each day. I struggle with both!
