Conflict Resolution

We were still awake tending to the needs of a jet-lagged and culture-adjusting infant this morning after 1:00am when our google news reader came across with information of an attack on South Korea from the North.

My breath stopped short...we were almost there today...we tried to delay our trip as another baby, my niece, was coming into this world last Tuesday, and we all wanted to share that day as well...

We came across obstacle after obstacle...flight delays, lack of hotel rooms...missing the birth of Genevieve...and wondered why it had to be so rushed...

Plans had been made...plans had to be changed...surgeries scheduled had to be moved...preparations that should take time were compressed into one quick afternoon...why did we have to move so quickly...

Then the news comes...shots were fired...people were killed...more aggression seems likely...and my mind raced to these images we visited on the freedom bridge by the demilitarized zone...where prisoners were released and crossed into their freedom from the North into the South...

Ribbons listing names of war prisoners...prayers for those released and those never found...messages and wishes for peace...reminders that freedom was won not long ago...and reminders that freedom is not free...

And as I stopped to catch my breath and I looked onto those beautiful black eyes of my new son...and I thought...God provided yours and my freedom for heaven...and that was not free either...

And I understood the whirlwind, the fast departure, the opportunities that appeared missed were merely delayed for something this important...this was the opening...this was the time to take down his ribbon, to say a prayer, to rescue and be rescued...

Amazing timing by an incredible God...
how little of me to question...how big of Him to answer...