I just returned from spending most of August overseas with Pandora.  We served the church in the North Africa region working with children, youth and adults from Egypt and Sudan.

We experienced delay on our flights home that resulted with arriving in Myrtle Beach a day late.  Just a few days later I left for Tennessee to assist my parents who are living in daily uncertainty in a nursing home.  Near the end of the visit news of hurricane Florence came out and I rushed home (8 hour drive) to help Pandora prepare our home for the storm. Now we are evacuated with our two dogs to be sit out the storm with our family in Columbia.

I struggle with uncertainty and not being sure when we will be back on a normal schedule for a few days.  And yet I just came from a region of the world where everyone I walked with lived with much greater uncertainty than I ever encounter.

Some live in a war zone and hate to hear a gunshot or a plane fly overhead.

Some live in an area of contamination of the water and a shortage of food.

Many live with only have a paying job one day at a time.

Everyone lived with currency devaluation and extreme price increases.  It is not unusual for prices to go up 3 to 4x the starting price in less than a year.

And yet — they sing.  They worship.  They serve with great energy and passion.  They keep moving forward with the Gospel.  They are filled with joy and peace most of the time.  They struggle but do not focus on it.  They expect this life to be a struggle and live for the hope in Christ.

UNCERTAINTY HUMBLES ME — AND I FIND MOST OF THE TIME I STRUGGLE WITH BENDING MY KNEES AND TRUSTING IN MY GOD.  THANK GOD FOR HIS MERCY!