My granddaughter is graduating from high school next month. These last 16 years have come and gone like a whirlwind. This next step into university is, for her, a step into the unknown. She will undoubtedly face unfamiliar challenges and pitfalls that wouldn’t have crossed her mind while living at home. The future is unknown. Not knowing what might happen next creates a certain uneasiness – but it can also produce excitement. The future holds the possibility of problems, failures, and difficulties, but it also beckons with the potential of adventure, new friendships, and accomplishment. Either way, it is a new step, and this step is experienced by all of us at various times.
This week, we sold our last appliance and piece of furniture and vacated our apartment. Our physical world is now reduced to a few suitcases and a mountain of paperwork that we must go through before heading to the airport. I have no keys in my pocket. No house key. No office key. No car key. No keys at all. I can’t describe to you how strange that feels! We now can legitimately call ourselves homeless! Like our granddaughter, we too are stepping into the unknown.
Abram was 75 years old when he was called by God. God told Abram, “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). I don’t think I’ve ever fully appreciated Abram and his decision until now! Abram’s only security was that God said, “I will show you.” It was indeed a step into the unknown, but Abram had the comfort and companionship of the One who knows all things.
Rebecca and I have traveled extensively, lived overseas, and learned a foreign language, but for us there is still an apprehension associated with the unknown. Just like with our granddaughter, we will face a myriad of challenges and pitfalls that may trip, harm, or even destroy us. Fortunately, like Abram, we face this unknown accompanied by the eternally KNOWN – our loving, heavenly Father.
Comments