Back to Reality

If you haven't read Leslie's blog, I highly recommend it.

We went to SC to visit Leslie's sister and her family yesterday. The kids stayed and we came back (they will come home tomorrow). Leslie commented how going there was like leaving reality behind, and thus coming back was like returning to it. Coming to work today was the same for me. There's nothing wrong with work. In fact, just the opposite, people have been such an encouragement to me in the office. But leaving Leslie, to go to work or go anywhere, has been almost physically painful. I just like spending time with her.

And speaking of time, it feels as if it is at a standstill. It's almost strange to go out and see the world moving along at normal speed, and yet feel like you're own world is somehow stuck in slow-motion. So God is teaching us patience, from kind of a different angle than what He has done before. It's a good thing, I know. Just not a lot of fun.

But more than patience, much more I think, is the lesson of suffering. I think we act as if it's a terrible lesson to go through. But it's not. Cancer it terrible, yes. Knowing my wife is stricken with it is the worst. But the suffering through it has been good. I know that sounds strange, but suffering is a powerful tool of God's. It's not always discipline mind you. It's often quite loving. Paul said that sharing in Christ's suffering was more than worthwhile. We are not suffering for Christ's sake, I know, but we are suffering for His name's sake. We want to suffer for His glory, because through suffering we can be more like Christ, conformed more to His image, act and look more like Him. Without the megaphone of suffering, we often would never hear, and thus never be changed. John Newton helped remind me of this today. It's a good read that I commend to you.