My Classroom

As an English teacher, the title of this post might be somewhat of a misnomer. I don’t mean my literal open air, blackboard, complete with chickens and goats, classroom. I mean the stage of life the Father has us in to grow us into his son’s likeness. This isn’t an original “Doug” idea, I borrowed it from our country director’s wife, Corky. I love the perspective it gives on life though.
So, what is my classroom? Right now my wife and I just started the adoption process for our son Jonathan in a country where there have been two, yes two, previous adoptions to Americans. Each adoption has been decided on a case by case basis and at any time our request might be denied by either the Lao or U.S. government.
Our visas have been expired for five days now (as of January 5, 2009) even though the paperwork has been sitting in the administration office since October. For three months there have been serious doubts about whether they would even be extended, all this at a time when we need to be in Laos more than ever to work on the adoption. But recently there has been good news that they will be processed soon, though now that our old visas have expired it becomes slightly more complicated.
Finally, our financial situation has been tenuous recently. It seems like our organization is constantly adding more expenses to our profile, and with the recession at home many people have stopped giving to our account. Couple that with a falling dollar and rising inflation and you have a very stressful situation for the “provider” of the family. At times I have wondered which would send us back to the States first, lack of visas or lack of money. All of this again becomes more complicated when we consider the unknown costs of the adoption and starting our family.
Well, as best as I can tell, my classroom is faith that the Father is in control even though my life is clearly out of control. Any one of those three events would be enough to keep a person up at night, and all three together have given me plenty of chances to worry and fret. But we are not called to worry, we are called to trust. And I cannot waste my time and energy today fretting about tomorrow. I feel blessed because every morning I can wake up and trust that everything is in the Father’s hands and he cares for me. And even if the unthinkable happens today, this life is only a vapor and soon I will be in my Father’s arms.
Lessons like these make my phonetics classes look like a joke. How about a little audience participation? See if anyone even reads these notes. What is your classroom? Try to be CG (Communication Guidelines while in Asia) friendly, follow my example as best you can.