The Road to Santa Clara: The Epilogue
Ξ October 8th, 2007 | → | ∇ Stories |
Why write The Road to Santa Clara? To revisit old hurts? Highlight the shortcomings of others? Not at all. I wrote The Road to Santa Clara first and foremost for Jeff and me to remember. We are commanded, innumerable times in Scripture, to remember. Remember Egypt and how God brought deliverance there (Deut. 5:15), remember God’s marvelous works (1 Chron. 16:12), remember His death on the cross whenever we share the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:24). The Old Testament Feasts were centered on remembering all that God has done. We should do whatever it takes to call to remembrance the faithfulness of God. In Santa Clara, God was faithful. The story is first and foremost a call for Jeff and me to remember the faithfulness of God. Countless times, when I have been discouraged, I have called to remembrance Santa Clara and what He did there, and have been bolstered in my faith.Secondly, it is a lesson. I wish that I could only write things that make everyone look good, including myself. I wish I could write how this perfectly wonderful person responded to this other perfectly wonderful person in a perfectly wonderful way and we all represented Christ perfectly and everyone was happy. But this would not be real. This would not be true. Jeff and I have both failed, and do fail daily. Others have failed. The Bible says that all have failed (Rom. 3:23). But there is grace from God for these failures, so that we can in turn extend grace to others, and so we learn from these failures and grow in our imperfect love for God and man.
The last thing I would ever want to do is highlight the shortcomings of others. The Apostle Paul, in Galatians 2:11, reports on a conflict he has with Peter over an issue he saw as wrong and needing to be corrected. Both Paul and Peter were godly, wholehearted followers of Christ. It is written for us so that we will know not only that even spiritual giants like Peter make mistakes, but also so that we would be able to avoid the same pitfall in our lives. My purpose is similar. Jeff and I made mistakes. At times we were too sensitive, at times we jumped to conclusions, at times we grumbled, at times we were judgmental. As we reflect we see this more and more. But God was growing us, maturing us, molding us, through it all. At times we were hurt, truly deeply hurt, by the shortcomings of others. But God forgives us as we forgive others (Matt. 6:15). We receive His grace, extend His grace, receive the lesson, and extend the lesson. This is my prayer.
I hope that it’s obvious that I write with a free heart. God has set us free. We no longer have to demand perfection from ourselves and our fellow brothers and sisters. We can walk in the grace of God, daily asking for His Spirit to enable and empower us to live a life that glorifies His name.
I leave you with this one thought, which is the life truth that sustains my every breath. God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good. Because He is all powerful, He can do anything He wants. Because He is all knowing, He knows exactly how to use the power that He employs. Because He is all good, we can rest in knowing that the all powerful, all knowing God is working at all times for my good and for His glory. My whole life is God-filtered. All that is in my life has been pre-screened by my gracious heavenly Father, and is therefore perfectly formulated for my sanctification. All things are not for my happiness; all things are for my good. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28).
This is why we took the Road to Santa Clara.
on October 10th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
[…] The entire story is now up: Ch. 1: The Phone Call | Ch. 2: The U-turn | Ch. 3: The Jeep | Ch. 4: The Apartment | Ch. 5: The Meeting | Ch. 6: The Rack | Ch. 7: The Barium Vials | Ch. 8: The Interview | Ch. 9: The Coffee Shop | Ch. 10: The Memorial Service | Ch. 11: The Seifers | Ch. 12: The Right Stuff | Ch. 13: The Acropolis | Ch. 14: The Home Fellowship | Ch. 15: The Settlers of Catan | Ch. 16: The Valentine Dinner | Ch. 17: The SonShiners | Ch. 18: The Road Home | The Epilogue […]
on October 13th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Kari, thank you for sharing your story with us. It was a blessing to me to hear about your time in Santa Clara and how God was faithful through that. Thank you for being authentic and letting us in. I look forward to more stories:)