Up, Up and Away

Well- we are 3 hours and 45 minutes into our flight. I have listen to two John Piper messages on Romans 6 and watched a movie. The messsge by Piper was great. He was talking about our identification with Christ through baptism. He had a great analogy comparing baptism to the ring and vow we take in marriage.  Saying the words and wearing the ring does not keep us from "forsaking all others" and being faithful to our spouse. Good stuff.

My thoughts also fast forward to a week from now, where, Lord willing, we will be our the last leg of our return trip. We will have logged about 20,000 miles and spent 3 days in the air of an 8 day trip. We will also have Keliah and Jedeiah with us and starting the process of bonding and learning each other's personalities. I pray that this will be a special time for the four of us.
But I am also thinking about my two precious kids at home, Justin and Kaitlyn. I pray they have a great week with my parents and that they are all safe. 
It really is only faith that gets us through, all of it. And it is grace that sustains us through the good and the bad. I have been dealing with a tooth issue and had a partial root canal before we left. I am on antibiotics but still having some pain. I am not sure what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, but this remains me of his words in 2 Corinthians 12:7;
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

So like Paul, I pray and pled that God would remove this thorn in the flesh and I would rest in His grace if He does or doesn't. It's not bad. But is yet one more reminder of my need to depend on God. Romans 8:28-30

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."