Just one of those weeks!

I suspect that everyone has "one of those weeks" from time to time.  The one that is drawing to a close has certainly been so for me - and, indeed, in some respects, for the family!

I don't intend going into the details.  Suffice it to say that we have had to deal with a number of situations that came at us 'out of the blue'.  One that I will share is that yesterday I paid a visit to the International Christian College in Glasgow.  As a former student of one of its 'grandparents' - The Bible Training Institute - I have had access to the Library there for many years.  I really appreciated that access while I was completing my M.Div., and continued to use it for research when writing a book.

As I entered the Library yesterday, I stopped.  Surely I was in the wrong place!  So many empty shelves - and people making up boxes that I knew were designed to hold books.  I already knew that there were problems - I am on the College mailing list - but had expected to be able to use the Library for at least another year.  Not so.  I spoke with one of the Librarians, and discovered that it will no longer be available after the end of June.  As we expect to leave to return to France in the middle of June, it looks as if I will only manage one (or, at most, two) more visit(s).

Apart from the death of a fellow human being, especially someone known and loved by me, the two things that probably tear most at my heart-strings are the sinking of a ship, and the destroying of books.  Now I have been assured that the ICC Library books are going to be either passed over to another establishment, archived, or stored in a basement.  However, as far as I am concerned, they will be gone forever.  I had even intended leaving most of my own modest library to ICC in my will!  Little point, now, in doing that!

However, one thing does hearten me.  If you have read my book Great Words of the Faith (details above!), you will know my position on the relationship between time and eternity.   I won't go into detail here (but please feel free to purchase the book - either in paperback, or Kindle) but it does mean that I am assured that nothing ever takes the Lord by surprise.  It's not just that He is able to 'look forward' into the 'future'.  It's more that He sees all of time, simultaneously, in an eternal present.   He is already watching those books being stored - and, I trust, being restored to those who would wish to make use of them.  He is the One Who knows the end from the beginning.

That is also true for your life, and for mine.  We may often be surprised by what happens in our lives - whether for good, or for bad.  He never is.  Your whole life is spread out before Him, and nothing, but nothing, happens without His knowledge and permission.  And, of course, because He sees, and knows, all; and because He is working out His own perfect plan and purpose for our lives, and for mankind; and because He is Sovereign; we may be assured that what happens, as we abide in His will, is for our ultimate good.

So, when you have 'one of those weeks' - or even days - hand it over to Him.  You may even wish to use this brief prayer that I lifted from a young friend's Facebook page: "Dear God, I may not understand why everything is happening in my life just now, but I just wanted to say that I trust You and I love You.  In Jesus' Name."

Blessings, and shalom.