It was our first night in the old farmhouse that would become our missionary home in Africa.  My body clock, confused by travel, awoke me at 2 AM.  A moonless night, no electricity.  I did not know it could be so dark!   I literally "couldn't see my hand in front of my face."   I thought, "What in the world am I doing here?"

One of our first jobs was making brick for mission buildings.  I hadn't a clue, but a helpful Catholic priest showed me how to make wooden brick molds and hire a brickmaker and crew.  The molded bricks first dried in the sun, then were stacked into a kiln configuration with long tunnels underneath for firewood.  Heaps of firewood had been cut.  The fires must burn for a week to properly harden the brick.   If the crew slept and the fire went out, we lost the project.  So at 2 each morning Ruth and I walked the quarter mile through forest and bush to the kiln site to check on the crew.  With our kerosene pressure lamp we could only see 40 or 50 feet ahead.  Beyond that, it was very dark.  But as we moved forward, so did the light.  All we had to do was take the right steps immediately ahead.

Life is full of situations where we cry to know the outcome.  What will my next cancer checkup show?  If I don't make it, what will happen to my family?  What will happen to our country if terrorists cremate one of our cities with a nuclear device?  Will my child keep her faith and morality when she goes to university?  Will our church be able to keep making its payroll?  Will I find the right person to marry?  What will happen to us now that we are 70?

I am glad that only God knows the future.  He is infinite in knowledge and also in his ability to make a way for us and our loved ones.  We are finite.  If we knew the future we could not handle it.  But more importantly, we would not learn to trust our Father.  It is his wise will that we "walk by faith, not by sight."  That is how we grow as children of God.  The essence of Christianity is a trusting relationship.  Two things will help us:  knowing God better and realizing that trust is a decision.  Trust will do the things we know to do and then rest in God.