Being apart!

Amazingly, I am now into my third week of separation from my wee wife - and am missing her terribly. :-( However, some news this morning helped me to put my personal situation into perspective!

A group of 33 Chilean miners have already spent 18 days, trapped some 2,300 feet underground - and may have to remain there for another four months! Makes my few weeks seem like nothing, by comparison. They are in a 500 sq.ft. chamber in a tunnel in the rock - about 15 sq.ft. per man. I have more than ten times that space all to myself in the caravan - and I am above ground, with the trees and the river; the sky and the sun (some days!); people moving about; a whole town around which to walk. They have survived on two mouthsful of tuna fish and a half-cup of milk each, once every other day. I have a stock of food and drink that, if necessary, would keep me going for the rest of the week - and shops within walking distance, where I may purchase more food as I need it! They have, now, limited communication with their families; I have the advatage of Skype, that allows me to speak with my wife, and my daughters (and a couple of friends!) at any time that is mutually convenient.

I am reminded of the old Persian (or, perhaps, Russian!) proverb: "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet."

However, my uppermost thought is of the words of Jesus, to the eleven, as recorded in John 16:32 - "... the time is coming—indeed it's here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with Me."

It is, above all, the living Presence of that same Father God that is sustaining me during these days. I recall the old chorus that was often sung in my days in Christian Endeavour:
"No, never alone, no never alone.
He promised never to leave me,
Never to leave me alone." (and repeated!)

It's promise that He has kept, and continues to keep. I trust that at least some of those Chilean miners are aware of that Presence. I trust that you are, too!