"God gives. God takes. God's name be ever blessed. "- Job 1:21, The Message
This week, I saw the face of God in Alex, Wendy, Kenna, Will, and Curtis. I am so humbled by their patience and grace in the midst of a week of losses, and it got me contemplating Job. Late last week, the house internet went down and repairing it was going to take about a week. A few days later after a wickedly brutal windstorm that downed and uprooted many trees throughout LA, the house's water heater died completely, rendering the water supply cold directly during the first briskly "fall" days of their year together. On my personal home front, last week would usher in a new phase for our newborn: frequent fussiness. Goodbye to sleep, my wife and I quietly lamented.
And yet, there was a posture of positivity, and that touched me deeply. Will recognized that life without the internet for a week may have been a blessing, as he noted that he might be spending too much time on it. Curtis called me, even laughing, that in his attempt to take a warm shower during the several days without, he traveled uptown to his gym, only to find that THEIR water heater was broken as well! (Others seemed fine with "roughing it" or thickening their souls with cold showers :) And how good is God: Kenna called me to say that our new friend Jose, who is helping to lead an exciting Bible study at the community house for the neighborhood teenagers, offered to install a new water heater, free of charge. Made me begin to think the reverse of the verse: "God taketh away, and God indeed giveth..."
But I truly feel that, if we focus on blessing God's name as the verse commands, we can learn to see that even God's "taking" involves "giving." At the very moment something is removed from our lives, new blessings come pouring in. The internet's absence caused progress in face to face communication. The broken water heater provided us the blessing of a stronger friendship with Jose and his partner Alfonso. And, even though my wife and I are struggling with more significant sleep deprivation, we both realized that our teamwork is growing stronger and we are beginning to talk to each other like we used to, back before our baby was born.
So, indeed, may God's name be forever blessed, and thankful am I that we get to encourage one another in abundances and shortages. God is forever great.
Amen,
Matthew
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