Hello friends and family,  My prayer for us this week has been that we find peace and purpose in the knowledge that our God is still in control.  He’s not up there wringing His hands wondering what to do about the mess down here. He’ll clean it up when the time has come.  Meanwhile, He is still working, and He calls us to work with Him.

I want to offer you a bit of encouragement.  Things may not be looking so good right now.  On a personal level, we’ve lost loved ones and others are sick.  As I write this, Kimi remains in the hospital with blood clots in her legs and in her lungs.  At a national level, we still don’t know who the president will be.  For many of us, that can cause a great deal of anxiety if we let it.

On Tuesday, I went with Linda to our local polling place.  She requested an absentee ballot, but never received it.  Were it not for some helpful and knowledgeable poll workers, her vote might not have been counted at all this year.  Questions are being raised in cities across the country.  What does that mean for us?  What kind of future will we have.  People on both sides are convinced that the victory of the other candidate spells disaster.  I confess to having some of that concern as well.

This is not the first time many of us have felt that way.  I have shared before that I was almost in tears when it became evident who the two candidates would be in 2016.  That is when I read Proverbs 21:1 and took comfort from it.  It says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He pleases.” (NASB)  Certainly it matters who the president is.  Certainly we have the responsibility to do all that we can to make sure the one who is closest to God’s values is elected.  But we must not lose sight of these truths.  No man or woman on earth is our savior.  Only a return to the one and only true savior will save our nation.  God is and will always be in control.  Nothing happens without His permission.

We may be headed for a time of judgment.  I have thought so for many years.  How does a nation that slaughters the innocent in the womb escape God’s wrath?  It cannot.  Yet our God is merciful.  If His people will humble themselves and pray, turn from their own wicked ways and seek His face, He will hear from Heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land. (2 Chr. 7:14)  That message was given to Israel in the context of having already undergone God’s judgement, but it tells us that we serve a merciful God, willing and able to deliver us.

We have a president, not a king, but God is still king over him.  As a child of God, you are part of God’s kingdom.  You need have no fear.  You can say along with the psalmist, “Yahweh is for me; I do not fear. What can mere humans do to me?” (Ps. 118:6 LEB)

I hope you can join us tomorrow.  Keep Kimi in your prayers and also Priscilla.

Love you all,

Larry