The David Analogy

So as I write today, we are coming to an end in the DRC.  We don't know when it is exactly, but we are hoping that it will be Wednesday.  After spending nearly a month here, we have been changed.  We discussed this change during nap time today.

How do we take all we have learned while here?  How do we remember that we live in a land of comfort?  How do we remember that we need God when things are going well?  How to live out of a sense of poverty while actually being wealthy?  Will I remember the stomach pangs when I am back?

These all are questions that challenge me today.  I have found hunger and lack of control to be a stimulus to learn to depend on God.  A struggle for sure.  However, it is so easy to return to the everyday feeling of control as soon as I hit the ground in the US.  I know this, and this is why I am questioning myself now.

Valerie and I had a great conversation today about our in country guy, David.  David is like Jesus to us.  I know that may sound blasphemous, but I mean it in a respectful sincere way.  Since landing, we have depended on David for everything.  He has provided transportation, guidance, representation, and at one point he put his life on the line with the local authorities.  There are many times that we don't see David, or talk to him for days.  This allows us to think that he must not be doing anything.  Maybe he is kicking back enjoying life in the DRC.  However, this is not the case.

David's job is to represent us.  To take our case to the authorities and to get us out of here ASAP.  When we don't talk with David, he is doing these things.  He is working behind the scenes.  He is quietly and diligently working on our behalf.  You would never know this if we did not ask him.  He is not one to call up and say "look what I did on your behalf."  In fact, if you want to know what is David is doing, you have to ask him.

Can you see how David is a good analogy for Jesus?  He has done all of this for us.  He represents us to His father constantly.  He took our sins upon Him so we could be washed of all that covered us.  He does so much behind the scenes that we never know.  How would we know if we don't talk to Him?  How would we know if we don't seek Him, like we have to David?

When I started this blog, it was supposed to be one of working through the process of adoption, but as I have written it, it became a blog of following and leaning on God.  I never intended this to be a spiritual blog, and I am sure that I may have lost some readers as a result of it.  However, this has changed us.  This has put a stamp on our life that can not be hidden.

Initially, I wrote early on that this is a blog of obedience.  I still believe that, but I would also say that this has become a blog learning how to live.  A blog of learning how to not only depend on God, but those He has placed in your life.  A blog of learning how to live simply.  A blog of learning to give.

We return soon, and I want you to know that this could not have been done without the people behind the scenes.  There are so many of you.  Too many to name or even mention.  In fact, there are many I don't even know.  So many people praying.  So many people crying.  One twelve year old that had the dream of getting two orphan girls that she did not know home.

I thought we could do this on our own.  I was wrong.  I was thankfully wrong.  Thank you for showing me that I was wrong.  Thank you for loving me through my stubborn ways.  Thank you for taking care of us.