If I Stand, Let Me Stand Upon the Promise . . .

Something dawned on me the other week.  Actually, it has hit me like a ton of bricks!  I'm at Handong this semester teaching without Sandy.  She's back in the States continuing her nursing studies -- and doing quite well in them, I might add.  When we thought about me returning to teach here this semester, we thought that I could once again make it through a semester even though we would be separated by half a world's distance.

That expectation was based upon the fact that I've done it before.  In 2009, I taught here for a semester while Sandy was still back in St. Louis.  When I returned over the Christmas break that year, Sandy then joined in our return to Handong for the new semester that began in February 2010.  But, there is a big difference now.  Why it hadn't struck me before, I will never know.  But, I know the difference now.

My first semester's hermitage here at Handong in 2009 was during a Fall term.  This time I'm here in hermitage during the Spring!  You know, that time of the year when trees blossom, flowers bloom and birds begin to sing.  On top of the seasonal impact, there are also the many vivid memories of times Sandy and I spent just one short year ago exploring the Korean countryside and culture together.  Consequently, I find myself "longing for my home" a whole lot more these days than ever before while I've been here.

When I get into one of these increasingly more frequently-occurring "down" times, I have resorted to listening to my favorite musicians as a means of encouragement and comfort.  One particular concert given by Rich Mullins and his band back in the late 1990's is available in its entirety on YouTube.  His songs have become favorites and reliable sources of strength in these days when physical weariness only compounds a deeper psychological and spiritual disheartenedness (if that is even a word).

Here's one of Rich Mullins' songs that has been a special blessing to my soul during these cloudy days.  "If I stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through . . . . "


. . . and if I weep, let me weep as a man who is longing for his home."

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 


In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.   (1 Peter 1:3-8)