ANALYZING GOD'S WILL

If it's not obvious already, all of my recent pondering of Peter's miraculous escape from prison and James's death by Herod's sword and Paul blocked by the Spirit of Jesus at one point and by Satan at another is my heart still churning over my family's departure from Haiti and trying to make sense of it.

For me, it comes back to this question: In what sense was it God's will for us to leave Haiti?

Maybe it was the Spirit of Jesus blocking our return. 

Perhaps to spare us from something bad? We certainly tempted fate often while living in Haiti - travel on dangerous roads and exposure to unusual illnesses, and the like. Heck, Sarah at 6 years of age fell out of a tree and flat on her back our very first week in Haiti. Caleb sliced a 5 inch long and 1 inch deep gash in the side of his knee without cutting through a tendon or an artery. And once he caused a motorcycle accident when a 5 gallon jug of water slipped from his hands and rolled into a busy street. That incident could have easily turned tragic for the driver and Haitian crowds have been know to exact "eye for an eye" justice on the spot. I was involved in a traffic accident once that could have introduced me to Haitian jail if our friend Rose had not been with us. Melissa received a few death threats as director of the school (a long story that was not shared publicly while my mother was still living). Among my acquaintances in Haiti there were two individuals who had survived kidnappings - which are once again on the rise in recent days. 

So could it be that the Lord spared us from some unforeseen pain? Even tragedy? 

I suppose that is entirely possible. For all we know, God's miraculous intervention had spared both James and Peter countless previous arrests, completely unnoticed by either man in the moment and unrecorded in the Bible. 

BUT Melissa and I are currently deep in prayer for two dear families here in Columbus as each struggles with scary and unforeseen pain involving their teenage children. So we are well aware that central Indiana is not a haven from the fears and difficulties of life. 

My gut says it is likely more accurate to say that it was Satan blocking our path of return to Haiti. But to be clear, in saying this I do not mean to cast aspersions on any particular individual or organization. Unfortunately, Satan finds plenty of footholds in every Christian community and plenty of chinks in every Christian's armor. (Including my own.) And we can expect Satan to exploit the heck out of any opportunity that crosses his path. 

And there's no magic formula for a prayer which will automatically defeat Satan, rendering him powerless as we skate on by. If anyone could have found that formula, it would have been the Apostle Paul, right? I know we prayed like crazy to be able to return to ministry in Haiti, but things still went south.

In the end, there's one other thing I know about God's will - and it is that the Lord is an expert at bringing profound good out of the worst of circumstances. So even though my mind still wants to analyze how God's will works, I continue to step forward in the firm belief that the best is yet to be.