Do you need a passport to go to Texas?

I've been trying to give the kids the truth about the Vietnam situation in little baby bites, as they say or ask something about baby Sam or Mom and Dad going to Vietnam. I'm not going to lie to them and pretend everything is fine, but at the same time, I don't want to burst their little faith bubbles unnecessarily. It's been very, very difficult to find the right balance of what to say and what information to keep to myself until we know more about what's going to happen.

Yesterday, Tucker was making a comment about going to Vietnam, and I gently reminded him to "remember, Tuck, we don't know for sure where baby Sam will be born. Just because Mom and Dad think it's Vietnam, doesn't mean that's God's plan. We want what God wants. He knows better than we do. God may want Sam to be born in another country."

Tucker said, "Yeah... like Texas, maybe."

Ah, yes. The far-away, mythical, exotic land of Texas...

I'll leave you today with this poem. It's an old one, but I love it. S. had this posted on her private VN blog and I thought it's so appropriate to many of us in our present circumstances.

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
and the Master so gently said,"Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!"
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate
hangs in the balance and you tell me to Wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.
Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
as my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love
when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still "WAIT".

~~~Russell Kelfer~~~


Psalm 27:1,14
The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid? ... Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.