My Hall of Fame

Many of the Mission men, those who have any chance of finding real peace, know what it is to have lost everything. Being around them is a relief to me, a haven in a funny way from the triviality of much of life. Plenty of trivia still happens here, talk about sports and weather, but any conversation easily turns to the core of what we can truly count on in life. They know that they need God in each day, to provide for them and give them strength and peace. There is nothing else.

I love these conversations; they echo the countless I have had with friends over the years - especially with women. The women I have been friends with in my life astound me. They are full of integrity, living life with questions and occasional (or regular!) tears but with a rock-solid certainty that God is good and that He is working His will. They are humble. They laugh, a lot. They are fierce and focused. 

One has prayed and persevered through a marriage that almost anyone else would have ended years ago, clinging to God’s promises of faithfulness and grace.

One went through a public and messy divorce but remains firm in the reality of God’s provision for herself and her children and in the knowledge that His hand is on her house. As she says, she lives on a nickel, but it is God’s…and that is a really good nickel.

Several have everything, by the world’s standards, but they know for a fact that were they to lose it all, God would be the same and all would be well. Their certainty and love for others shine.

One has left her identity and community in another country but from God’s supply spends her days encouraging those around her.

They are who I look to when I think maybe my choices don’t matter. Their lives are a direct result of conscious decision in the midst of chaos, temptation, and less-than-ideal circumstances, a decision that God’s paths are theirs, that His promises to bless are real, that the blessings we really crave are His peace and guidance and glory.

The cloud of witnesses is not only heavenly.